4 February 2010

TERI Knowledge Hub Launch

Setting the theme ‘Regional Knowledge Hub for Water and Climate Change Adaptation in South Asia’, Mr Ashok Jaitly, Distinguished Fellow and Director, Water Resources Division, TERI, welcomed all the participants and introduced the Knowledge Hub as a repository of knowledge that will be beneficial for the South Asian region.

The Knowledge Hub is a center of excellence promoting knowledge exchange and capacity development on priority water topics. Its main mission is to deliver knowledge based products and services that meet the needs of various organizations working on water and climate change mitigation and improve the performance of the water sector.

TERI invites interested parties such as international organizations, development partners, government and non-governmental organizations and agencies, research and academic institutes and universities, civil society organizations, corporate R&D centers and the media to join the regional water knowledge hub network of national and international partners.

Event Highlights
  • The Online Gateway to Knowledge Hub was launched by Shri P K Bansal, Hon’ble Minister for Water Resources, Govt. of India.

Keynote Address

Dr Ursula Schaefer-Preuss mentioned that climate change mitigation is mostly related to air, while adaptation is usually associated to water. Giving an example of districts in India, she emphasized what ADB in doing to improve water management in local districts.
 
Mr Ravi Narayanan brought attention to the fact that there are knowledge hubs in East Asia, Central Asia and Pacific region, and this launch will fill the gap in South Asia. He pointed that TERI will reach out to similar organizations in neighboring countries as all of them will be impacted by climate change.
 
Talking about the importance of water in the lives of people, he discussed the need to mitigate inadequate availability of water for food security, and the role played by R&D in optimizing the use of available water. He also said that applying new technologies can bring the phrase ‘More crop and income per drop of water’ into reality.
Dr Ursula Schaefer-Preuss Vice President - KM & SD, Asian Development Bank   Mr Ravi Narayanan Asia Pacific Water Forum   Shri P K Bansal Hon’ble Minister for Water Resources, Govt. of India

Dr R K Pachauri addressed that water is a critical resource and the Knowledge Hub will provide a platform to focus on water in relation to climate change. TERI will put its best foot forward so that not only enough knowledge is available, but society can also be informed.
 
Dr Andreas Schild emphasized the need to exchange information and methodologies across borders, and said that the main task is to create a platform to enable this. The glaciers have been ignored and no country has any systematic analysis of mass balance. He said that trans-boundary and regional cooperation will be essential.
 
Ms Aban Marker Kabraji talked about IUCN’s water initiative. She said that any discourse about climate change is a discourse about water, as climate change is related to water in some form or the other. She welcomed the Knowledge Hub as a valuable resource to disseminate knowledge on this.
Dr R K Pachauri Director General, TERI   Dr Andreas Schild Director General, ICIMOD   Ms Aban Marker Kabraji Regional Director, IUCN Asia  

         
 


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