The workshop was attended by the representatives of GWPO, GWP China Region, GWP Central Asia and Caucasus Region (CACENA), GWP South Asia Region (GWP SAS), GWP South East Asia Region (SEA) and the Researches and Experts from Government Ministries, United Nations (UN), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Universities based in China. The delegation from GWP SAS included, Dr Lam Dorji, Chair (Designated); Ms Priyanka Dissanayake, Regional Coordinator (GWP SAS), Mr Lal Induruwage, Programme Manager, regional Water and Climate Resilience Programme (WACREP); Mr Md Waji Ullah, Executive Director, Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services, Bangladesh; Mr Padma Dorje Gyamba, Superintending Engineer, India; Mr Som nath Poudel, Vice President of Nepal/JVS Water Partnership; Mr Naseer Ahmad Gillani, Joint Secretary and Chair of Pakistan Water Partnership and Ms Badra Kamaldasa, Chair, Sri Lanka Water Partnership. The GWPO team was headed by Mr Rudolph Cleveringa, acting Executive Secretary who also conducted the introductory speech at the inauguration.
The workshop was a follow up to several discussions held between representatives of the four Asian Regional Water Partnerships (RWPs) of Central Asia and Caucasus, China, South Asia and South-East Asia held since 2014 on how to work more closely together in areas of common interests to the region. One thematic area which was clearly identified by all the RWPs as adequate for initiating cooperation was the issue of floods. The workshop promoted the exchange of experiences, knowledge sharing, capacity building, project development and other forms of cooperation on the common issues of floods and ways to better manage them. The first step in establishing a framework for cooperation between the RWPs on further topics of shared interests (eg. Climate resilience, disaster risk reduction, Sustainable Development Goals and urban Water Management) and developing a common workprogramme were the other two agenda items of the workshop.
The experts from the regions and GWPO and officials from specific agencies who work on water and natural resources shared their experiences and knowledge in the sessions of flood forecasting, monitoring, warning and responses, flood management in urban settings, community based approaches to flood management and flood management practices in changing climate. The sessions on developing a memorandum of understanding and a framework for regional cooperation and developing a joint regional project on flood management were devoted for establishing a strategic plan of action among the regions. A draft concept note for a joint regional project on flood management was presented and the workshop was concluded with a discussion on the key issues, opportunities, funding sources, milestones and timeframe for project development.
Research Centre on Flood and drought Disaster Reduction (CDR), WMO/GWP Associated Programme and Flood Management (APFM) and International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) have co-organised the workshop.