e-discussion post

[Utsav Bhattarai]

Dear all, 

It is indeed commendable that an e-discussion on one of most important issues of the time - Water-Energy-Nexus in Nepal has been hosted here. My best wishes for the forum and hope there will be active participation from people who are related to the topic in some way or the other.  

Based on my discussion with Dr. Vishnu Pandey, I would like to share the following in this discussion forum. 

Need for the Nexus Approach?

·         Nexus approach integrates management and governance across sectors and scales

·         More integrated policy and decision making that accounts for external costs across sectors, space or time will have to complement (and maybe replace in due course) conventional approaches aimed at only improving sectoral resource productivity.

 

Challenges in operationalizing water-energy nexus in Nepal?

·         Sparse data/information available

·    Limited research carried out so far

·         Full life cycle assessments in terms of water and energy use are generally insufficient

·         No harmonized nexus database or analytical framework that could be used for monitoring or trade-off analyses; potential synergies between land, water and energy management, are not well understood.

·         Suitable spatial scale for analysis of nexus is still a debate

 

Ways forward

·         Governance, institutions and policy coherence: Given the unfortunate condition that social and environmental values are not always well served by markets, regulation and collective action promoted by social learning can help guide investments and innovation, so that negative externalities across sectors are minimized, benefits are shared equitably, and human rights are secured.

·         Learning platforms for social innovation and adaptive management can enable horizontal and vertical policy coherence.

·         Engaging stakeholders to build awareness and capacities about the interconnected nature of the elements of the nexus, share ways to minimize trade-offs, explore synergies and suggest actions for changing behaviors with regard to the nexus.

·         Improving policy development, coordination and harmonization to account for trade-offs and build on the increased interconnectedness of the nexus by promoting coordination, and identifying and eliminating contradictory policies

·         Governance, and integrated and multi-stakeholder resources planning to promote cross-sectoral and cross-departmental approaches to planning and working with stakeholders at different levels to improve public sector-led governances, planning and information flows

·         Promoting innovation to identify technological choices and investments that explore water-energy synergies and could be implemented to achieve desired changes on the ground

·         Influencing policies on trade, investment in environment/climate by focusing on improving ecosystem management to increase resource productivity, thus contributing to poverty alleviation and green growth. Specific investments could include:

o   Market-led resource pricing to account for local impacts (social and environmental costs of resource exploitation) and global impacts (contribution to climate change)

o   Investments in “smart” environmentally and socially sound infrastructure, especially that which is adaptive and focused at regional level. A key part of these investments should be investing in natural infrastructure.

o   Promoting more effective waste management by reducing waste and using it in more diverse ways in production

o   Stimulating development through economic incentives, including working with local stakeholders, and poor and rural populations to provide incentives to manage ecosystems.

·         Additional enabling conditions for a nexus approach include political will, activation of change agents, capacity building and awareness raising.

Thank you very much. 

Best regards

Utsav Bhattarai

Consultant Hydrologist

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Nepal Office

Jhamsikhel-3, Lalitpur

Ph: +977 1 5542306 / 5535252

Fax: +977 1 5535743

Email: u.bha...@cgiar.org