The Upper Indus Basin Network and Indus Forum Collaboration Meeting, a joint workshop, was conducted from 22–25 May 2017. A majority of the participants came from Afghanistan, China, India, and Pakistan, countries that share the transboundary Indus River Basin. Among the participants were senior government officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and several international organizations.
The key objective of the joint meeting was to synergize the efforts of institutions and individuals affiliated to the Upper Indus Basin Network (UIB-N) and the Indus Forum (IF) to generate and share knowledge on adaptation, climate, the cryosphere, water, and hazards and vulnerability; and support national governments in developing evidence-based policies to serve inhabitants of the Indus Basin.
The meeting facilitated the sharing of updates related to the state-of-the-art knowledge generated by UIB-N and IF,and featured discuss joint proposal development to better understand the impact of climate change and variability on water resources, energy, and agriculture. It explored avenues for the development of adaptation strategies at the local and basin levels.
The meeting also discussed the way forward for the Indus Forum Research Proposal and preparations for the Indus Basin Knowledge Forum to be held from 4 to 6 July 2017 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The workshop witnessed active participation from academicians, researchers, policy makers, development practitioners, and scientists—all of them with expertise, experience, and good knowledge on the Indus River Basin. The participants said that the event created a good platform for them to work towards fostering collaboration between UIB-N and IF. They expressed hope that through collaboration, knowledge sharing and policy engagement would provide valuable contributions to the governments and communities of the Indus Basin.
The report was co-funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Nepal.