【event】International symposium 'Changing mountain environments in Asia' Tribhuvan University
Symposium: 7-9 October 2012 Field excursion: 10-11 October 2012
Theme: 'Changing Mountain Environments in Asia'
◆Major focuses: 1) Vulnerability, resilience and sustainability of land system in Asian mountains: This symposium aims to improve our understanding of the critical pathways of change in the land system, how vulnerability and resilience of the land system vary in response to changes in human-environment interactions, and how different institutions influence decision-making and governance for land system sustainability. The agenda includes land use/land cover change, dynamics of land system, consequences of land system changes, and integrated analysis and modeling for land sustainability.
2) Changing mountain environments in Asia: This symposium discusses the state-of-the-art knowledge and progress of research after the International Year of Mountains (IYM) on mountain hazards from the Middle Mountain landslide to high alpine GLOF, climate change and adaptation, tourism and livelihood, biodiversity, and nature conservation in Asian mountains. Tribhuvan University and Hokkaido University organized a symposium on mountain environments focusing on the Himalaya in 2000. This symposium is a continuous effort to understand the changes of mountain environments, broadening the coverage to Asian mountains even at global scale. The focus of the area is Asian mountains, but this symposium does not limit the areal coverage in Asia: perspectives of the local, regional and global scales can be discussed if they are related to Asian mountains.
This symposium contributes to the IYM + 10 and synthesizing phase of Global Land Project (GLP) issues.
◆Programme Highlights
Dates: Symposium: 7-9 October 2012 Field excursion: 10-11 October 2012 (Two-day field excursion, 'Changing land use and hazards in central Nepal: From the Kathmandu basin to Chitwan National Park')
Venue: Symposium: Hotel Himalaya, Kupondole Height, Lalitpur, Kathmandu (www.himalayahotel.com.np)
Field Excursion: Two days field excursion will be organized immediately after the Symposium on 10-11 October 2012. It will start from Kathmandu to Sauraha one of the tourist villages in Chitwan District. The participants will be introduced to 1. emerging commercial vegetable farming along the Prithivi Highway near Dharke; 2. extreme precipitation events of 1993 and 2003 and its consequences; 3. shifting cultivation; 4. gravity ropeway as a means of environmental friendly transportation; 5. community based disaster risk management; 6. land use and land cover change in Chitwan district with case from Sauraha.
The participants can also enjoy 1. Tharu museum in Sauraha; 2. Tharu cultural show; and iii) elephant riding.
Important dates: Early registration: Closed (30 May 2012) Late registration & abstract submission: 31 July 2012 Full paper submission for special issue: 31 October 2012 Online Registration http://2012mountainsympo.org/
【Organizing Committee】 Amber Prasad Pant, Faculty of Law, TU Bal Mukunda Bhandari, Executive Director, Centre for International Relation, TU Dean, Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, TU Dean, Institute of Forestry , TU Hideaki Shibata, Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, HU & Scientific Steering Committee member of GLP Kedar Rijal, Central Department of Environmental Science, TU Krishna Belbase, Nepal Law Campus, TU Madan Koirala, Assistant Dean, Institute of Science, TU Motilal Ghimire, Central Dept. of Geography, TU Narendra Man Shakya, Institute of Engineering, TU Narendra Raj Khanal, Central Department of Geography, TU Noriyuki Tanaka, Center for Sustainability Science, HU Pitambar Gautam, Creative Research Institution, HU Pramod Kumar Jha, Central Department of Botany, TU Pushkar Pradhan, Central Department of Geography, TU Takashi Kohyama, Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, HU Takanobu Sawagaki, Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, HU Teiji Watanabe, Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, HU & Executive Director of GLP Sapporo Nodal Office Yasuhiro Yamanaka, Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, HU
【Organizers】 Hokkaido University Tribhuvan University GLP Sapporo Nodal Office
【Supporting Organizations】 The Embassy of Japan in Nepal IFES-GCOE Office, Hokkaido University National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR North-South) South Asia Regional Office International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Nepal Mountaineering Association
This symposium is an event of Hokkaido University Sustainable Weeks 2012 (http://www.sustain.hokudai.ac.jp/sw/).
