SAARC Youth Scientific Conference begins in capital

Published On: June 5, 2019 03:27 PM NPT By: Jashma Sainju

KATHMANDU, June 5: A two-day conference on Science and Technology for Prosperity: “Connecting Lives with Land, Water and Environment has started in the capital on Wednesday.

Amid a function held in Lalitpur, former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal inaugurated the conference organized by Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Forests and Environment of Province 3 organized the conference in collaboration with Central Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (CDHM) under the Tribhuvan University.

Addressing the event, the former prime minister said that young scientists should work hard in their field and contribute to eliminating acute poverty in Nepal. "The government should invest in the field of science and technology," he said.

Leader Nepal also said that Nepal can become prosperous by harnessing natural resources including water, land, and forest.

Apart from the SAARC member states, young scientists of Germany, UK, and Finland are also attending the event.

A total of 16 young scientists from various countries are scheduled to make their presentations.

According to the organizer, the motto of the program is to utilize the latest science and technology for the preservation of land, water, and environment to achieve sustainable development and prosperity. The conference has been devised to share valuable experiences of young scientists, in the SAARC region, who are working in the areas of climate, land, water, forest, agriculture, tourism, industry, and overall environment, the organizer said on its official website.

"In particular, natural resource management is the key area of the platform which the conference is supposed to create," the organizer said talking about the climate change effects in this region. It said that Himalayas of Nepal are the key components of the larger ecosystem encompassing the lower Himalayas, Gangetic plain and the whole Ganga river system.

"This means a change in the status of Himalayas would definitely affect the whole SAARC region. This international conference is expected to bring together the experiences of the scientists in natural resource management of the SAARC region who are connected in one way or other with this magnificent ecosystem," it said.