Asia Pacific workshop on forests and water 2013

Akham Bonbirdhwaja Singh *

Pine forest in Chingkheiching Reserve Forest :: Pix - Manipur Forest Department

The Asia Pacific Workshop on Water and Forests was held on 23rd to 25th September, 2013 at the historic and national heritage building of FRI (Forest Research Institute), Dehradun. Designed by CG Blomfield in Greco-Roman style, the FRI building was a masterpiece of architecture and a befitting venue for such an important international event. The convocation hall of FRI, which is grand, antique and spacious, where the presentations were held, was simply magnificent with all its old glory. The photographs of many of the world's best and famous foresters were the onlookers of the grand event. The white capped dark green Himalayas always stood on our back as stark reminder to the world delegates about the urgency of the matter and our sheer unpreparedness.

The workshop was organised by FRI of India in association with APAFRI (Asia Pacific Association of Forest Research Institutions) and Korea Forest Research Institute, Republic of Korea. The organising partners were the Uttarakhand Council of Science and Technology (UCOST), Uttarakhand Forest Department, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), and the Indian National Science Academy (INSA).

The Technical partners were the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, Central Soil and Water Conservation, Research and Training Institute (CSWCRTI), Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology,(WIHG) etc. The workshop was attended by delegates from fifteen countries and there were many participants from universities like IIT, Roorkee, HNB Himalayan University, Srinagar, FRI University, Dehradun and others. Altogether, there were 125 participants, and was one of the well attended workshops.

The theme of the workshop was "Forest and Water-beyond traditional forest hydrology" and naturally, the emphasis was on forest soil and water conservation and more than three fourths of the papers were directly or indirectly on soil conservation. According to the Executive Secretary, APAFRI, Dr. Sim Heok Choh, the workshop was planned two years back and finalised five months back. It was a timely workshop at the present day context, but the nature thought otherwise. Had the workshop been held earlier, sometimes back, perhaps we could have been better prepared for the devastation of June 16 and 17 this year at Kedarnath, Chamoli and other hill stations of Uttarakhand which caused a high loss of human life and property or such catastrophe could have been avoided, who knows. It was in the back of the mind of all the delegates.

There was one presentation each from eleven countries like China, South Korea, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, and Nepal in the form of country presentations. Further, there were over 50 presentations on six themes as theme based presentations. The six themes adopted for the workshop are as follows:

1. Forest Hydrology and climate change
2. Hydrological regulatory services of Forests
3. Forest influence on precipitation and microclimate
4. Effect of forest management practices and disturbances on quality and quantity of water
5. Forest as source of water; managing for livelihoods and food security
6. Frontiers of Research and Application of Modern tools and techniques in forest hydrology.

The themes were well covered with adequate number of papers and presentations, it was an enlightening experience. There were many research findings discussed in the form of over 50 papers, and many were innovative and path breaking ones. The one by Mr. Guang Zhou of China was immaculate in preparation; one by Mr. L.A. Bruijnzeel of Netherlands was most revolutionary in concept. Mr. Bruijnzeel's paper reminded me of the statement of Prof. HJ van Hensbergen (Berty) in Sweden that forestry land use lowers water level, which we in India find hard to take.

After the presentations, I had a discussion with Dr. Bruijnzeel on his presentation and the hydrology in the lean season in the forested areas and need for more standardisation of the findings. Out of the six themes, the themes 1 and 5 were extensively covered with good papers. Shri A.K. Rana, IFS, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Manipur presided over the technical session on theme No. 5 on the second day. The paper on Garhwal Himalayas from Dr. R.S. Negi from HNB Garhwal Central University was good considering the recent devastation. Most of the foreign delegates also participated in the theme No. 1. It could have been excellent had a few of them given substantive conclusions.

By the end, the workshop recommended that many of the research findings need to be translated in to action in the field. It was felt that the research findings need to be shared between institutions and departments.

One important understanding that has arrived is that water is a global issue and countries, particularly neighbours should come together. Another finding, rather agreement was that water issue is an ecosystem issue and is not going to be solved by pipes and tapes alone. The ecosystem issues are to be addressed to solve water issues.

The paper on harvesting stem flow of rainwater by Shri JMS Tomar was a new approach and interesting one. The percolation trenches shown in the Selakui centre of CSWCRTI during field trip were good examples of natural harvesting of rainwater for underground and subsurface water recharging. These trenches could be a method of surplus management during peak rainy season. The simple method of laying out of the trenches in the field was good and practical.

Personally, I feel that papers like one presented by Mr. Maqsudur Rahman of Bangladesh and paper on SLEM project by Shri Saibal Dasgupta on the packages for looking after people who have sizeable stakes in the landscape were good and more should have been there. It could have been a chance to study more on holistic approaches for stabilising hydrological regimes of catchments. There were many papers of high quality on various techniques or species on the water efficiency. Most of the experts picked up individual species or techniques for their studies. The papers on human angles of the issue were to the minimum.

It was not a fault of organisers, it only reflects the current state where we stand in terms our preparedness and research priorities. It shows that our researches have to widen their scope and more researchers have to join this field. Secondly, one of the themes could have been on the practical experiences of the various practices and packages adopted in different countries and their efficacy could have made points of discussion in the workshop.

There was a side show from and organised by the ICIMOD with main focus on mountains and development problems in the Hindukush Himalayas. The Hindukush Himalayas and its river basins extend to almost half of Europe, South Asia, China and many ASEAN countries including our neighbour, Myanmar. The impact of climate on glaciers was well presented. It amply showed that water is a real global issue. Mr Eklabya and his team came well prepared. The sight of threatened towers of water like ice caps, glaciers, mountain snows were truly worrying and disturbing.

The delegates from Manipur made their presentation on the human issues in soil and water conservation with particular reference to the Shifting cultivation. The hydrologic cycles are greatly affected by livelihood activities of human beings and hence, human angle is an important aspect in water issues. The human issues such as multi-ethnicity, land use habits, lack of land and survey records and land titles; population explosion and key drivers generated out of these man-related factors were also discussed in the paper.

The composite treatment methods and other subsidiary methods were also cited in the paper. The delegates from Manipur comprised of the Shri A.K. Rana, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and the author. Manipur was the only state from North East and Eastern India to have presented a paper in the workshop. In fact, the workshop has a high relevance to the mountainous regions of the North East with regards to water issues and forest hydrology.

Due to the nature of natural factors that influence hydrology, transnational and transboundary cooperation was accepted to be the urgent requirement (remember, this year 2013 has been declared International Year of Water Cooperation by the UN). Nations have to put science above politics. Networking and information sharing can save thousands of lives if it is advance information of few hours, and if it one or two days advance warning which is very much possible, it can save lives as well as properties worth millions and such cooperation costs nothing.

The minimum level of such data sharing can be starting point, either data or result or information, any sharing shall be win win situation. Of course, sharing and cooperation has been hard nut to crack, even at Institutional or departmental level inside the country, globally, it could be a tall order. A little has been heard even in this year of international water cooperation. However, institutions like ICIMOD and APAFRI can lay the foundation for such ventures having transnational presence.

Dr. Sim, Executive Secretary of APAFRI even proposed that we have need for transboundary hydrological projects and we must implement them. The group presentation and panel discussion were attended by Dr. Rajendra Dobhal, Director, UCOST, Dr. R.D. Singh, Director, NIH, Roorkee, Dr. Sim Heok, APAFRI and Chaired by Dr. Bhojvaid of FRI, India. Now that the workshop has shown us the path and required impetus to move forward in this field, the job in front of the member countries is to take maximum benefit of the recommendations and translate the research findings in to actions in the field.

Last year, I brought the readers a few articles on water issues, right to water as human right, river riparian zone protection for soil and water conservation and others. Seeing how much of riparian zones of rivers Alaknanda and Ganga in Uttarakhand have been grossly encroached and misused and what a heavy price we had to pay on 16th and 17th June this year, I found that this workshop would not have been more appropriately timed. There were enough papers on the hydrology of Himalayas of Uttarakhand and mountains of Western Ghats, which were encouraging signs. Such studies are essential for North East too.

This workshop should certainly send its message to the people of North East, which is more mountainous and much wetter in terms of annual precipitation, where chances of severe catastrophes are high. The mudslides and landslides we had in the past were small examples and reminders. We have known what we can do with water, drink, swim, fish, irrigate, make hydel power, do boating and what nots. But, we have been shown this time, what water can do to us. So, it is time to get prepared.

(My congratulations to Dr. Sim, the Executive Secretary, APAFRI, Dr. Bhojvaid, Director, FRI, India, Dr. M.P. Singh, Convener of the Workshop, the Director, Korean FRI for the grand success of the Workshop)