Training on Excel Macros Application in Statistical Data Analysis and Management

The Small Earth Nepal (SEN) organized a half day training programme for its members and staffs on ‘Excel Macros Application in Statistical Data Analysis and Management’ in the SEN office on 3 May 2013. Mr. Bhawani Shankar Dongol, Senior Program Officer, WWF, was the resource person for the training programme.

The training was designed to provide the members of SEN family with an insight into the application of Excel Macros on data analysis and management. There were a total of 10 SEN staffs and members participating in the training. The training was a part of series of activities that SEN has been conducting to capacitate its members, staffs and graduate students in Nepal in different areas of research and career development.

SEN staffs and members taking Excel Macros training at SEN Meeting Hall

Retreat Program at Bhotekoshi, 12-13 April 2013

-By Nicky Shree Shrestha

The Small Earth Nepal (SEN) organized a retreat program on 12^th and 13^th of April, 2013 with a white water rafting at Bhotekoshi. Bhotekoshi River means ‘River from Tibet’ and lays a few hours drive to the north east of Kathmandu. The Bhotekoshi is regarded as one of the best short white water rafting trips in the world. It is the steepest river that is rafted in Nepal, with continuous rapid action making this river a full-on commitment and a huge adrenaline rush.

Ready set to go for rafting

Around 6:30 in the morning, a group of 15 SEN family members gathered at SEN office from where the journey started. After three hours drive, the team reached resort at Sukute where they had their breakfast. After having breakfast, within 10 minutes of drive, the team reached the point from where the adventurous rafting was to be started. The requisites for rafting such as helmet, life jackets and paddles were provided. Two rafts were allocated for which the team was divided into two groups. A brief orientation of how to use paddles and other requisites along with safety measures was given by one of the guides. Two rescue kayaks were already in the ready position in case of any accidental events. One of them had camera to capture some good wild moments.

Team shouting while rafting

The adventure started from the very beginning of the rafting. It was indeed a unique combination of exceptional fun, thrill with continuous and challenging rapids. Along the river side, emerald green fields were seen and the curious village children lining along the suspension bridges were amazed as we plunged through cascading waves of running white water. The twisting, turning and plunging of raft resulted to the exhilarated shrieks of the team.

Raft plunging into the white water

The team had their lunch after two hours of rafting. As the rafting was continued, in one of the fastest rapids, one raft got somersaulted making all onboard plunged into the cold water and everyone started panicking, but thanks to the preventive gears, no one was injured. That part was the most thrilling one. The guides took the rafts to a side where there was an 18 ft. high cliff. Some of the members of team gave it a try and jumped off the cliff into the white water of Bhotekoshi which added an extra flavor of thrill and excitement.

Jumping off from 18 ft high cliff

Around 5pm in the evening, the team reached the resort at Sukute. After the group photography all dispersed to have fun of their own, playing volleyball, table tennis while some enjoyed the views around. There was an arrangement of campfire with barbeque party and everyone sang and danced.

Our one day home, TENT

Dinner was served at around 10 pm. After that everyone got to their tents and had a good night sleeps. The team was informed to be ready to return back to Kathmandu around 8 in the next morning. The next morning, after having breakfast, everyone got into the bus to return back. On the way, some of the members of our team decided to swim in Indrawati River at Dolalghat for about an hour whereas some were busy taking photographs. Around 1 pm, the team reached Kathmandu.

The rafting at Bhotekoshi was, without a doubt, one of the most exciting, adventurous and amazing retreat programs of the Small Earth Nepal.

Group photo of the team after rafting

(Photo credit: Endless Wave Adventure Nepal)

Ms. Roshana Maharjan attended “Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration in Studies on Mountain Recharge System of Groundwater in the Himalayas”

Ms. Roshana Maharjan, an intern, SEN, attended the workshop on “Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration in Studies on Mountain Recharge System of Groundwater in the Himalayas” on 17-18 January, 2013 at Hotel Himalaya, Lalitpur, Nepal. The program was jointly organized by the ICIMOD, GBPIHED and IDI which was divided into opening cum technical session I, technical session II and technical session III for the first day and plenary session I and II for the second day. The chairpersons were Dr. David Molden, Director General from ICIMOD; Dr. Subash Chand Dhiman, Former Chairman (retired) from Central Ground Water Board, Government of India; Dr. B.K. Sapkota, Professor from Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University; Dr. Rishi Ram Sharma, DG from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Government of Nepal; Dr. Kedar Lal Shrestha, Professor from Institute for Development and Innovation respectively for the sessions.

During the knowledge sharing session, various resource persons from India as well as Nepal presented about the status of various ground water system and their availability. The case studies of different places of India and Nepal were presented. The discussion took place in the various subjects like management of seasonal water scarcity, importance of research on groundwater etc. From the workshop, through the participants view, the issues and the respective remedies were listed out. Then from the discussion the major points were drafted as the framework for the future project on groundwater. Finally Mr. Kedar Lal Shrestha concluded the workshop by saying that knowledge generation is must before knowledge sharing and for the knowledge generation collaboration among the countries is of utmost importance.

Heartfelt Condolence !!

We, The Small Earth Nepal family, express our heartfelt condolence on the sad demise of Mr. Kunjarmani Bhattarai, father of Mr. Dilli Ram Bhattarai (Executive Member- The Small Earth Nepal) on 4 January 2013 at the age of 74.

We pray for the eternal peace of the departed soul and also pray for the family to accumulate strength to bear this loss.

Annual Retreat Program 5-6 January 2013

The Small Earth Nepal (SEN) organized an annual retreat program on 5^th and 6^th of January at Kalinchok, Dolakha. Situated at an altitude of 3800 m above the sea level, Kalinchok is famous for panoramic view of Himalayan range from Annapurna region to Everest region with Mt. Ganesh and Mt. Gauri Shanker with the closest.

A group of about 20 people including the SEN guests gathered at SEN office early in the morning. The journey started at 8 am in the morning from the office at Naya Baneshwor. The lunch was arranged at Khadichaur which is also known as Small Khasa. On the way, absolutely stunning views of the white snow covered glistening mountains and green hills could be observed.

The team then reached Kuri, a small valley, at 6 pm after the hustling and bustling ride. There was an arrangement of campfire and had a small program there. There was an introduction session in which each participant had introduced themselves. Mr. Dhiraj Pradhananga, President of The Small Earth Nepal highlighted the present, past activities of SEN including the future plans. Mr. Sudarshan Rajbhandari, Vice President of SEN made an announcement of handling over a letter of appreciation to Ms. Prasamsa Singh for her contribution to SEN. Other guests present in the retreat also gave their suggestions and advice for SEN and shared their views as well.

Early in the next chilly morning, hiking started for the small hill which is about 3800 meters from sea level. After about one and half hours of trek, we reached the Kalinchok Bhagwati temple at the top of the hill. The exhausted feelings after the trek fade away after reaching at the top and seeing such a panoramic view of the snow covered mountains all around.

Some lucky colleagues even got the sight of the sun rise view. The glowing orange beam of sun was seen spreading slowly over the mountains and then on the hills. The view at that time was eye catching. After photo session there, we headed down to Kuri, had our lunch and then to Dolakha Bhimsen Temple. We returned back to Kathmandu and reached around 8 pm.

Overall Annual SEN Retreat was a fun filled, highly enjoyable and memorable trip.

UNFCCC COP18 Highlights: By Marufa Ishaque, Bangladesh

SIMPLE BUT SPECIAL: UNFCCC COP18

Standing near the giant spider in QNCC

What a giant spider!!! It seems like an angry spider was coming towards me. But that was not a real one. Actually it used to be a very important landmark in Qatar National Convention Centre. If anyone wanted to meet anybody, he just called and asked to come near spider. We also used this landmark for a number of times, for a number of reasons.

I can clearly remember that shining morning day. After passing Persian Gulf, I found myself in a land of sands. Surely my perspective, feelings and experience is not similar to others. Everyone has eyes –can look at things at a time, but can see things differently, can use his brain and heart differently. I reached in a beautiful planned city, Doha, which is the capital of Qatar. I observed and perceived the city, the people, the culture, tall buildings, sea, sky and most importantly COP18.

Bird’s eye view of the Persian Gulf

Doha city

Finally we four reached in Doha on 30 November, 2012 to attend COP18. I am from Bangladesh, Timila Dhakhwa from Nepal, Rozita Singh from India and Netra Chap from Combodia.

Qatar National Convention Centre was the venue of UNFCCC COP18.

COP means conference of parties. It is the highest and most important climate change conference in the world. Different government negotiators, IGO, NGO people, scientists, journalists, press come and discuss the issues related directly or indirectly with climate change. Sometimes they talk about mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage etc. Really, it needs a lot of patience in doing such negotiations – I think.

Not all the people can understand all the things and all the processes during COP. There are different subsectors in climate change, like policy, finance, culture, health, food security etc.

If anyone ask me about my first impression, I could only say…”I LOST”…then I found myself in the middle of an event, running behind the big big persons to give our declaration.

I think I should say something about this declaration. This declaration is the outcome of Asia-Pacific Graduates’ Youth Forum.  40 Youth from 13 different countries gathered in Nepal in September and came up with this declaration. We five are the luckiest who had given chance to go to COP and present the Asia-pacific youth voice in that global platform.

With Professor Jean Pascal, IPCC Vice Chair

On our first day in COP, we met the Asian Youth Group; we actually tried to explore QNCC and the events around. The next day we attended “Global youth forum on mountain issues and green solutions” in Climate Change Studio. There we met many youth leaders came from different organizations.

After lunch, from my side I can say that I experienced the highest excitement in Doha-we went for desert safari.  It was really a breath-taking adventure on sand dunes. I also discovered some unforgettable landscapes in that mysterious desert. We saw the inland sea near the Qatar-Saudi Arabian border. After the adventure, we went to the desert camp. These were like Bedouin style tents, carpeted with traditional seating. We had some tea and photos with camel there and also enjoyed the blue water of the Gulf. After this exciting time we returned to Doha Exhibition Centre. From there we started our journey with others for NGO Party. That party was a very good place for interaction with people coming from different corners.

With our Palestine guide Muhammad

Sea….sea….sea….

Unforgettable Landscape………

On 2^nd December, the whole day, we were in World Climate Summit. It was a very important side-event held in The Ritz-Carlton Hotel. There we met Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCC; Professor Jean Pascal, IPCC vice Chair and many other important persons. The next day we joined another side event. It was Mountain Day-2 organized by ICIMOD.

I met many Bangladeshi delegates during COP. I met the Hon. Minister of the Ministry of Forest and Environment- Dr. Hasan Mahmud; the secretary and assistant secretaries of this ministry. I also met the secretary of the Ministry of Disaster and Relief and many other NGO, youth and presses. According to our previous plan, we, the Bangladeshi youth wore the same t-shirt which was designed as Bangladeshi flag. That experience was wonderful. People came and took photos with us, they talked about Bangladesh, our experiences etc.

With the Hon. Minister of the Ministry of Forest and Environment, Bangladesh

I went early to attend the YONGO meeting on 4 December. Nearly all the young people of COP became a part of this group. Youth discuss about the negotiations, the activities, side-events etc and also share their opinion on a particular issue. Not only that but also they raised their voice where it was needed. I also took part in some Youngo activities. But I thought that this group is somewhat very much activist sometimes. Asian Youth organized a world café on 4 December, which was a very good platform for us to share our declaration.

One of the several activities of Youngo where I joined

There was also a great event that I liked a lot was “Momentum for Change.” There were some ‘lighthouse projects” that were awarded for their great activities. I tried to attend plenary, but it was very boring for me that time.

We also visited Souq Waqif, Villagio, Museum of Islamic Art, Katara Cultural Village, Aspire Tower, Corniche  etc. The time was flying. So, we had to see places within very short time. Our Qatar exploration came to an end on 7 December.

We four: Netra Chap from Cambodia, Timila Dakhwa from Nepal, Marufa Ishaque from Bangladesh and Rozita Singh from India (from left to right)

I heard a lot about climate change during the entire COP, also collected a lot of reading materials. But the feelings and understanding I got from this conference is very simple but very very special.

We have some knowledge about what is happening, what climate change is, its impact, mitigation, adaptation etc. but there are many people who don’t bother. Slum people of my country passing a very tough life, they can’t fulfill their basic needs, even don’t have a sound sleep at night or sufficient food.

People are talking about global warming, sea level rise…do they bother? NO. Why?

We are talking about equity, talking about rights. We have thousands of welfare projects, but have corruption and lack of proper implementation. It is needed to make every person a powerful soldier and walk together.

It’s now my journey to walk for the answer and to seek for a better solution.

Doha Reflection: By Rozita Singh, India

Our experience at COP18, Doha as Asia Pacific Youth representatives

40 participants from 13 different countries came together to participate in the ‘Asia Pacific Youth Forum on Green Economy’ held in Kathmandu, organised by: The Small Earth Nepal (SEN), the Consortium for Capacity Building (CCB) at INSTAAR at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the Asia Pacific Mountain Network (APMN) of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). It was a 5 day long learning programme focused on understanding the concept of Green economy through lectures, field visits and knowledge sharing.

At the end of the forum, we collectively came up with an outcome document which was to be disseminated during COP18 in Doha, Qatar. It demanded 6 action points as a youth appeal: Green Entrepreneurship; Sustainable Energy; Low carbon economy; Climate change adaptation; Collaboration, Policy Implementation and Monitoring; Youth Empowerment and Inclusiveness.

(https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5ou-4sv4VO_b2QyckdwVy1GWFE/edit)

For this purpose, I along with 3 other participants were selected by the organisers.

From Left to Right: Rozita Singh from India, Timila Dhakwa from Nepal, Marufa Ishaque from Bangladesh and Netra Chap from Cambodia

The agenda for our week long stay in Doha, was to give out our declaration, copies of which we were carrying on recycled paper. In addition, we spoke about the document and the ideas highlighted in it on Mountain Day 2, which was organised by ICIMOD as a side event during COP (held on December 3).

We also attended various sessions at Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC), the venue for the conference, with topics ranging from informal meet of ad-hoc working group on LCA, discussions on green climate fund, finance for adaptation, solid waste management session by ISWA etc. We also attended our country briefings and side events. Two of us also got a chance to interact with Lord Nicholas Stern (the famed author of the Stern Report).

Interaction with Lord Nicholas Stern

The third annual World Climate Summit (held on December 2) was one of our most memorable experiences. We met climate leaders from various organisations and countries including the IPCC vice chair Professor Jean Pascal.  We spoke about our declaration to almost everyone we met and ‘promoting green entrepreneurship through the Green Climate fund (GCF)’ was the centre stage of our discussions.

Besides professional and personal growth, COP18 gave us an opportunity to network with youth delegates from across the world.

Asian youth delegates from China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Myanmar, Pakistan came together to revive the ‘Asian Youth Climate Network’.  Preparations for this began a month before reaching Doha and during our stay there, we met regularly and organised Knowledge cafe sessions. We shared our learnings at a mini side event on the last day and came up with a strategic plan for future on how to keep this movement on and encourage youth environment action in our countries. We plan to stay in touch throughout the year as a group united for a common cause. Attending this conference, gave us a broader perspective and the ‘larger picture’ only motivated us more towards working for the environment with even more dedication.

At the mini side event on 7 December, L to R: Youth delegate from Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea and me from India

Group pic with all the Asian youth delegates

Fore more visit: http://rozitasingh.blogspot.in/2012/12/cop-experience-part-2-highlights-of-my.html