Dr Hester Biemans, Co-Principal Investigator for the Himalayan Adaptation, Water and Resilience (HI-AWARE) Research project from Alterra, attended a briefing seminar entitled “Water Resources in the Himalayas: Turning the Tide toward Cooperation” at the European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS) in Brussels on 28 May 2015.

In one of the afternoon sessions, Dr Biemans sat on a panel chaired by Dr Alexander Spachis, the former EU ambassador to Nepal, and presented the work of HI-AWARE, which is essentially a Himalayan research programme on climate change vulnerability, resilience and adaption, to a very mixed audience of EU policymakers, academics, researchers and representatives from civil society groups and embassies and missions to the EU.

Among her co-panelists were Mr Patrick Worms, Senior Science Policy Adviser at the World Agroforestry Centre, Mr Nicholas Hanley, Head of the Unit to the International Relations and Enlargement at DG Environment and Mr Huang Yiyang, councilor, Head of the Political Section at the Chinese Mission to the EU.

HI-AWARE, one of the four research consortia of the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA), is currently being implemented in 12 study sites in the mountains, hills and plains of the Indus, Upper Ganga, Gandaki and Teesta river basins in Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Dr Biemans also met with two of Mr Patrick Worms’ colleagues from Kunming (China) who coordinate the Building Effective Water Governance in the Asian Highlands project. Funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and working in different parts of the Himalayas, and already nearing completion, the project’s structure and objectives are very similar to HI-AWARE’s, so HI-AWARE has an opportunity to learn from their experiences over the past years.

Following her return from Brussels, Dr Biemans reported that EIAS has agreed to help HI-AWARE with the communication and dissemination of its project results and with policy recommendations in Brussels. This is also in line with the mandate of EIAS, a leading Brussels-based think tank and policy research centre that provides a platform for the promotion of dialogue and understanding between the European Union and Asia on affairs of strategic regional and global importance.

As the EIAS office is located in the heart of Brussels, HI-AWARE can look forward to benefiting from their contacts and knowledge to, in turn, strengthen its own Research into Use component.