Kathmandu, March 16

The government and stakeholders organisations are marking ‘National Water and Weather Week-2017 from March 17 to 23.

According to Nepal National Water and Weather Week 2017 organising committee, a bicycle rally will be taken out from Patan Durbar Square on the first day of the event. The rally will be taken through Shankhamul, UN Park and Pulchowk before converging at Jawalakhel. A walkathon will also be organised on the same day.

On second day on Saturday, a programme will be held to clean the Bagmati River. Similarly, Water Sanitation and Hygiene Olympiad will also be held on the same day.

Public awareness campaign on March 19, Eighth National Groundwater Symposium on March 20, Hydro-meteorological Exhibition and talk programmes on March 21, weather workshop and Weather Forecasting Centre visit on March 22 and World Meteorological Organisation Day celebrations on March 23 have been scheduled for the week-long celebrations.

Nepal National Water and Weather Week 2017 organising committee said altogether 64 organisations would participate in various events and programms. More than 50 organisations, including governmental agencies, I/NGOs, private sector, academia, media houses have been organising week-long programs since 2008 under an umbrella network of Nepal National Water and Weather Week to commemorate these two special days. The consortium is led by the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat.

World Water Day is celebrated annually on March 22 for taking action on water crisis. This international day was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the Earth Summit. The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating March 22, 1993 as the first World Water Day.

Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater. This year UN-Water has dedicated World Water Day 2017 to the theme wastewater and the campaign, ‘Why waste water?’

Each year, on March 23, the World Meteorological Organisation and the worldwide meteorological community celebrate World Meteorological Day around a chosen theme. The theme of the World Meteorological Day for 2017 is “Understanding Clouds”.

In 2015, countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Over the next fifteen years, with these new goals that universally apply to all, countries will mobilise efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind.