Organized in collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute Nepal (IRRI), Alliance of Bioversity International and International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and International Livestock Research Institute Nepal (ILRI), partners in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR

Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has said that natural resources are the mainstay of a country's economic development. In particular, water resources play an important role in food security, energy development and sustainability of ecosystems.

Inaugurating the workshop NEXUS Gains for the Ganges Basin: Realising Multiple Benefits Across Water, Energy, Food, and Ecosystems (Forest, Biodiversity),” minister Bhusal said that the 15th Plan of the Government of Nepal aimed at making Nepal prosperous by sustainable use of water resources. Therefore, proper management of water resources will have to be done. “We need to expand our economic and social development by making proper use of water resources,” she said.

Organized in collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute Nepal (IRRI), Alliance of Bioversity International and International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and International Livestock Research Institute Nepal (ILRI), partners in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the participants shared their thoughts on opportunities and challenges to promote and institutionalise the water, energy, food and ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus approach in Nepal and identify potential activities within the framework of the NEXUS Gains initiative in the Ganges basin.

IWMI Nepal Office and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), in collaboration with the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation (DoWRI) of the Government of Nepal, have launched a new research-for-development initiative named “NEXUS Gains for the Ganges Basin: Realising Multiple Benefits Across Water, Energy, Food, and Ecosystems (Forest, Biodiversity).”

A global CGIAR initiative, NEXUS Gains will examine water, energy, food, and ecosystem (WEFE) systems in transboundary bread-basket basins in East and Southern Africa (Blue Nile and Limpopo basins), Central Asia (Aral Sea basin), and South Asia (Ganges and Indus basins).

Dipak Gyawali, an academic at the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology and a former Minister of Water Resources, moderated an interactive panel discussion on “A journey to water, energy, food, and ecosystem (WEFE) nexus approach for achieving sustainable growth and inclusive development in Nepal’’ chaired by Sagar Kumar Rai, Secretary, Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigations.

Dr. Manohara Khadka, Country Representative, IWMI-Nepal, also said that integrated management of water, energy, land, food, forests and biodiversity resources in a climate crisis can support achieving socio-economic transformation and gender equality. For those reasons, NEXUS Gains will support the agency of women, youth, and marginalised groups as important actors of the WEFE governance reports The Rising Nepal.