Sustainable irrigation development: knowledge generation for Karnali-Mohana River Basin

Pandey, Vishnu Prasad; Dhaubanjar, Sanita; Bharati, Luna. 2017. Sustainable irrigation development: knowledge generation for Karnali-Mohana River Basin. In Nepal. Department of Irrigation. Proceedings of the 10th National Irrigation Seminar on Climate Smart Innovation for the Sustainable Irrigation Development, Nagarkot, Kathmandu, 1-2 June 2017. Lalitpur, Nepal: Department of Irrigation. pp.39-50.

Water resources planning and management requires technical knowledge as well as social and environmental considerations and enabling environment for sustainable and equitable development. In this context, this paper highlights the Digo Jal Bikas project which is using a multi-disciplinary framework to generate science-based understanding required for sustainable irrigation development. The project is creating a knowledgebase including an inventory of irrigation and hydropower projects; water availability under current and future climatic conditions; environmental flows requirements for various types of river systems; tradeoff analysis of various water resources development scenarios; and water governance analysis. We present here how the project is generating such a multi-disciplinary knowledgebase that is key for promoting sustainable irrigation development in the Karnali-Mohana basin in the western Nepal.