Lalitpur- An Open House was hosted by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on 6 March 2010. This Open House was the second part of the two-day ‘ICIMOD Nepal Day 2010’ event in which ICIMOD opened its doors to welcome its partners, the development community, and the public at large to a showcase of its work in Nepal and followed a workshop on its activities on 5 March 2010.

On the Open House, more than 3000 people visited the Headquarters complex of ICIMOD at Khumaltar where they got a glimpse of its work and learned about different ways mountain people can make a living; about climate change and its effects on water, glaciers, and glacial lakes; about the importance of biodiversity, mountain landscapes, and rangelands; and knowledge management with an Internet quiz, and demonstrations on geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) applications at MENRIS division. Visitors were also rapt by a documentary show on climate change and a drama performed by enthusiastic young theatre artists on conservation of biodiversity and natural resources. There was also a media briefing at which some thirty journalists challenged ICIMOD’s professionals with questions on glaciers, climate change, ‘REDD’ and other burning topics, followed by an award ceremony for the ICIMOD Competition for journalists ‘Media Reports on Climate Change in the Himalayas’ held last year. There were also other stalls in the ICIMOD premises of its partners: Tribhuvan University, Foundation for Sustainable Technologies (FOST) Nepal to name a few, with information ranging from biodiversity to alternative energy. 

Demonstration to a group of students on GIS & RS applications

 

Visitors at MENRIS Division

 

A demonstration on Transboundary Air Pollution using GIS & RS technology