Gywali added, “When climate change kicks in, it’s through water that society will be most affected...the way to reduce physical uncertainty is through better science.”

The launch of the book was followed by a discussion featuring Laxmi Prasad Devkota, Chair of Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Development Committee; Narendra Man Shakya, professor at the Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk; and Arun Bhakta Shrestha, Senior Climate Change Specialist at ICIMOD. Each presenter shared his research on how climate change is affecting the country’s water resources. Shrestha noted that while the projected average flow of many rivers in the region has shown little change, an increase in extreme events, like floods and droughts, emphasises the need for more research on the variability in the flow of the region’s water resources. “In the timeframe we looked at, our research predicts that glaciers will reduce in size, but while reducing they will keep on generating more water until a certain point,” he said. “In addition, although there are still high levels of uncertainty, precipitation is also projected to increase. It might be more important to take a look at the extremes.”