Thursday, August 24, 2023

Waterloo University team in Nepal

Kathmandu, Aug. 22

 A team of experts and academicians from the University of Waterloo in Canada is in Nepal to study and understand the 'Role of tourism and social capital in post-disaster recovery'. The university is organising a two-day international workshop on the same topic on Tuesday and Wednesday in Kathmandu in collaboration with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada.

SSHRC is a Canadian federal research-funding agency that promotes and supports post-secondary research and training in humanities and social sciences.

Professors of the university, Sanjay Nepal, Brent Doberstein, Jacqueline Harper, Beth Palmer, Celina Maya Mohni and Dr. Eric O'Connell, Academician of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, Dipak Gyawali, and Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Tourism Board, Dhananjay Regmi, discussed the various aspects of tourism recovery, disasters and their impact on society.

CEO of National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority of Nepal, Anil Pokharel, shared Nepal's experience on reconstruction and recovery of cultural heritage and tourism sector after the 2015 earthquake.

Prof. Doberstein said that the university has been implementing a project on tourism, social/cultural capital and disaster recovery.

Prof. Nepal said that his team will also make a trip to mountain region of Nepal to conduct study to measure the impact of disaster and recovery efforts.

"The goal of our research is to analyse intersections between disaster recovery, cultural and social capital, and tourism, in order to improve disaster recovery and vulnerability reduction programme in developing countries," read a statement on the project website. It also said that tourism industry could be a key actor in disaster recovery.  

Member of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Dr. Ram Kumar Phuyal, will talk about climate resilient development initiatives to strengthen tourism sector in Nepal on Wednesday. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 23 August 2023.   

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