ENGAGING YOUTH IN WATER RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT
March 22, 2022
Key Persons and Speakers Profile
H.E. Mrs. Suchitra Durai, embassador of India to Thailand
Since joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1988, Suchitra Durai has served in various capacities both at Headquarters and abroad.
She has served as High Commissioner of India to Kenya, as India’s Ambassador to Somalia and as Permanent Representative of India to the UN offices in Nairobi (UNON) from October 2015 to October 2018. From October 2015 to mid-2016 she also served as India’s Ambassador to Eritrea.
Prior to this she was the Director General dealing with Sri Lanka, Maldives and the Indian Ocean Region in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), New Delhi from 2014-2015. From 2012 to 2014 she was Director General for Consular Affairs.
Her earlier stints at the Government of India include that of Director and Acting Head of the Division in MEA dealing with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Maldives in 2007; Deputy Secretary and Head of the External Relations Division of the Department of Atomic Energy in Mumbai from 1998-2001; Desk Officer for Disarmament and International Security Affairs in MEA from 1993-96 and Desk Officer for Western Europe from 1992-1993.
She has served abroad as Minister (Culture) and Director of the Indian Cultural Centre at Cairo from 2009-2012; as Counsellor at Embassy of India in Vienna and Alternate to the Governor for India at the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency from 2001-2006; as First Secretary in the Embassy of India in Buenos Aires from 1996-1998 and as Third Secretary (Language Trainee)/Second Secretary at the Embassy of India, Madrid from 1990-1992.
She has an M.A in English and M.Phil in Defence Studies from the University of Madras. She is an alumni of the 48th course (2008) of the National Defence College at New Delhi.
She is married to Ambassador (Retd) R. Swaminathan who retired in 2015 as Permanent Secretary in the MEA, and they have a daughter and a son.
Mr. Suriyan Vichitlekarn, Executive Director, MI
As Mekong Institute's Executive Director beginning on September 1, 2020, Mr. Suriyan Vichitlekarn steers the strategic planning and implementation of the intergovernmental organization's human resource development, capacity strengthening, and research efforts to spur the acceleration of sustainable socioeconomic development and poverty alleviation in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).
Recognized as a respected development leader and regional integration advocate, Mr. Suriyan holds over 15 years of experience in delivering innovative approaches and sustainable practices across his specialized areas of agriculture and rural development, public- private partnership, and trade facilitation in the GMS and Southeast Asia.
Before taking the helm at MI, Mr. Suriyan was the Deputy Cluster Coordinator for Food and Agriculture of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Thailand and Spokesperson of the Agriculture Working Group under the GIZ Sector Network for Natural Resources and Rural Development in Asia and the Pacific.
As Deputy Cluster Coordinator, Mr. Suriyan spearheaded project steering and management, as well as partnership development in the food and agriculture sectors across the GMS. He, as the Regional Project Director of the Better Rice Initiative Asia from 2014 to 2017, also ushered several rice-related initiatives, which continue to be adapted and implemented by major rice-producing countries across Southeast Asia today.
In addition, Mr. Suriyan carries an extensive international development network, having assumed key positions at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat in Indonesia, and the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center. He remains one of the most sought-after and prolific speakers for his macro- and micro-level perspectives on agricultural development in high-level knowledge exchange and dialogue-sharing platforms organized by international and regional organizations such as ADB, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, ASEAN, FAO, the Greater Mekong Subregional Economic Cooperation, and the Sustainable Rice Platform. Mr. Suriyan has also contributed to numerous research and policy studies, including being the lead author of the ASEAN Integrated Food Security Framework.
Mr. Suriyan is a Thai national and graduate of Faculty of Fisheries at Kasetsart University, Thailand. He completed his master's degree program on Management of Agricultural Knowledge Systems (MAKS) at the Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands.
Mr. Madhurjya Kumar Duta, Director of TIF, MI
Mr. Madhurjya Kumar Dutta is currently the Director, Trade and Investment Facilitation Department of the Mekong Institute. He also served as the Director/Chief of Party of the MekongSustainable Manufacturing Alliance (MSMA) a regional program funded by USAID and implemented by the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) a US based international organization.
Earlier, Mr. Dutta served as Research Director of the Economic Institute of Cambodia (EIC) and Adviser of the Cambodia India Entrepreneurship Development Institute. He was also conferred as an Honorary Advisor to the Government of Cambodia through a royal decree by the Prime Minister and the King of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Mr. Dutta has over 24 years of experience in the development sector. His key areas of interest are enterprise development, trade and investment facilitation and sustainability issues. He has designed and implemented several development projects on MSME development, value chain integration, cross border trade, market access, eCommerce, sustainable transport and logistics, sustainable tourism etc in the GMS countries. He was also consulted by the UNESCAP, ADB, World Bank, ILO, IOM, ITC, GIZ, UNDP among others. Mr. Dutta has also published several articles and research papers in reputed journals and magazines.
Mr. Dutta earned his MS in Regional Development Planning and Management from Technical University of Dortmund, Germany, Master’s degree from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.
Assoc. Prof Dr. Buapun Promphakping, Director of CSNM, KKU
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Buapun Promphakping completed his Ph.D. in Economics and International Development from the University of Bath. He is now a director of Ph.D. Development Sciences of Department of Social Development, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University, and also a leader of Research Group on Wellbeing and Sustainable Development.
Currently, his research has a focus on wellbeing which links with other wider topic such as welfare, health, tobacco control, environment, governance, and climate change. He also a Director of Center for Civil Society and Nonprofit Management, a newly established center supported by USAID. The Centre strives to promote university programs in order to create new leaders for Nonprofit sector in Thailand and in ASEAN. The Centre also dedicates to improve management of Civil Society Organization.
More at https://csnm.kku.ac.th/about/our-team/assoc-prof-dr-buapun-promphakping
Shri Suneel Kumar Arora, Advisor in National Water Mission
Shri Suneel Kumar Arora, IDSE, is currently working as Advisor in National Water Mission under Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Govt of India. He is an officer of Indian Defence Service of Engineers (IDSE) of 1987 batch, presently on deputation to Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation through Central Staffing scheme.
He has been graduated in Civil Engineering from IIT Roorkee in 1986 and completed his Post graduation in Structures [M.Tech (Structure)] from IIT Mumbai in 1988. He is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of Institution of Engineers (India) and permanent member of Indian Buildings Congress.
Before joining in NWM on deputation in July 2019 he has served as Commander Works Engineer in Air Force Station Palam where he was entrusted with the responsibility of Project planning and implementation of all Air Force infra works in Western Air Command sector under Ministry of Defence. He has more than 32 years of professional experience in several Govt positions. During his professional career, he has successfully delivered several projects of Army, Air force, Navy which included several strategic infrastructure and habitat related works for Defence forces including Runways, Hangars, Jetties, Building, Roads, several large Military Hospitals, Water supply, Electric supply and other services working in one of the largest government infrastructure agency in the country i.e. Military Engineer Services. In his parent department besides several recognitions he has also been conferred with Engineer-in-Chief Commendation Certificate given for his important and active role in the execution of Air field Lighting Works on runway of Air Force Station Bakshi-ka-Talab Lucknow.
In the present capacity as Advisor in National Water Mission he is working on Impact of climate change on water resources, Water Conservation, Increase in water Use Efficiency in all three sectors, namely Domestic, Agriculture and Industries and Promotion of basin level integrated water resources management. Basically, he is working on making citizens and state aware about water conservation, Rainwater harvesting and water use efficiency through workshops, trainings, webinars etc.
He was actively involved in organizing National Water Mission awards function held in Sep 2019 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi as well as he is actively involved in organizing series of lectures titled “Water Talks” and “Water Tech Talks” which are held on every second and third Friday of the month respectively.
He focuses on bringing a behavioural change in the minds of masses for conservation of water. He is a force behind awareness in water conservation and Water use efficiency. He is driving the national agenda on water conservation and management, especially the “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” campaign” that reaches out to every citizen across the country. He is actively involved in running the portal of Management of Information System (MIS) as well as Mobile App for “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch The Rain” campaign.
Dr. Supapap Patsinghasanee, Director of Water Operation Center
Supapap Patsinghasanee is a Director of Water Operation Center of Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Thailand from 2005 to present. He obtained a Ph.D. in (Field Engineering for the Environment) from the Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Japan. Moreover, he has published 14 articles in the peer-reviewed papers and participated 18 international conferences in field of water resources engineering and hydraulic engineering.
His works are mainly related to develop and operate flood and drought warning and forecasting systems in Thailand by applying the techniques of hydrology, water resources management and hydraulic engineering. Additionally, he was installed telemetry systems in the floodplain area and early warning systems in the mountainous area.
One of his major research goals is use the fundamental techniques of fluid mechanics, sediment transport, and applied mathematics to treat interesting river engineering problems. Related research includes mechanics of bank failure, river morphology, and sediment transport in the alluvial channel.
Dr. Partha Jyoti Das, Head of Water, Climate and Hazard Division
Dr. Partha Jyoti Das is an environmental scientist with special interest in the area of ‘water resources, disaster and climate risk management’. He has done research on inter-disciplinary areas in the interface of natural sciences, environmental sciences and social sciences. He works with communities, Civil Society Organisations (CSO)s, professional institutions, national and international development organisations as well as Government agencies for addressing issues of water-environment-climate-development nexus through research, education and policy advocacy.
Dr. Non Arkaraprasertkul, Senior Expert in Smart City Promotion, DEPA
Dr. Non works for the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA) where she promotes the concept and practice of smart cities both at home and abroad.
He is passionate about research and development (R&D) in how smart cities help mitigate major challenges including urban expansion, mobility, and public health as an expert in human-centered design and smart cities.
He studied architecture and urban design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and humanities and social sciences at Oxford and Harvard Universities. Dr. Non had done considerable design and research projects around the world before returning to Thailand to serve as senior expert in smart city promotion at DEPA.
Dr. Non was recently a member of the Smart Water Team, an agile task force comprised of specialists from DEAPA and the Hydroinformatics Institute (HII) that won two top awards in the category of smart water and community choice at Expo 2020 Dubai's MindSphere Future World Hackathon Series. The Smart Water Team's "hydrogence" digital platform for water resource management uses the power of the industrial internet of things and artificial intelligence to integrate data from diverse sources and effectively automate urban water infrastructure such as water pumps, gates, and sensors.
Mr. Sa-nga Sattanun,Program Manager, TIF, MI
Mr. Sa-nga Sattanun is a Program Manager at Trade and Investment Facilitation (TIF) Department of Mekong Institute (MI). Mr. Sa-nga has been involved in the design and implementation of capacity building programs in the areas of SME development and competitiveness, Entrepreneurship, Business Database Development, Trade Facilitation, Agribusiness, Tourism, Transport and Logistics, which supported by international organizations, such as UNIAP, NZAID, ADB, EDI, TICA, JICA, SDC, JAIF, MKCF and Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Special Fund.
He also co-conducted researches on “Cross-Border Value Chain Bottlenecks in the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC) and Market and Value Chain Mapping along SEC in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, SME Cluster Development in CLMV Countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) and Joint Study and Survey of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Cross Border Economic Zones (CBEZs) to match Complementary SEZs and Identify Prioritized Areas”.
Currently, Mr. Sa-nga, as a team member is implementing related programs on Green Freight and Logistics Development, Sustainable and Smart Agricultural Supply Chain Development in Mekong Countries, Joint Development of Cross-Border Special Economic Zones, Upgrading Border Facilitation for Trade and Logistics Development, Action Research on Rural E-Commerce Development in Lancang-Mekong, Lancang- Mekong Business Forum.
Mr. Sa-nga earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the College of Graduate Study in Management, Khon Kaen University, Thailand.
Dr. Anamika Barua, Professor, IIT
Dr. Anamika Barua is a Professor at the Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, India. Trained in Ecological Economics, her research interest lies in understanding how political, social and economic factors shapes environmental decisions and change, particularly related to water. Her research interests include – climate change and water security, ecological footprints, virtual water flow through trade and water governance including transboundary water governance.
She has developed courses such as Economics of Climate Change, Understanding Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development Goals and Ecological Economics at Indian Institute Technology, Guwahati for Bachelors, Masters, and PhD students.
Anamika has published in several leading international journals such as Journal of Regional environmental change, Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal of Water policy, Water Resources Research, Journal of Hydrology, International Journal of Water Resources Development etc. Her recent edited book on ‘Climate Change Governance and Adaptation: case studies from South Asia’ published by Taylor and Francis, brings together several cases from South Asia on climate governance and adaptation, with an interdisciplinary approach and across multiple scales.
Miss Ros Sreyrey, Student, RUPP
Miss Ros Sreyrey is a senior student of Department Natural Resource Management and Development at Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), Cambodia.
She have been involved in project with professors of university (RUPP) on community water use management. The case study was conducted in Trapeang Trabek water user community in Kork Banteay commune, Rolea Bier district, Kampong Chhnang province, Cambodia.
Currently Miss Sreyrey involved in a project on community-based micro-water management, called the Enhancing Community and Small-scale Water Resource Management (ECSWRM) project. In this project, she's responsible for the preparation of various documents, finance and communications. ECSWRM identifies case studies in two areas: First, Stung Chrey Bak Water Consumer Farmers Association, Kork Banteay CommuneRolea Bier II District, Phnom Enhancing Community and Small-scale Water Resource ManagementNeang Kangri Association is based in Trangel Commune, Kampong Leng District, Kampong Chhnang Province. The main purpose of the project is to evaluate SWRM at the grassroots level by conducting participatory research activities leading farmers and farmers' organizations with expertise in SWRM knowledge and advocating for SWRM among national and regional policy makers.
Miss Mimika Mukherjee, Research Scholar, IIT
Miss Mimika Mukherjee is a research scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. Her thesis focuses on virtual water trade in the Ganga Brahmaputra Meghna (GBM) Basin, with a special focus on India. With a background in Economics and Development Studies, her research interests include virtual water trade, resource economics, climate change, and policy analysis.