The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Asia Centre, Chulalongkorn University (CU) and Department of Groundwater Resources (DGR), Thailand jointly celebrated World Water Day 2022 on 22nd March at AIT Conference Center via a hybrid platform to inspire action towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. The theme for each year focuses on topics that are in line with the targets of SDG 6. And for this year, the theme is “Groundwater – Making the Invisible Visible.”

Prof. Dieter W. Trau, Dean School of Engineering and Technology, welcomed all the distinguished guests and participants with a thank-you message to DGR, SEI and CU for their efforts in jointly organizing the event with AIT. Prof. Dieter greeted World Water Day with a glass of water highlighting its importance in sustaining life and further emphasized on the need of raising awareness towards freshwater governance. Three distinguished guests, Dr. Eden Y. Woon, President, AIT; Dr. Surin Worakijthamrong, Deputy Director-General, Department of Groundwater Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), Thailand and Mr. Niall O’Connor, Director, Stockholm Environment Institute, Asia Center, delivered opening remarks of the event. Dr. Woon, in his remarks, highlighted all the thematic focuses of AIT and further added that water is the major thematic focus and strength of AIT’s education and research. He stressed that management of the hidden resource “groundwater” receives less importance than surface water resources, and the event shall be significant in raising the challenges and solutions for the sustainability of the resource. Additionally, Dr. Woon also emphasized the continued collaboration of AIT with the DGR, CU, SEI and the Sustainable Mekong Research Network (SUMERNET). Dr. Worakijthamrong delivered the opening remarks on behalf of the Director-General of DGR and appreciated being a part of the event. He further stressed that the groundwater resources are invisible, but the impact is often visible, and DGR, being the responsible agency, is continuously working on multiple initiatives for national water security and sustainability in Thailand. In other opening remarks, Mr. O’Connor from SEI welcomed all and highlighted the significance of groundwater resources in food and water security. Furthermore, he also stressed the overexploitation of the hidden resources and the need for action to overcome the impact, especially under climate change and other human-induced drivers.

Dr. Surin Worakijthamrong, Deputy Director-General, DGR, Thailand and Dr. Neno Kukuric, International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC) and Co-coordinator UN-Water Task Force WWW2022 delivered keynote speeches at the event. Dr. Surin’s keynote highlighted “Sustainable Management of Groundwater Resources in Thailand,” and Dr. Neno, who provided this year’s World Water Day theme, provided insights on Groundwater – Making Invisible Visible.

Furthermore, the event consisted of World Water Day messages from H.E. Dr. Sándor Sipos, Ambassador of Hungary to Thailand; Dr. Oranuj Lorphensri, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), Thailand; Dr. Sutat Weesakul, Director, Hydro-Informatics Institute (HII), Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, Thailand; Ms. AnnaMaria Oltorp, Head of Development Cooperation Section – Regional Asia and the Pacific, Embassy of Sweden, Thailand; Dr. Anoulak Kittikhoun, Chief Executive Officer, Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat; Dr. Roshan Raj Shrestha, Deputy Director, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Dr. Linda Anne Stevenson, Head of Knowledge Management & Scientific Affairs and Deputy Head of Development & Institutional Affairs, Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) and Mr. Saurav KC, Student, Water Engineering and Management, AIT.

The event also comprised launching ceremonies of several initiatives and products from Chulalongkorn University, SEI & SUMERNET, and AIT. The first launch was the Proceedings of THA2022 conference by Dr. Piyatida Ruangrassamee, Assistant Professor, Department of Water Resources Engineering, Chulalongkorn University. The second launch was of the publications from SEI and SUMERNET named “Center Chindwin Futures: Natural resources, livelihoods, institutions, and climate change in Myanmar’s Chindwin River Basin” and “Importance of Mekong River” by Mr. Niall O’Connor and introduced by Dr. Thanapon Piman, Senior Research Fellow, SEI, Asia Center and Ms. Tipaksorn Manpati, SUMERNET Media partner. The other four initiatives from AIT were launched by Dr. Eden Y. Woon, AIT President and introduced by Prof. Mukand Babel, Prof. Sangam Shrestha, Asst. Prof. Ho Huu Loc and Prof. Thammarat Koottatep, respectively. The launch included:

  • Centre for Water and Climate Adaptation (CWCA)
  • Journal Special Issue’ Climate Change, Water Resources and Ecosystems: Challenges and Opportunities’
  • GEBA Project
  • Climate Smart WASH Technology Catalogue

The event’s final session included the “Photo Competition” results announced on World Water Day 2022 with the theme “Groundwater – Making the Invisible Visible.” Prof. Sangam Shrestha announced Ms. Ranju Bhatta as the competition’s winner, Ms. Arsha Pradha as the first runner-up and Mr. Anish Ratna Shakya as the second runner-up of the competition. Dr. Eden Y. Woon congratulated and provided certificates and prizes to all the winners. The event was wrapped up with the closing remarks from Dr. Piyatida Ruangrassamee, where she concluded the messages and keynotes from all the distinguished speakers and thanked all the contributors and participants of the event.

Click here to watch the event video!