A MoU was signed on 1st March 2013 to establish an appropriate research cooperation umbrella between the UK and Indian earth system science, climate and environmental research communities. The endeavour of the MoU will be to promote collaboration in the area of Meteorology, Oceanography, Climate variability and change, hydrology, cryosphere, natural hazards and biodiversity by promoting information sharing and identification of new opportunities of collaboration through networking, exchange of scientific and technical capacities, and co-funding of research projects through joint calls.
It is envisaged that the MoU provides a suitable joint research and development mechanism to address some of the significant science challenges in the Asian region relating to improved understanding of the regional scale monsoon; the possible influence of weather and climate circulation patterns of northern Europe; and the important (and poorly understood) interactions between climate, glaciers, groundwater and whole sustainability of water resources. It is expected that the new knowledge generated under these efforts would translate in to the improved forecasting capabilities globally.
Under the theme of Changing Water Cycle, 5 joint research proposals have so far been undertaken. A joint meeting to review the progress of the projects was conducted on 7-8 February 2013 in Delhi in which 10 scientists from UK have participated along with 15 scientists of India. The expenditure to be incurred by both the parties is generally based on the principle of parity. The share of current committed funding for the five projects is Rs 20 crores (£ 2.7 million) (NERC – UK Component) and Rs 12.5 crore (MoES-Indian component).
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