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“Resilient Hindu Kush Himalaya” closes

15.01.2018

After four days of discussion on resilience issues in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, Nepal’s Ministry of Population and the Environment and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) closed the international conference “Resilient Hindu Kush Himalaya: Developing Solutions towards a Sustainable Future for Asia” on 6 December 2017 in Kathmandu, Nepal.

David Molden, Director General, ICIMOD, opened the conference on 3 December asking the attendees to help change the narrative about mountains from one of vulnerability to one of opportunity and innovation. At the closing session, Molden called attention to the crucial need to include youth and women in future mountain planning and development across all sectors.

Resilience is the ability of communities and ecosystems to be prepared for shocks, recover from shocks and “bounce forward” to emerge stronger than before. ICIMOD and its partners have been working on developing solutions for resilience building, promoting regional cooperation and enhancing knowledge for sustainable mountain development.

On topics ranging from disaster risk reduction to gender equity and building social capital, all the sessions held during the conference repeated a theme of collective action for increasing the resilience of mountain communities in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, where impacts from climate change, out-migration and dwindling natural resources pose formidable challenges.

Picking up on Molden’s call to action to change the narrative about mountains, Roland Schaefer, the German Ambassador to Nepal, said the Hindu Kush Himalaya is well-positioned to harness the power of social capital in the region: “The Hindu Kush Himalaya has a unique brand that signifies trust, reliability and inherent ability for planning that stems from the deep social [ties] of the mountain communities. This is a strong brand that should be promoted and positioned outside,” he said.

Changing the narrative will also require significant coordination and cooperation among Hindu Kush Himalaya countries. “Hindu Kush Himalaya challenges are often transboundary and geopolitical in nature. Addressing such challenges requires transformative, inclusive and scalable actions at all governance levels,” said Rojina Manandhar, a programme officer with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The conference focus on mountain resilience served more than just mountain people and communities. The Hindu Kush Himalaya sources ten major river systems in Asia that provide water, ecosystem services and livelihoods to more than 210 million people. The region holds and distributes water for more than 1.3 billion people living in downstream river basins. The Hindu Kush Himalaya, all panelists agreed, is an asset of global importance.

Secretary Prakash Mathema, Ministry of Population and Environment, Government of Nepal, said, "This conference has been able to raise awareness on resilience solutions from a mountain perspective. It has also encouraged partnership for urgent actions to combat climate change and other threats to the lives and livelihoods of the vulnerable people of the Hindu Kush Himalayan region."

The European Union (EU) supported this conference through ICIMOD’s "Himalica" initiative. The EU’s Ambassador to Nepal, Veronica Cody, said “This international conference provided an excellent opportunity to bring international and regional stakeholders together to identify concrete, actionable steps for collective action towards higher resilience in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. This can be a valuable input for policy-makers in the region.”

News and photo by ICIMOD