International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development

Kathmandu, Nepal

The Hindu Kush Himalayas and Climate Change

David Molden

Neera Shrestha Pradhan

Mountains Matter:Water‐Energy‐Food Nexus

• Mountain systems – a global resource

Vital for water, food, energy, forests, biodiversity

• Mountains are under pressure

• Mountains offer solutions

Hotspot for climate change: vital resources and growing vulnerabilities 

The third pole on earth - an area of extraordinary beauty and a world heritage site for culture & biodiversity

Ecological buffer between the Tibetan Plateau and South Asia

Himalayan glaciers are sources of freshwater reserves providing headwaters for 10 major river systems in Asia – a lifeline for almost one third of humanity

Climate change impacts in the mountains

• Warming: “ the rate of warming in the region is more than five times faster than warming globally," (Lau et al, NASA, 2006);

• Glacier and snow melt accelerated

• Changing habitat for high-elevation plants and animals

• Increased occurrence of floods and droughts

• Changing availability of water for irrigation, drinking and ecosystems

• Potential impacts on agriculture and ecosystems

The Mountain Agenda: New Challenges since Rio (1992)

New Challenges:• Climate change

• Growing concerns - water scarcity, extreme weather events, carbon and forests, energy security, and food security

• Persistent poverty

• Globalization – economic growth, connectivity

• Outmigration and feminization of agriculture

Rio’92 recognized the Mountains as a Global Agenda by dedicating the Chapter 13/Agenda 21 on “Managing Fragile Ecosystems: Sustainable Mountain Development”

New Opportunities

• Climate change and disasters opened the doors to regional cooperation

• Growing market increased for niche products

• Mountains as providers of ecosystem services

• Information technologies

• Green Economy

Nexus opportunities in the HKH

1. Build adaptation and resilience 

– Build on local knowledge and capacities– Focus on women’s role in adaptation– Disaster resilience and early warning systems – Value and compensate for mountain

ecosystem goods and services, Payment of Environmental Services

– New livelihood options, niche products (high valued crops/commodities, medicinal plants)

– Enhance natural and artificial storages– Improved local governance– REDD+

– Improve observational network– Develop science programmes for monitoring of

climate change and impact– Scale down of climate models for the region– Establish integrated physical and social

science pogrammes– Support disaster resilience initiatives– Establish regional forecasting and early

warning systems– Understand the role of black carbon on glacier

melting

2. Improve knowledge base

–– Develop regional platform for sharing of Develop regional platform for sharing of hydromet and CC related data and informationhydromet and CC related data and information

–– Foster common methodology and protocol for Foster common methodology and protocol for data collection, processing and disseminationdata collection, processing and dissemination

–– Establish regional data centreEstablish regional data centre

3. Improve data and information sharing

4. Enhance regional approach and cooperation 

• Integrated Water Resources Management to support basin wide adaptation and mitigation strategies

• Integrated landscape approach for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management

• Regional cooperation for benefit sharing and exchange of knowledge

5. Capacity building

‐ Training to meet new needs: glacier mass balance, flood risk management, data management, forecasting

‐ Policy and institutional strengthening to enhance adaptive capacity

‐ Strengthening national and regional institutions to facilitate upstream–downstream exchanges, regional cooperation, and sharing of knowledge and best practices

‐ Data dissemination, public awareness, sensitizing at various levels

Global recognition of the role of Mountains in nexus perspective

• Mountains are a global resource• Global action is needed• High payoff for green economy locally and globally

• Rio+20 outcome document therefore must recognize the global importance of Mountains in the context of water‐energy‐food nexus.

Thank youThank you