At a glance

Initiative goal

Long-term environmental conservation, safeguarding of cultural linkages, and enhanced resilience of communities in the landscape

Regional Programme

Transboundary Landscapes

Information System
Kailash KBIS
janita gurung

Janita Gurung arrow

Programme Coordinator

Our focus

Shared resources and values

From Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar to vital rivers such as the Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra, and Karnali, people separated by borders are united by the Kailash Sacred Landscape’s cultural and environmental assets. And their shared experiences can be harnessed to ensure the landscape’s long-term sustainable development and conservation.

Our work accordingly transcends geographical boundaries. It involves various actors and stakeholders from the countries that share the landscape: China, India, and Nepal. All three member countries have endorsed the regional cooperation framework, a guiding instrument for developing and implementing KSLCDI.

We strengthen transboundary cooperation by institutionalizing elements of the regional cooperation framework. And we are committed to mainstreaming sustainable ecosystem management approaches and practices in the context of climate change adaptation, pushing for better planning and decision making informed by scientific research and community inputs.

Objectives

Strengthen transboundary cooperation by institutionalizing elements of the regional cooperation framework

Ensure widescale adoption of sustainable environmental conservation practices for long-term monitoring and socioeconomic research

Establish a regional knowledge-sharing platform to support evidence-based decision making at the regional and national levels

Kailash Confluence: Reviving connections for a sustainable future

In 2018, the first Cross-border Tourism and Trade Fair held in Limi Valley, Humla, revived the cross-border connect, enhancing economic, cultural and social lifelines in the region. The second iteration of this event – the Kailash Confluence – was organized in Yalbang, Humla, on 23–24 September 2019. The event brought participants from China, India, and Nepal together to celebrate the region’s shared culture, history, and economy and foster transboundary tourism and trade in the region.

News and features

Around the HKH

Featured partner

FEBA 2021-2022 Newsletter

The Friends of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (FEBA) is a network of organizations promoting collaboration and knowledge sharing on nature-based solutions. This annual newsletter exclusively features events and publications, and upcoming activities and knowledge products related to ICIMOD’s Regional Programme on Transboundary Landscapes and its initiatives – HI-LIFE, HKPL, KSLCDI, and KLCDI.

Read more
FEBA Annual Newsletter

NEWSLETTER

Kailash connections

Yartsa gunbu
Issue I
Read more
Issue II
Read more
Issue III
Read more

Photobook

Kailash Confluence: Reviving connections for a sustainable future

In September 2018, Namkha Rural Municipality, Humla, held its first cross-border travel and trade fair – the Kailash Confluence – to celebrate the shared history, culture, and socioeconomy of the populations living in the transboundary areas of Nepal, India, and the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) of China. This photo book celebrates and documents this seminal event.

Read More
Kailash Confluence Reviving connections for a sustainable future

For mountains and people

We have a deep history of work across a broad range of issues enabling sustainable development in the complex environment of the HKH. We have been protecting the pulse for over three decades.

gender 1366x681

Gender

Gender refers to the socially constructed roles held by women and men in a specific society, including their responsibilities, behaviours, and attitudes towards each other.

read more
biodiversity-1

Biodiversity

With their steep terrain, fragmented landscape and thermal gradients, mountain ecosystems are host to higher species richness and levels of endemism than adjacent lowlands. Many organisms adapt and specialise in these microhabitats, which can provide islands of suitable habitat isolated from unfavourable surrounding lowlands.

read more

Events around the HKH

Our involvement

KSLCDI components

Programme components

The major components of the programme have been defined with an output, broad activities, and outcomes.

Read More

Highlights from 2019

2019: The year that was in the Kailash Sacred Landscape [June 2019]

Photo: Jitendra Bajracharya/ICIMOD

Interactions between local government representatives from the Kailash Sacred Landscape and Kangchenjunga Landscape in Sikkim, India [1–3 May 2019]

Photo: Jhony Lepcha/IUCN Sikkim

Summer field research on yartsa gunbuSummer field research on yartsa gunbu

Summer field research on yartsa gunbu socio-ecology in Dharchula in India and Darchula and Bajhang in Nepal [June 2019]

Photo: Jitendra Bajracharya/ICIMOD

Kailash Confluence, Humla, Nepal: Bringing together communities of Nepal and India [23-24 September 2019]

Photo: Jitendra Bajracharya/ICIMOD

Kailash Confluence, Humla, Nepal: Bringing together communities of Nepal and India [23-24 September 2019]

Photo: Jitendra Bajracharya/ICIMOD

Preparing GESI-responsive NRM plans of local governments in Bajhang and Darchula, Nepal [September 2019]

Photo: Subesh Gupta/HIMAWANTI Nepal

Communicating local perspectives of environmental management, KathmanduCommunicating local perspectives of environmental management, Kathmandu

Communicating local perspectives of environmental management, Kathmandu [30 September–1 October 2019]

Photo: Jitendra Bajracharya/ICIMOD

Himalaya matters in a changing climate, Almora, India [9–11 December 2019]

Photo: G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment (NIHE)

Cross-exchange on biodiversity management during Prakriti Ahwaan, Pithoragarh, India [13–14 December 2019]

Photo: Rishabh Sirkar/Wildlife Institute of India (WII)

TBL Outlook 2020+ and synergy building workshopTBL Outlook 2020+ and synergy building workshop

TBL Outlook 2020+ and synergy-building workshop, Chitwan, Nepal [26–27 December 2019]

Credit: Nakul Chettri/ICIMOD

1st day workshop1st day workshop

East meets west at the TBL Outlook 2020+ workshop, Chitwan, Nepal [26–27 December 2019]

Photo: WII, India

Partners and support

Building partnerships for conservation and development in the HKH

Learn More

KSLCDI in the media

Learn more

KSLCDI publications

You will find publications produced or related to this Initiative in HimalDoc, our publications repository. These resources include journal articles, books, book chapters, research reports, working papers, brochures, information sheets, and publicity materials, among other products.

learn more

We embrace diversity

Meet the team

Both internally and externally, our multicultural staff and partners are our greatest asset. They provide us with a broad perspective across disciplines and offer us localized knowledge like no other.

Meet the team

Related contents

KSLCDI

KSLCDI's work transcends geographical boundaries and involves various actors and stakeholders from the countries that share the landscape: China, India, and Nepal. Read more about our impacts.

KSL in the news
KSL in the news
read more
KSL Components
KSL Components
read more
About KSL
About KSL
read more
KSLCDI
KSLCDI
read more
explore