This site uses cookies, as explained in our terms of use. If you consent, please close this message and continue to use this site.
2 mins Read
A year has now passed since the devastating earthquake in Nepal and it continues to struggle with enormous challenges of rebuilding and reconstruction. The 7.6 magnitude earthquake on 25 April and a series of aftershocks have only worsened risks of landslides in Nepal. But out of the earthquake devastation, there also emerged a major initiative for collective and coordinated action for landslide risk management.
“The crisis caused human tragedy and a very heavy loss for Nepal but it also brought together key agencies under a common platform to share knowledge on landslide management,” said David Molden, director general of ICIMOD.
For a country like Nepal, with extreme geological fragility and unsustainable development practices, landscape destruction is nothing new. Such fragility was further compounded by Nepal’s devastating earthquake in 2015 and caused a large number of landslides especially in 14 most earthquake-affected districts. A post-earthquake landslide-mapping by ICIMOD recorded 1,716 landslides (Nepal post-earthquake landslide mapping)
These events necessitated a key consultation between key agencies working on natural disaster management in September 2015. Over 80 participants had attended the meeting on 28-29 September led by Department of Conservation and Watershed Management, supported by ICIMOD’s Koshi Basin Programme and a consortium of partners including UN Environment Programme, UN Development Programme,Food and Agriculture Organisation and International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The consultation resulted in forming a major consensus among key responsible agencies to join hands for initiating action to enhance and share landslide knowledge and as well as building capacity of national agencies to manage the landslide risks.
As a result, four different groups have been formed, each responsible for specific action on various landslide-related knowledge activities. ICIMOD will be taking a lead in formulating landslide inventory methodology and forming a common platform for data and information sharing. More details are included in a new report prepared by ICIMOD, detailing the proceedings and technical sessions to share information on how the Government of Nepal and the national and international partners will be working together on landslide disaster risk reduction.
ICIMOD believes that this consultation will be relevant across the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) for better disaster risk management. In addition to Nepal, the eight HKH countries include Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar and Pakistan, where ICIMOD is focused as an intergovernmental organization.
“Landslides and geohazards are directly linked to livelihoods and sustainable mountain agenda, which is an integral part of ICIMOD’s work,” said ICIMOD’s Eklabya Sharma.
Share
Stay up to date on what’s happening around the HKH with our most recent publications and find out how you can help by subscribing to our mailing list.
Related content
From 26-28 January 2016, the first writers’ workshop for the coordinating lead authors of the Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and ...
To continue strengthening partnerships with Chinese organisations, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Chinese Committee on ICIMOD (CNICIMOD) ...
Several rounds of joint scientific investigation were carried out in Lholing to understand the hydrogeology of its springs and devise ...
On 19–21 May 2015, the Government of Myanmar launched its ambitious Ecotourism Policy and Management Strategy for Protected Areas, developed ...
Experts from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development’s (ICIMOD) Cryosphere Initiative and Department of Hydro Met Services (DHMS) in ...
SANDEE brings together researchers and practitioners from South Asian countries to address the region’s environmental development challenges. For 16 years, ...
The air in Kathmandu is extremely polluted, with fine particles (PM2.5) being the major cause of concern. If you ask ...
ICIMOD, in collaboration with CoRRB, began promoting herbal gardens in Bhutan’s schools in 2012. Children plant medicinal herbs in their ...