Back to news
12 Oct 2015 | Wetlands

Advocating for wetland conservation and management

1 min Read

70% Complete

 

Over 70 experts, policy makers, scientists & academia gathered in Dali, China to contribute to improved the management of wetland resources in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region.

The symposium hosted by ICIMOD highlighted some key issues related to wetlands.  Attendees emphasised the importance of science, policy and practice, the inclusion of community voices and the lack of research for basic adaptive methods in wetlands.

During the technical session, Dr Eklabya Sharma, director, programme operations at  ICIMOD said satellite transmitters and satellite maps were being used for tracking migratory birds since, birds are the indicator of wetland health. ‘The efforts have been made to share information on wetlands and revive the thinking of Himalayan Wetland Initiative’, said Dr Sharma.

In the technical session, Dr Archana Chatterjee, national coordinator, Mangroves for the Future, IUCN, India suggested representatives from all countries come together with a standard policy of wetlands and customise as needed. Participants discussed the need for wetland policies and its institutional setup along with transboundary cooperation through regional initiatives.

In her presentation, Ms Zhang Xiaohong, senior researcher, Wetland International China suggested mainstreaming the wetland ecosystem and biodiversity valuation into policy making and  enhancing the linkages between ecosystem services with a green economy.

Participants advocated for conservation and wetland management actions needed for sustainable livelihoods:

Pointing out the global changing scenarios, ICIMOD’s theme leader for Ecosystem Services, Prof Dr Wu Ning emphasised the need for qualitative data and close monitoring. Data and in-formation generating is the first task of scientific research despite market and intervention failure. Ning said the symposium was the start point for future cooperation.

Researchers agreed integrated watershed management, regular environmental auditing,  including politicians on the board, and identified landscape research coordination using the same methodology are the most critical directions for future research.

Stay current

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.

Sign Up

Related Content

Continue exploring this topic

14 Jun 2022 News
Exploring future investment in biodiversity research and monitoring

Spanning across China, India and Myanmar, the Far Eastern Himalaya is home to the world’s rarest flora and fauna ...

23 Aug 2017 News
Gender and Social Entrepreneurship Workshop in Pakistan

Hashoo Foundation has worked extensively in the Upper Indus region over the past 30 years on gender and social development ...

1 May 2019 CryoHub
More research needed to understand the impact of cryosphere changes on mountain communities in the HKH

The review brings the much needed discussion on cryosphere services and their importance to the spotlight. The high-mountain societies that ...

2 Jan 2015 News
International Conference on Mountain People Adapting to Change completed

The event brought together over 300 climate scientists, adaptation policy makers, and practitioners with the goal of finding more holistic ...

13 Jan 2017 Atmosphere Initiative
ICIMOD Developing Better Tools for Analyzing Air Pollution

Technology for analyzing and addressing air pollution is evolving. New tools are currently in development that can collect better data ...

24 Jan 2019 HI-RISK
Regional water-related disaster experts discuss gaps in flood early warning communication and potential solutions

In his welcome remarks, Basanta Shrestha, Director of Strategic Cooperation at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), emphasized ...

7 Dec 2018 DFAT Brahmaputra
Benefit Sharing from Hydropower Generation in South Asia

These studies were conducted by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistan; People’s Science Institute (PSI), Dehradun, India; the South ...

16 Jun 2015 News
REDD+ Initiative: Agroforestry demonstration plots established in Gorkha and Chitwan

Agroforestry, the cultivation of trees and agricultural crops in close combination with one another, is an ancient practice used by ...