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 Aug 2015 News
Glacier and glacial lakes database of Bhutan released

Dignitaries and scientists gathered for a workshop 14th August 2015 at ...

24 May 2017 Himalica
Himalica Action Research – The Journey: From Disaster to Preparedness

Women from migrant-sending households are increasingly responsible for managing disaster risks as well as household resources. Raising their awareness, improving ...

22 Nov 2018 Cryosphere
Preliminary Findings Suggest Debris Cover Does Not Accelerate Glacier Melt

The finding is an outcome of a joint field expedition carried out through September–October 2018 by researchers from the International ...

24 Sep 2015 News
ICIMOD supports International conference on Mountain and Climate Change

  The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) through its Cryosphere Initiative was a co-organiser for the International Conference on ...

Regional workshop discusses application of future climate projections in South Asia

The regional workshop, organized by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the Met Office, the UK’s national ...

14 Feb 2016 News
The ‘Third Pole’: A Monitoring And Assessment Programme To Sustain The Hindu Kush Himalayan Region as a Global Asset

From 26-28 January 2016, the first writers’ workshop for the coordinating lead authors of the Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and ...

22 Sep 2015 News
Nepal’s Digital Agriculture Atlas Launched

The Digital Agriculture Atlas of Nepal takes data closer to decision makers by providing a one-stop shop for information related ...

10 Jan 2017 News
Training for the Development of Flood Outlook in Bhutanese River Basins

A week-long training on flood outlook was organized by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Thimphu, Bhutan, ...