This site uses cookies, as explained in our terms of use. If you consent, please close this message and continue to use this site.
1 min Read
A consultative preparatory process for a Himalayan Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (HCREEE) was launched on 27 July 2016 with the signing of a subcontract by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). Financial support is provided by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA). As the process continues over the next months, the added value, feasibility and best technical and institutional design of the centre will be determined.
The creation of the centre is a result of development challenges of peri-urban and rural populations in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) mountains. The region is home for more than 211 million people including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. No other region in South Asia suffers as much climate change and a looming energy crisis as the remote, off-grid, high altitude mountain areas of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas, where living conditions are harsh and many people are vulnerable and marginalised.
A strong demand for decentralised sustainable energy solutions exists especially in off-grid mountain areas to promote social development and increase productivity of industrial key sectors, such as food processing, manufacturing of high value niche products and services (e.g. medicinal and aromatic plants, indigenous honeybees) and mountain tourism. However, the region could be utilising renewable energy better. Numerous barriers — policy and regulatory, technical, knowledge, awareness, capacity, cultural, financial and business — prevent the dissemination and use of these technologies.
The proposed centre will promote the uptake of markets, industries and innovation for adapted sustainable energy mountain solutions through regional exchange and methodologies. The centre will act as a regional hub of Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) building excellence in the HKH region by strengthening ongoing national activities in the areas of technology demonstration, investing and promoting, rural developing and implementing energy policy, developing capacity, managing knowledge and data, as well as awareness raising.
The centre will be part of the Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centers (GN-SEC) which is coordinated by UNIDO in partnership with regional organisations. The network is currently supported by more than 89 energy ministers and/or heads of government in all parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Caribbean, Pacific and Central America.
Further information:
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
Community members learn to use satellite imagery for monitoring their forest More than 30 community members from Khayar Khola watershed in ...
Introduction The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United ...
Glaciers in cold and arid climates, such as in High Mountain Asia, can warm up much faster than expected because ...
Adaptation Solution Brief: Strengthening women’s roles as risk and resource managers at the frontline of climate change Launched by Nand Kishor ...
As part of monitoring and assessment of changes in glaciers, snow and glacio-hydrology in the Hindu Kush Himalayas, the Cryosphere ...
Spanning across China, India and Myanmar, the Far Eastern Himalaya is home to the world’s rarest flora and fauna ...
In his interview, Dr Shrestha clarified at the outset that ICIMOD is an intergovernmental organization, governed by a Board of ...