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REGIONAL CONFERENCE
Strategic Group: Resilient Economies and Landscapes & Action Area: Economies
Thimphu, Bhutan
02 December 2025 to 03 December 2025
Organizers: Department of Human Settlements, Ministry of Infrastructure and transport, Royal Government of Bhutan, ICIMOD, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA)
The Department of Human Settlement under the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Royal Government of Bhutan in collaboration with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), India, is organising a regional conference on “Sustainable and Resilient Mountain Settlements in the Hindu Kush Himalaya” from 2-3 December 2025 at Thimphu, Bhutan.
Bhutan’s abundant natural resources, traditional low-carbon building practices, and sustainable approaches to waste and sanitation—underpinned by strong government commitment—provide a solid foundation for carbon-negative development and advancing circular, regenerative practices, as outlined in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2024–2029) and the 21st Century Economic Roadmap. These strategic frameworks guide the country’s transition toward a high-income, sustainable, and climate-resilient future.
Last year, NIUA and ICIMOD jointly organized the 2nd Parvat Manthan Regional Conference in New Delhi expanding the scope by engaging sector professionals and policymakers from Bhutan, and Nepal apart from the northern and north-eastern states of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) to address the pressing challenges on sustainable urbanisation, water, sanitation, and climate-resilience in fragile mountain ecosystems. Building on south-south collaboration among the Himalayan countries, the current regional conference is pivotal for forging a robust foundation aimed at fostering sustainable development with actionable research in hill cities and towns.
The Regional Conference aims to deepen understanding of mountain settlements across the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). It seeks to create an enabling space for discussing transformative strategies that move beyond business-as-usual approaches toward sustainable, low-carbon, climate-resilient development pathways. The conference will promote dialogue across interdisciplinary and cross-cutting sectors, aligning with the individual and collective priorities of HKH countries and strengthen regional cooperation towards identifying and creating an enabling environment for sustainable and resilient mountain settlements.
The conference focuses on two thematic topics – a) vernacular architecture and use of local and nature-based building materials, b) management of solid waste, faecal sludge and water, sanitation and health (WASH) services.
It brings together governments and relevant stakeholders such as researchers, scientists, urban planners, development workers, policy think tanks and private sectors from the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) countries to foster collaboration and cross-learnings on green, resilient and inclusive settlements development in the mountains.
The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), extends 3500 km over all or part of eight countries, is a geologically young mountain system. It is home to twelve major rivers– seven of them being transboundary rivers – and its ecosystems deliver vital services, such as freshwater, directly to 240 million residents in the region and indirectly to 1.9 billion people, a fourth of the world’s population. This makes the HKH region an asset of global significance.
The region’s exceptional ecological diversity is matched by its challenging terrain and rich tapestry of human settlements, each reflecting deep-rooted cultural traditions. These communities, shaped over centuries through a close interdependence between people and nature features distinctive architecture, heritage practices, and sustainable resource management tailored to fragile mountain ecosystems. However, they now face unprecedented threats from the combined pressures of climate change, rapid and often unplanned urban growth, and poorly conceived development initiatives.
Built-up areas across the HKH region have significantly increased by almost 75% over the two decades (2000-2020). The rate of built-up area expansion in the region is 1.7 times higher than the population growth rate. With rapid urbanization happening in all HKH countries, the traditional vernacular architecture, which is an identity and culture of mountain communities, is rapidly eroding. Modern construction technologies, particularly the use of reinforced concrete structures are replacing native building styles, leading to higher construction and operational costs for either heating and cooling. Furthermore, contemporary developments often overlook the natural topography compromising effective drainage systems and increasing vulnerability to risks like landslides, flooding, and water stagnation- issues that are becoming increasingly pertinent in the context of a changing climate. The challenges in solid waste management, particularly plastics and faecal sludge management including sanitation services are acute in mountain settlements. These are intensified by seasonal tourism, changing food habits and poor treatment or drainage infrastructures including WASH services, leading to adverse impacts on human and environmental health.
The compounding impacts of climate change, natural hazards, rapid urbanisation, and inadequately planned development in fragile terrain have made the mountain settlements vulnerable to risks and uncertainty. The poor land use planning and haphazard development with increasing concrete infrastructures have led to land conversion, increased pollution, heat islands, and poor ground water recharge, putting substantial pressure on biodiversity, water, and energy needs of mountain communities.
Considering these pressing development challenges across the HKH region, bridging science, policy and practice becomes imperative to minimise trade-offs and strike the right balance between environmental, socio-cultural, and economic development goals. Restoring and adapting through nature-based solutions and its wider scaling is key to maintaining the delicate harmony between people and nature and achieving sustainable outcomes.
Bhutan exemplifies sustainable infrastructure and human settlements through traditional low-carbon architecture, climate-resilient engineering, and circular waste management, all grounded in community participation and cultural preservation. Roads, bridges, and public facilities are designed to withstand disasters while integrating renewable energy and ecological sanitation systems. These practices, reinforced by the 13th Five-Year Plan and the 21st Century Economic Roadmap, guide Bhutan’s transition toward low-carbon, climate-resilient, and regenerative settlements that harmonise development with nature and enhance human well-being.
Therefore, the Department of Human Settlement- Bhutan in collaboration with ICIMOD and NIUA- India is organising a regional conference to explore synergies and collaborations aimed at generating knowledge and scaling good practices in the mountain settlements for a sustainable, resilient and inclusive development.
The Department of Human Settlement (DHS), under the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Royal Government of Bhutan is mandated to facilitate the sustainable development of settlements in both urban and rural areas. Its mission is to establish safe, inclusive, and well-designed human settlements by promoting quality, green, and sustainable infrastructures and built environments that contribute to the socio-economic wellbeing and happiness of the populace. The DHS achieves this through its six divisions, which are responsible for the foundational work of formulating policies, strategies, legislation, regulations, standards, guidelines, and plans for human settlement development. This work focuses on specialist areas such as urban and regional planning, housing development, flood engineering management, geomatics, and building regulations and codes.
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is a leading regional and intergovernmental knowledge and learning centre, serving the eight HKH countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. With four decades of experience in the region, the ICIMOD Strategy 2030: Moving Mountains raises the ambition and envisions a greener, inclusive, and climate resilient HKH. As per ICIMODʼs structural portfolio, under Strategic Group “Resilient Economies and Landscapes” and Action Area- Economies, a dedicated intervention on “Settlements” places significant emphasis on holistic development of human settlements.
The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) is India’s premier urban think tank, bridging the gap between research and practice by nurturing collaborations and driving cutting-edge solutions for Indian cities. NIUA’s vision is to promote integrated, inclusive, and sustainable urban solutions through innovation, capacity building, and knowledge dissemination. Its Hill Forum- ‘Parvat Manthan: Manifestation for Clean and Sustainable Hill States’ is a dedicated collaborative forum established to address the complex urban challenges unique to India’s Northeast and Himalayan states. Anchored on the critical pillars of water management, sanitation, resilience, and the advancement of key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 6, 11, and 13), Parvat Manthan proactively drives peer-to-peer knowledge exchange, targeted capacity building, and the deployment of context-specific, sustainable solutions for inclusive urban development in hill settlements.
The Parvat Manthan Hill Forum leverages expertise and lighthouse city pilots to offer scalable and adaptable approaches, addressing region-specific challenges. These efforts align with key national programmes such as the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE), and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), while fostering cross-learning within the region, and with neighbouring countries of Nepal and Bhutan.
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