Organised by: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MoAL)
Supported by: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Government of the United Kingdom

About the event

ICIMOD and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MoAL), the Royal Government of Bhutan, are co-organising a multistakeholder interaction and engagement to bring together all relevant stakeholders interested and engaged in sustainable land and water resource management, especially those supporting actions around springshed management, ecosystem management, energy-efficient irrigation, and sustainable livelihoods development.

The event also includes a two-day field visit with the aim to shed light on existing projects on springshed management, including irrigation systems; and bioprospecting for green mountain livelihoods, and will help examining them from the nature-based solutions (NbS) lens. How do these projects relate to the NbS criteria and standard? Are they gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) responsive? The field sessions will culminate in stakeholder consultations, where we will develop a shared understanding of NbS, explore key enablers and barriers to scaling NbS, and draft future engagement strategies to promote NbS for water and green mountain livelihoods in Bhutan.

Objectives

This event aims to advance knowledge, practices, and policies on NbS.

The specific objectives are to:

• Develop a shared understanding of GESI-responsive NbS
• Understand existing interventions around NbS for water (springshed, use of renewable energy for lift irrigation) and for green mountain livelihoods through the NbS lens
• Discuss enablers and barriers for scaling NbS (What is good? What needs improvement?)
• Identify co-demonstration sites and partnerships landscape for generating proof-of-concept (Where can we start? Who can join hands and contribute?)

Expected outputs

• Agreed plan and design for GESI-responsive springshed management in combination with energy-efficient irrigation
• Agreed way forward plan for GESI-responsive NbS for green mountain livelihoods looking at the opportunities through bioprospecting

Background

Today, it is imperative to look at development pathways from both climate and biodiversity lenses, especially in countries where climate vulnerabilities are high and where people depend on nature for their livelihoods. NbS have high potential to address both climate change and biodiversity loss. They are approaches to address environmental, social, and economic challenges that involve the conservation, restoration, or enhancement of natural or modified ecosystems.

The intervention on NbS will be supported by the Himalayan Resilience Enabling Action Programme (HI-REAP). HI-REAP is a seven-year programme, supported by the Climate Action for a Resilient Asia (CARA) Programme of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), which aims to build climate resilience in five countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, and Nepal. CARA aims to ‘deliver a major shift on resilience in Asia – moving from incremental and isolated investments to building systems resilience to climate change in Asia that unlocks action and finance needed for transformational adaptation’.

HI-REAP focuses on promoting regional cooperation and collaboration for policy influence and investment for scaling NbS and air pollution solutions. Wider adoption of GESI-responsive NbS is expected in three priority sectors: water, disasters, and green mountain livelihoods. The NbS in each context will be co-developed with national partners, based on country-specific programmes. In Bhutan, HI-REAP seeks to develop a partnership that collectively leverages resources for co-designing and co-implementing GESI-responsive NbS for water and for green mountain livelihoods. The idea is to highlight the government’s role and leadership in creating enabling policy and programmatic conditions, and strengthen implementation partnerships among various institutions in Bhutan, both state and non-state institutions. This programme will support the co-design and co-demonstration of GESI-responsive NbS, especially to garner support from a wider constituency for adoption and scaling.

Agenda

Day 1: 15 May 2023

• Arrival in Bhutan
• Meeting to discuss field plan and modality of stakeholder consultation

Day 2 and 3: 16–17 May 2023

Field visits

Facilitation: Bhutan

Objective: Understand the interventions through the NbS lens promoting social learning on NbS and its criteria for assessing their effectiveness

• NbS for water (springs revival and energy-efficient irrigation)
• NbS for green mountain livelihoods (bioprospecting)

Reception dinner: 17 May 2023 in Paro

Day 4: 18 May 2023