Back to news
9 Jul 2019 | HIMAP

Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment Discussed at 2019 UN High-Level Political Forum

3 mins Read

70% Complete
Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment Discussed at 2019 UN High-Level Political Forum

The Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations in New York and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) organized a side event entitled, ‘Impacts of Climate Change on the Mountains’ on the sidelines of the 2019 High-Level Political Forum at the United Nations Headquarters in New York today.

Ambassador Amrit Bahadur Rai, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations, welcomed the participants to the event organized to share the key findings of the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment Report recently released by ICIMOD and also to draw lessons from the recommendations for inclusive mountain development. The Ambassador further said that the discussions will contribute to the ongoing exercise for the UN Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit to be held in September 2019.

Hon. Puspa Raj Kadel, Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission of Nepal, who is in New York leading the Nepali delegation to 2019 High Level Political Forum, delivered opening remarks. The Vice Chairman underlined that the impact of Climate Change on vulnerable countries is extremely high and countries like Nepal are facing disproportionate brunt of climate change despite their insignificant emissions. Hon. Kadel also shared that the Government of Nepal has decided to convene a Sagarmatha Dialogue, a global platform to exchange views on areas including Climate Change.

The side event featured a presentation by Dr. David Molden, Director General of ICIMOD, on key findings and recommendations of the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment Report. Dr. Molden cautioned that even if global warming was limited to 1.5° C by 2100, there would be a 1.8° C temperature rise across the region and up to 2.2° C in the mountains due to the Elevation Dependent Warming (EDW). Dr. Molden further said that if it is unchecked, this will adversely impact the lives of not just the 240 million mountain dwellers but also 1.6 billion people downstream. He warned that the warming, melting of ice and loss of glaciers, and increasing variability in weather patterns on the mountains will impact agriculture productivity, hunger and poverty, migration, rich ecosystems and biodiversity. He concluded by highlighting six urgent actions: cooperating at all levels, limiting global temperatures, enhancing ecosystem resilience, recognizing and prioritizing uniqueness of mountain issues, achieving SDGs and sharing information and knowledge.

Concluding remarks were made by the Special Envoy on Climate, noting that global urgency of focusing on carbon neutrality by 2050 and welcoming the coming together of mountain countries to strengthen their collective voice. The Special Envoy mentioned that the Climate Action Summit 2019 will have an important focus on solutions and invited all to participate in garnering public and policy support for climate action.

Following the presentation, a moderated interactive discussion took place for further deliberation on the serious message and implications of the Report, as well as way forward to address this issue. Ambassadors/representatives of Austria, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, among others, also shared their views. The discussion was moderated by Mr. Gyan Chandra Acharya, former Permanent Representative of Nepal to UN and former UN Under Secretary General.

Delivering his closing remarks, Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, Secretary-General’s special envoy for the 2019 Climate Action Summit, thanked Nepal and ICIMOD for organizing the timely event. He also expressed his hope that the event would be able to raise awareness in the region as well as at the global level and contribute towards the drive of climate action, including through a greater focus on ‘nature based solutions’ as well as through coming together for achieving ‘carbon neutrality’ by 2030.

Ambassador Rai concluded the event by thanking the participants for their presence in and contribution to the event. Summing up, he stressed that the efforts to combat climate change will go a long way to secure our planet and save present as well as future generations.

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 CONTENTS

Continue exploring this topic

30 May 2017 News
Soil Erosion a Serious Concern in the Koshi Basin

Published in 2016, the study showed that the soil loss rate estimated was 22 million tonnes per hectare of barren ...

17 Aug 2016 News
Research Crucial to Irrigation Development in Nepal

Research on Nepal’s irrigation sector should be a priority of the Government of Nepal, irrigation experts said during the national ...

18 Dec 2015 HKPL
Regional consultation on Karakoram-Pamir-Wakhan Landscape Initiative

A regional consultation workshop on programme development for Karakoram-Pamir-Wakhan Landscape Initiative jointly organised by the Wakhan Corridor Initiative and the ...

15 Apr 2015 News
Countries endorse post-2015 Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction

A post-2015 Disaster Risk Reduction Framework that aims to reduce ‘substantially’ the global disaster mortality and the number of people ...

3 Jun 2016 Water
Kailash Sacred Landscape Initiative Addresses Water Worries Across the Region

‘We prefer to wait for water at the springs over attending meetings’, said a woman of Digtoli village, around 41 ...

29 Jul 2015 News
Micro-planning in Myanmar

The ‘Rural Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation in the Himalayas (Himalica) Initiative’ facilitated a three-day micro-planning workshop in Kyaung Taung ...

15 Feb 2017 Atmosphere Initiative
Emissions Study in Lumbini Analyzes the Effects the Agricultural Crop Residue Burning

While general awareness of worsening air quality in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) has risen in recent years, this attention ...

6 Dec 2017 News
MOPE, EU, and ICIMOD host International Conference on Resilient HKH

Resilience is the ability of communities and ecosystems to be prepared for shocks, recover from shocks, and “bounce forward” to ...