Back to news
31 Aug 2017 | News

ICIMOD and UCAS Symposium on Resilience in the HKH at International Congress of Ecology

The 12th International Congress of Ecology (INTECOL), one of the most important international conferences for global ecologists, was held in Beijing, China from 21 to 25 August 2017. The University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) organized a symposium session titled Hindu Kush Himalaya Ecosystems: Resilience, Adaptation, and Services at the conference.

1 min Read

70% Complete
Eklabya Sharma, Deputy Director General of ICIMOD and Yanfen Wang, Vice President of UCAS jointly convening the resilience symposium session at INTECOL 2017, Beijing

Eklabya Sharma, the Deputy Director General of ICIMOD, delivered a keynote speech at the conference. Sharma talked about the importance of building ecological and community resilience in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). He discussed ICIMOD’s commitment to the concept of resilience, specifically in relation to working on resilient mountain solutions in achieving adaptation goals and transboundary landscape management cooperation. An ideal resilience approach covers climate resilience, socio-economic resilience, and future resilience. Sharma shared a few examples of ICIMOD’s experiences in responding to resilient outcomes and solutions for both ecosystem- and community-based adaptations.


Eklabya Sharma, Deputy Director General of ICIMOD, delivering the keynote speech in the symposium at INTECOL 2017, Beijing

Ten experts working in the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau gave presentations during the one-day session. The topics covered included grasslands, peatlands, treeline, permafrost, vegetation phenology, and nutritional balance in relation to livestock rearing. Over 100 participants, including graduate students, attended the experts’ presentations.

Yanfen Wang, Vice President of the UCAS and Independent Board Member of ICIMOD was the convener of the symposium session. Sharma presided over the afternoon discussion session as chair of the event. “Promoting ecological research on mountains through more active transboundary cooperation will deepen our understanding of various ecosystems in the HKH and be greatly supportive to the implementation of UN SDGs in ICIMOD regional member countries,” he said.

The five-day INTECOL 2017 congress organized 74 symposium sessions and three workshops featuring stimulating ecological research on a broad range of topics from around the world. Around 2,000 participants from over 70 countries attended the event. The congress provides an important platform for researchers and scientists to present the latest in global ecological research and serves as a forum for ecologists to network and collaborate.

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

9 Dec 2016 Gender in Koshi
ICIMOD-supported Local Water Use Plans Gain Momentum

For the people of Bhimeswar in the Koshi basin of Nepal’s hilly Sindhuli district, the winter harvest season began with ...

11 Jun 2015 News
National partners from India trained on participatory natural resources management planning

From 11–18 May 2015, a workshop was held in the Indian part of the Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL) to facilitate ...

4 Oct 2016 Himalica
Pilot Project Empowers Nepali Women as Agents of Change

A two-day workshop on ‘Empowering Women as Agents of Change’  to contextualise gender inequality, to identify and strengthen the perceptions ...

Kailash-Truly Sacred Brand Launched at 13th National Handicraft Exhibition

The ‘Kailash’ brand endorsed as “Kailash-Truly Sacred” was launched during the 13th National Handicraft Exhibitionat Bhrikuti Mandap Exhibition Hall in ...

2 Jan 2015 News
International Conference on Mountain People Adapting to Change completed

The event brought together over 300 climate scientists, adaptation policy makers, and practitioners with the goal of finding more holistic ...

8 Oct 2018 CryoHub
CryoBrain interaction with Norwegian cryosphere expert

Kjetil Melvold, researcher at the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), presented his ongoing research on sub-grid snow distribution ...

24 Jul 2019 CBFEWS
Partnering with private enterprise and communities to manage flood risk

Zarnash Bibi, a teacher from Pakistan says that flood early warning systems have put vulnerable communities at ease: “Earlier, we ...

9 Dec 2016 News
Communities Develop Demonstrable Agroforestry Systems with Poulownia Plantation in Sushare Gaun, Gorkha, Nepal

Agroforestry is practiced in both tropical and temperate regions where it produces food, fiber and biomass energy, contributes to food ...