Back to news

ICIMOD raises Mountain Agenda at the Global Solutions Summit

During the Global Solutions Summit on 28–29 May in Berlin, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) joined a call for multilateralism and greater cooperation to develop sustainable solutions for today’s most urgent problems.

2 mins Read

70% Complete

On the first day of the summit, ICIMOD hosted a panel session focused on challenges and solutions in the context of a changing Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), a mountainous region that spans eight countries, from Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east, and serves 1.9 billion people downstream in 10 river basins. ICIMOD’s Director General David Molden shared recent research findings on possible impacts of climate change in the region. “It is getting hotter, faster, at higher elevations,” he said. “If we continue on the path we’re on, it could be an unthinkable 5 degrees higher in the mountains by the next century.” The panel stressed the need for concerted action to tackle global climate change and the need for greater investment in developing and scaling solutions for mountain areas.

The summit was hosted by the Global Solutions Initiative, a global think tank network that aims to create greater continuity and impact in G20 policy arenas. The summit brought together global policymakers, business leaders, and leaders from think-tanks and NGOs to recommend policies on major issues in member countries, such as infrastructure for sustainable development, migration, climate change, food security, and international economic governance. These discussions will feed into the G20 meeting in Argentina later this year. Speakers at the summit included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UN Special Advisor Jeffrey Sachs and German federal ministers of foreign affairs and environment, who called for a more holistic and multinational approach by the G20 to economic development.

Molden stressed the need to build resilience to climate change and a host of other changes. He said that cooperation among countries sharing mountain resources is a key step to support such actions and that issues in the HKH need to feature more prominently in global discussions. Jurgen Kropp, Deputy Chair Climate Impacts and Vulnerabilities at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, reiterated this: “We need to connect local scale challenges to global problems,” he said. “If we are able to develop solutions for the HKH, they will be valuable for the rest of the world.”

Molden also joined a panel on gender equity and economic growth hosted by the T20 working group on gender. He highlighted the challenges in the HKH of outmigration and the feminization of labour, as well as the need to renegotiate roles between women and men to frame women’s empowerment as a win-win in rural parts of the region.

Lyonpo Yeshi Dorji, Bhutan’s Minister of Agriculture and Forests, told participants that countries like Bhutan “need collaboration with and support from other parts of the world – be it in technology, financial resources, or human resources – to develop the unique solutions required to address challenges in the region.”

Greater cooperation within the region was outlined as a way to not only better advocate for mountains in global fora, but also to transcend geopolitical differences and create lasting solutions. “The Mountain Agenda applies to all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. We must align the Mountain Agenda to international agreements so that we can speak in a language everyone understands,” said Swarnim Wagle, senior advisor at Kathmandu University’s Institute for Integrated Development Studies and former vice-chair of the Nepal National Planning commission.

“We’ve learned from the Arctic Council that larger geopolitical interests need not cloud more urgent challenges,” he said. “This could be replicated in the HKH to address the urgent existential threat of climate change in the HKH region.”

2
3
1. Experts field questions during an ICIMOD-hosted session on “Our Ecosystems and Livelihoods Under Threat: Solutions for a changing Hindu Kush Himalaya” at the Global Solutions Summit in Berlin, 28 May 2018. Photo: Amy Sellmyer/ICIMOD 2. David Molden, ICIMOD Director General, joins the panel discussion during the T20 Session on Gender Economic Equity for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development at the Global Solutions Summit on 28 May 2018. Photo: Amy Sellmyer/ICIMOD 3. ICIMOD joined global leaders and policymakers to discuss sustainable solutions to today’s largest challenges at the Global Solutions Summit in Berlin 28-29 May 2018. Discussions from the summit will feed into the G20 meeting in Argentina later this year. Photo: Global Solutions Initiatives

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

1 Sep 2016 KSL
KSLCDI Partners Come Together to Evaluate Activities at Annual Review and Planning Workshop

The annual ‘Regional Review and Annual Planning Workshop for the year 2016 and 2017’ on Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and ...

10 Jun 2015 News
Mobile application for reporting disaster events

ICIMOD and Kathmandu University, Nepal, launched ‘Disaster Reporting’, an android application that enables users to report disaster events along with ...

Code of conduct being formalized for gender and social inclusion in the brick sector

A national consultation workshop on a social Code of Conduct (CoC) for Nepal’s brick sector was held in Kathmandu on ...

2 Apr 2015 News
Maximizing Rural Value Chains in Myanmar

In March, ICIMOD and the Myanmar Institute for Integrated Development (MIID) conducted a ...

19 Jul 2016 Livelihoods
UNCDF and ICIMOD Partner for Enhancement of Mountain Livelihoods

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain ...

10 Jan 2020 SANDEE
Changing the way we think about and act on waste

The conference was organized to identify issues, bottlenecks, and areas requiring immediate attention in solid waste management and to explore ...

10 Feb 2015 News
ICIMOD helps develop rangeland policy for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Rangelands in the HKH reflect diverse geography and culture shaped both by past and present drivers of change. Rich in ...

31 Jan 2020 Cryosphere
ICIMOD releases new improved MODIS snow data for High Mountain Asia

Snow is a significant component of the ecosystem and water resources in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). Snow monitoring is ...