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Mountain Knowledge and Action Networks
Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme (HIMAP) is a platform for long-term collaboration and coordination among a broad and diverse group of leading researchers, practitioners, and policy specialists working in HKH.
At a glance
HIMAP addresses the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainable mountain development and serves as a basis for evidence- based decision-making to safeguard the environment and advance people’s well being.
Philippus Wester
Programme Manager
Overview
Urgent steps are required to sustain mountain environments and improve livelihoods in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH).
The HKH is a vital regional lifeline, but human drivers and climate change pose grave and immediate threats to the region’s livelihoods, biodiversity, and ultimately sustainability. Changes on the rooftop of the world are having and will continue to have major consequences, not only for the region but globally. Local, national, regional, and global actions are urgently needed to sustain this global asset, focusing on substantially increased investments and more robust regional cooperation for sustaining mountain environments and improving livelihoods in the HKH and concerted action to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees by 2100.
The HKH Assessment and the resulting HKH Call to Action reflect five years of research, review, and analysis. The report was drafted in response to requests from governments in the region – meeting a demand for a comprehensive assessment of the region’s mountains, environments and livelihoods, and their status and their future. The HKH Call to Action has been developed as a roadmap based on the key findings of the HKH Assessment report and it articulates six urgent actions. To know the urgent actions in detail, follow the link below.
Featured Publication
More than 350 researchers, practitioners, experts, and policy-makers were involved in drafting the HKH Assessment Report. The assessment book was published in early 2019. Access the full text of HKH Assessment Report.
Press release
A comprehensive new study of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region, known as the world’s “Third Pole” for its vast store of ice, and home to Mount Everest, K2 and other soaring peaks, finds that even the most ambitious Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century would lead to a 2.1 spike in temperatures and the melting of one-third of the region’s glaciers, a critical water source to some 250 million mountain dwellers and the 1.65 billion others living in the river valleys below. If global climate efforts fail, the study warns that current emissions would lead to five degrees in warming and a loss of two-thirds of the region’s glaciers by 2100.
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News and Features
Events Around the HKH
ICIMOD has been coordinating the Comprehensive Assessment of the HKH Region, conducted as a part of the larger HIMAP programme. In September 2013, a ‘Framing Workshop’ was held in Kathmandu, where it was decided to produce an assessment report on the Hindu Kush Himalaya. It was aimed at a comprehensive assessment of the current state of knowledge of the HKH region, increase understanding of various drivers of change and their impacts, address critical data gaps and lead to a set of practically oriented policy recommendations. The assessment process involved a broad and diverse group of researchers, practitioners and policy makers, and was published in 2019. Our thinking has since evolved from a “one-off” assessment to more of an ongoing process, with the 2019 publication being the first of a series of assessments that we hope can happen every few years.
The Assessment considers many critical questions which are defined by chapter groups and working groups, including the following:
Mountains matter because what happens in the mountains affects every human on the planet. Mountains occupy 22% of the world’s land surface area and are home to about 13% of the world’s population.
Mountains matter because what happens in the mountains affects every human on the planet. Mountains occupy 22% of the world’s land surface area and are home to about 13% of the world’s population. They host vast biological diversity and are an integral component of all of the planet’s ecosystems. The glaciers in these mountains have forever acted as critically important water storage in the form of ice.
You will find publications produced or related to this Initiative in our publications repository – the HimalDoc. These information materials covers journal articles, books, book chapters, research reports, working papers, brochures, information sheets, publicity materials including posters, and others.
WE EMBRACE DIVERSITY
Both internally and externally, our multicultural staff and partners are our greatest asset. They provide us with a broad perspective across disciplines, and offer us localized knowledge like no other.
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