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.
Mountain Knowledge and Action Networks
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.
DownloadPress 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.
News and Features
Events Around the HKH
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.
Read moreMountains 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.
Read moreWE 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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