Back to news
10 Dec 2024 | Press releases

Region’s disaster experts unite in response to rising numbers and intensity of climate-driven hazards in mountains

Disaster Management experts in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan met to endorse a new collaborative effort to protect communities from floods and other climate events

3 mins Read

70% Complete

Kathmandu, 10 December 2024 Senior Disaster Management experts from six Hindu Kush Himalaya countries met to support a new effort to help protect communities, infrastructure and ecosystem services from the rising numbers and intensity of disasters hitting the mountain zone.  

The Hindu Kush Himalaya Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Hub, a voluntary platform to accelerate understanding, information-sharing and action to address mountain hazards in vulnerable zones, was welcomed by representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan on Monday, 9 December in Kathmandu.

“This initiative is about saving lives, safeguarding livelihoods and infrastructure, and protecting economies in a zone that we know with tragic certainty temperature rise is set to make ever-more hazardous,” said Pema Gyamtsho, Director General of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), which anchors the DRR Hub.

“We are running out of time to prepare for the changes in hydrology, river systems, and ground stability that it unleashes,” said Neera Shrestha Pradhan, who leads ICIMOD’s work on Managing Cryosphere and Water Risks. “Joining forces is a key route to reduce the impact of the destructive events that lie ahead for families and enterprises in our region.”

The Hindu Kush Himalaya’s topography, weather systems, and high population make it disproportionately vulnerable to climate-induced disasters.

Floods in Pakistan were this week pronounced the “most deadly climate event of 2024” by Al Jazeera. Elsewhere, severe rainfall in Bangladesh impacted 18 million people, and Nepal saw unprecedented rainfall that left 268 people dead, and tore through homes, agricultural land and infrastructure.

“With many governments in the region stretched to deliver basic services in health and education, pooling knowledge and resources was crucial to ensure officials could “make every dollar count” to meet rising losses and damages,” said Kavitha Kasyanathan, Head of Development for the Embassy of Australia to Nepal.

Key organisations from ICIMOD’s regional member countries, including government, academia, practitioners, NGOs, UN agencies, and tech-for-good participated in the two-day event to launch the DRR Hub in person or online, including UNDRR, UNESCAP, UNDP, IFRC, and GLOMOS.

Diana Patricia Mosquera Calle, Deputy Chief, Regional Office for Asia Pacific, UNDRR, voiced her strong support for the Hub, saying: “The United Nations’ Early Warnings for All initiative aims for universal coverage, but to meet the target of this ambitious and urgent global drive we need countries to come together. That’s why we’re so supportive of this initiative.”

Early Warnings for All (EW4All) seeks to ensure that everyone on Earth is protected from hazardous weather, water, or climate events through life-saving early warning systems by the end of 2027, through disaster risk knowledge and management; detection, observation, monitoring, analysis, and forecasting; warning dissemination and communication; preparedness and response capabilities.

Anil Pokhrel, Chief Executive of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority emphasised how important regional collaboration would be for EW4All to succeed. This is particularly critical in the HKH region given its complex geography, geopolitical sensitivities, and weather conditions.

Sanjay Srivastava, Chief of DRR at United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) emphasised how important it was for early warnings to respond to the phenomenon of cascading and compounding hazards, saying “floods are never floods alone, you also see the collapse of dams and culvers.” He encouraged partners to expand their focus from single-hazard into ‘multi-hazard’ early warnings and anticipatory actions.

This event was organised with the support of the Australian Embassy in Nepal and Swiss Development Cooperation. ICIMOD has more than a decade of experience in early warning systems and DRR across the Hindu Kush Himalayas, with its community-based systems winning the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Lighthouse Award in 2014, and this community based early warning system has also been scaled to Africa.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Anshu Pandey, Senior Media Associate
Email: media@icimod.org

14 Aug 2024 Press releases
Urgent action needed to address South Asia’s air pollution health emergency

Kathmandu-headquartered regional organisation the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has partnered with US-based Health Effects Institute (HEI), to ...

18 Dec 2018 RMV
Rising from ruins: the making of a resilient mountain village

  At the heart of this transformation is a story of partnership. In April 2016, The International Centre for Integrated Mountain ...

10 Jun 2022 Press releases
UNDP and ICIMOD sign an agreement to build resilience in the Hindu Kush Himalayan countries

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), headquartered in Nepal, entered into a partnership to promote ...

17 Mar 2025 Press releases
CA$15m boost for Indigenous and local peoples’ adaptation in the mountains

Kathmandu - The Canadian Government has pledged CA$15M (US$10.5M) to a project that sets out to reduce the climate vulnerability ...

8 Dec 2017 Press releases
ICIMOD and Radiant.Earth establish strategic cooperation to advance earth observation applications and SDG progress

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and Radiant.Earth have signed ...

9 May 2018 Press releases
ICIMOD and NMB Bank combine efforts to benefit mountain communities in Nepal

  Speaking on the occasion, David Molden, Director General of ICIMOD, said, “ICIMOD is increasingly stepping up to work closely with ...

25 Apr 2023 Press releases
Worst April heatwave in Asian history: Scientists urge action to avert catastrophic impacts across HKH

Read in Chinese   With Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar and Pakistan all hit by crippling ...

27 Apr 2018 Press releases
Regional collaboration needed for climate change adaptation and disaster risk management in the Koshi basin

Around fifty scientists, decision- makers and practitioners from Nepal and China agreed to establish a knowledge hub to support disaster ...