2021 was an important year for ambitious climate and conservation action. The UN Climate Change Conference at Glasgow (COP26), the UN Biodiversity Conference at Kunming (COP15), and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report drafting process provided us opportunities to profile the region and underscore the need for urgent climate action and resilient mountain development.

Our staff continued to act as authors and reviewers of global assessments such as the IPCC and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), ensuring that HKH mountain perspectives, knowledge, and voices are included in global reports. SANDEE alumni have also been contributing as experts for the IPCC assessments and the literature generated by network members have been used for the assessment. We co-led authoring of the final government draft of the cross-chapter paper on mountains which was submitted as a contribution from IPCC’s Working Group II to the Assessment Report 6 and made available for government review in November 2021.

In the IPCC AR6 Working Group 1 report published in 2021, our staff contributed as lead author for the chapter on Short-lived Climate Forcers, assessing their impacts on climate and air quality. Our staff also contributed to the Technical Summary and the Summary for Policymakers documents of the IPCC AR6 WG1. The HKH region received good attention in the WGI report, including understanding of the current state of the climate, how it is changing, the role of human influence, and the state of knowledge about possible climate futures. The HKH region received good attention in the WGI report, including understanding of the current state of the climate, how it is changing, the role of human influence, and the state of knowledge about possible climate futures

Beyond these significant global events and efforts, our DG represents us in the Association of International Research and Development Centers for Agriculture, as co-Editor-in-Chief of the Mountain Research and Development journal, on the Steering Committee of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition; and colleagues act as Focal Persons for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, United Nations Environment Programme, and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.