Addressing interconnected challenges on biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Humans and nature are inextricably interlinked. Although modern life in urban centres might seem to distance many of us from the natural world, this planet and the environmental conditions it provides are essential to humanity’s continued survival. This interconnectedness is the focus of a report published in December 2024 by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), an independent intergovernmental body that strengthens the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services.

The report, entitled the ‘Assessment Report on the Interlinkages Among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health’ is the result of an ambitious, three-year scientific assessment by 165 leading international experts from 57 countries. Known as the ‘Nexus Report,’ the paper provides evidence from multiple knowledge systems to assess trends in the interconnections between biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate. These are known as the five ‘nexus elements’ – which reflect the interrelationships, synergies and trade-offs between them.

The report explores more than 60 specific response options to simultaneously address the interconnected challenges confronting the nexus elements, with a particular emphasis on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people.

ICIMOD’s Sunita Chaudhary, Biodiversity Lead, and Abid Hussain, Economies Lead, are lead authors of the Nexus Report’s Chapter 2, which focuses on ‘Status and trends of interlinkages between the nexus elements.’ It evaluates diverse governance and management strategies designed to address challenges, leverage opportunities, foster synergies and minimise trade-offs between the nexus elements.

ICIMOD hosted the final IPBES authors’ meeting in February 2024 in Kathmandu, Nepal, where more than 130 experts from around 50 countries came together to finalise the third order draft report and develop the ‘Summary for Policymakers’ document.

Addressing fragmented governance with a ‘nexus approach’

Current actions fail to tackle the complexity and interconnected problems of the nexus elements, which results in inconsistent governance; this is because most systems are made up of separate departments, with staff often working in ‘silos’. To address this, the report recommends the adoption of a ‘nexus approach’ which recognises that, as the nexus elements and challenges are interconnected, sustainable and interlinked solutions must be implemented simultaneously. The approach advocates a sustainable use of resources by focusing on the synergies across sectors, improves efficiency in the way resources are used, and increases the access of resources to all, including the poor and disadvantaged groups, while minimising loss across the sectors.

Nexus elements in the mountains

In Chapter 2, Sunita and Abid led the analysis of the nexus elements at the global scale, with further region-specific insight of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), one of the representative ecosystems in the assessment. Sunita also contributed to the Indigenous Peoples (IP) group in the IPBES study, sharing IP-specific information into the assessment.

 Sometimes known as ‘the water tower of Asia’ due to its abundant water resources supporting 10 major river basins, the HKH is an ‘alpha ecosystem’ where the five nexus elements come into play – providing water, food, and energy to the resource-based economies of 270 million people in the region and to nearly 2.1 billion people living in its upstream and downstream areas. In the mountains of the HKH, the effects of climate change are having a significant impact on the lives, livelihoods and culture of all communities depending on the region’s natural resources. The vulnerability of the HKH to climate change, especially glacier loss and its cascading impacts on biodiversity, show the intertwined challenges of water and food security in the region – which is covered by the report. The opportunity to lead the development of Chapter 2 provided ICIMOD a platform to highlight key issues from the HKH and include data, insights, analysis and lessons learned from the region, focusing on the role, importance, and impacts of climate change on mountains.

Eight critical steps for action in the HKH

Here we share eight critical steps on how the HKH could deliver action points based on the report’s recommendations. Focused particularly at the intersection of science and policy, they look at how policy and programme interventions should be attuned to address the complex and interconnected challenges of the nexus elements within the HKH context.

1. Strengthen regional transboundary collaboration: this is imperative to address shared ecological challenges, including water resource management, biodiversity conservation, and disaster resilience. The interconnected challenges of the nexus elements require a holistic regional approach, to unify policy strategies, in order that all policy interventions impact transboundary issues, going beyond the piece-meal and siloed efforts and benefits.
2. Adopt a nexus thinking approach, rather than a ‘business-as-usual’ mindset. Continuing to address the current trend of direct drivers (or pressures) and indirect drivers (underlying causes and enabling conditions) is set to produce substantial negative outcomes for biodiversity, water availability and quality, food security and human health, while exacerbating climate change. Prioritising objectives for a single element of the nexus can result in trade-offs across the nexus. Report recommendations can guide planning, implementation, and monitoring of different initiatives in the HKH for optimal synergies benefitting the nexus elements.
3. Support, tap, and integrate Indigenous and local knowledge from the HKH, which underline stewardship and sustainability in the region. When integrated into policy, planning, and programming, these knowledge systems can enhance conservation strategies aligned with the needs and practices of local communities, enhance the inclusivity of policy and programme interventions, and improve participation of Indigenous Peoples in decision-making, planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting.
4. Scale-up conservation efforts, zeroing in on ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA). With the loss of biodiversity, the health and economy of the region will degrade due to high food insecurity, water scarcity, and limited access to food and medicine from natural resources. As climate change continues to batter the region, the resilience of ecosystems and people will significantly degrade. This requires a back-to-nature approach, wherein existing EbA efforts should be scaled up significantly, and new EbA programmes be initiated for transboundary issues through a nexus thinking approach to address climate change impacts.
5. Invest in sustainable development. In the HKH, adopting and prioritising green infrastructure, renewable energy, and sustainable agricultural practices aims to reduce ecological footprints while improving livelihoods. High vulnerability to climate change and dependence on biodiversity requires the region to look at optimal and synergistic solutions across the nexus elements.
6. Develop and implement region-specific policies addressing unique vulnerabilities and risks of the HKH, such as glacial melt and changing weather patterns, in order to enhance the resilience of ecosystems and communities depending on the HKH region.
7. Raise awareness, educate, and strengthen capacity. Governments of the HKH region should raise the bar in informing the public about the challenges besetting biodiversity, food, water, health, and climate and the solutions to address them. Everyone, most importantly, youth and local communities, should be involved in a whole-of-society approach and call to action for biodiversity conservation. This goes together with needs-based capacity-building programmes to enable communities and individuals to implement their own conservation actions.
8. Implement evidence-based decision-making, through a science-policy interface, where decisions made at all levels should be backed by sound scientific basis. In the HKH, we must continue to strengthen scientific research and monitoring systems, to fill in gaps in understanding and track progress on biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate change. Continuous monitoring and assessment will nourish the science-policy interface requirement to implement necessary interventions to encourage healthy ecosystems.

As the region’s main knowledge centre on mountain ecosystems in the HKH, ICIMOD supports regional country members as they tackle the interconnected challenges on biodiversity, food, health, water, and climate.

ICIMOD aims to integrate report recommendations at appropriate scales across different nexus elements, while focusing on transboundary issues and concerns. As a facilitating and convening regional body, ICIMOD’s integration of nexus thinking will help to expand focus on biodiversity as the foundation to achieve water and food security, healthy communities, and contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. The centre plans to facilitate the scaling-up of existing community-based programmes to regional scales and strengthen cross-sectoral collaboration within and beyond the HKH region.

Designing, planning, and implementing a holistic nexus approach in tackling interconnected challenges requires a balanced approach – across the nexus elements, and in policy interests, development priorities, and governance structures of the countries in the HKH region. This will require a paradigm shift and a meticulous and determined approach to achieve sustainability and resilience of all ecosystems within the HKH region.

About the report

Read the IPBES Nexus Report media release here.

Access the Summary for Policy Makers based on the IPBES Nexus Report here.