Article 13 of the Paris Agreement established the ETF and builds on earlier efforts to make things more transparent and clearer, like the measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) arrangements under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), where countries systematically track, report, and having their climate actions assessed to ensure progress towards their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
What happens when you bring high-level government officials, regional experts from UN agencies, and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), alongside civil society, think tanks, and researchers from across the Bay of Bengal and Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) regions into the same room? Besides technical exchange through dialogue, something deeper also begins to take shape - a deliberate, consensus-driven movement to place gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) at the heart of regional climate governance.
Held on July 14–15, 2025, at ICIMOD, Nepal, the Regional capacity building and consultation workshop for inclusive climate policy and planning was more than a workshop – it was a convergence of perspectives, mandates, and institutional strength. Anchored in the strategic collaboration between ICIMOD, UN Women, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Secretariat, this two-day gathering laid the groundwork for systematically embedding GESI within climate action across South and Southeast Asia, covering ICIMOD’s Regional Member Countries and BIMSTEC Member States.
From cryosphere to coast: a shared climate horizon
Spanning the frozen glaciers of the Himalayas to the saltwater deltas of the Bay of Bengal, the BIMSTEC-HKH region encapsulates one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable corridors. The melting cryosphere contributes to rising seas downstream. Women, Indigenous Peoples, and marginalised groups across this geography often bear the brunt of cascading risks from flash floods in the mountains to salinity intrusion in coastal villages.
This workshop reframed climate planning as a regional continuum linking the snow-fed headwaters of the Hindu Kush Himalaya to the river basins and deltas of the Bay of Bengal. Participants emphasised the importance of integrated, transboundary approaches that recognise this hydrological and socio-political interconnectedness.
The shared insight: to ensure inclusive climate resilience, GESI cannot be localised. It must be incorporated in all forms of governance from the cryosphere to the coast.
A regional frame for a shared crisis
The workshop unfolded as a multi-level policy laboratory. Sessions span from unpacking gendered vulnerabilities and exploring GESI-integrated climate finance to identifying institutional mechanisms and policy pathways. Participants examined existing national frameworks and dissected gaps in data, financing, and coordination through a GESI lens. Experts shared critical tools for mainstreaming gender in climate finance and monitoring, while country delegates presented lessons from national experiences ranging from Nepal’s gender-budgeted climate policies to Bangladesh’s cross-ministerial approaches for supporting women in coastal zones.
The output was a shared recognition that GESI integration must go beyond thematic tick-boxing. It requires strategic institutionalisation, political commitment, and transformative financing mechanisms.
The climate crisis does not respect borders, and therefore neither should solutions. Panel discussions and breakout groups emphasised the value of regional bodies in facilitating cross-border learning, data-sharing, and resource mobilisation. Several proposals, including a BIMSTEC and HKH-wide gender-responsive climate task force, regional financing facilities, and a shared knowledge hub, illustrate the momentum toward collective regional action.
What did the dialogue deliver?
By the end of Day two, the workshop yielded more than just ideas. It generated actionable roadmaps. Key outcomes included:
- commitment to integrate GESI in BIMSTEC’s Plan of Action on Environment and Climate Change
- proposal for a shared digital platform to consolidate gender-responsive climate data and knowledge
- recommendations for transboundary early warning systems and ecosystem-based adaptation initiatives
- joint strategies to strengthen institutional capacity, with a focus on grassroots women and marginalised communities.
The facilitation team, drawn from ICIMOD, UN Women, UNEP, and BIMSTEC Secretariat, worked as a coordinated unit, enabling knowledge-sharing across ministries, sectors, and borders.
Centring the margins, systemically
The workshop affirmed a central insight: policy shifts when women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, and marginalised groups are recognised not just as ‘beneficiaries’ but as active agents of change.
This is the promise of a regional GESI agenda and not parallel to climate discourse, but integral to its architecture. The real work begins now, moving from capacity-building to coalition-building, from conversations to commitments, and from policy papers to programmatic actions.
The workshop marks a foundational step in that journey - powered by the strategic collaboration between UN Women, UNEP, ICIMOD, and the BIMSTEC Secretariat. Together, these institutions brought their distinct mandates and complementary strengths into a shared regional platform. The result: not just knowledge exchange, but co-creation; not just convening, but consensus-building.
This alliance demonstrates what is possible when multilateral organisations align their efforts around a unified vision - one that centres gender equality and regional resilience as core pillars of climate governance. Because when governments, experts, and communities collaborate, not just consult, the blueprint for inclusive climate resilience is no longer theoretical. And when that happens, the mountain and the coast speak with many voices but one vision. A vision forged in solidarity, flowing from the cryosphere to the coast.