HKH parliamentarians drive national policy in line with international multilateral environmental agreements

The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), spanning eight countries and covering 3,500 km, is a critical global asset, and acutely fragile. The HKH, a source of food, water, and energy security for around 2.1 billion people and home to countless irreplaceable species, is at the frontline of the impacts of the triple planetary crisis – climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution – which has serious implications for ecosystems and human life. A global warming level of 2 °C or beyond will result in the loss of half of the HKH’s glaciers and thus destabilise Asia’s river systems, with enormous downstream consequences. There is no better time than now to take corrective action. Engaging with policymakers and enabling informed policymaking can contribute to positive action at a national scale.

Call for a HKH parliamentarians’ forum

Most of the HKH countries follow a parliamentary system of democracy where parliamentarians through standing committees (of upper and lower houses) play a vital role in reviewing policies, making laws, and advising governments on resource allocation for sectoral programmes. But in the context of advancing climate action and resilience, areas where the region’s parliamentarians are expected to make telling interventions, it has often been the case that they lacked access to evidence-based knowledge and information, especially so on emerging and priority issues like climate change, disaster risk reduction measures, biodiversity loss, and air quality determinants. Thus, it has become imperative to purposefully engage with HKH parliamentarians by providing them with essential knowledge and evidence on the triple planetary crisis and its impact on ecosystems, lives, and livelihoods. Parliamentarians are especially placed to mobilise their respective governments to enact national laws, policies, and plans that prioritise mountain issues in alignment with regional and global climate and environmental agreements.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is a regional intergovernmental organisation working to make this critical region greener, more inclusive, and climate resilient. ICIMOD engages with the most relevant Standing Committee chairs, co-chairs, and active members through learning exchanges and regional parliamentarian meetings and is presently working towards establishing a regular parliamentarian forum for the HKH region. This initiative is being carried out as part of the Regional Data, Networks and Institutions Action Area under the Regional Action and Global Advocacy Strategic Group. Such a process of cross-learning is anticipated to establish a conducive platform for the exchange of cutting-edge knowledge on priority issues, and foster pro-climate, pro-mountain, and pro-environment policies in the HKH countries commensurate with international obligations and commitments.

This initiative will also highlight that migration can be an adaptative strategy, to contribute to inclusive and equitable development. The parliamentarians’ engagement will help shape and implement policies that focus on the specific needs and challenges of the highly vulnerable migrant and immobile residents in the mountain areas. With collective understanding and commitment, the parliamentarians are expected to mould a unified voice for the HKH for increased recognition of and investment in the region at regional and global fora. Recently, a group of Bhutanese parliamentarians visited Nepal as part of a series of learning exchanges which is expected to establish a regular parliamentarian forum for the HKH region.

Exchange visit 1: Bhutanese parliamentarians visit Nepal to understand the drivers of rural outmigration from the mid-hill regions, which has led to land-use change, farmland abandonment, and ultimately, food insecurity in the mountain areas.

Bhutan is facing an accelerated phenomenon of rural–urban and out-country migration, especially of youth from the paddy cultivation areas, leading to farmland abandonment in the country’s mid-hill regions. This rapid outmigration of paddy cultivators led to a drastic 50 percent decline in rice production, which resulted in an acute shortage of this food staple in the country. Consequently, Bhutan’s rice imports rose to 7 billion ngultrums (approximately USD 83 million) in 2019–2022.

Bhutanese MPs on a study mission in Syangja district to understand the causes and impacts of outmigration (left) and meeting Nepali parliamentarians at Singha Durbar in Kathmandu (right).

An eight-member delegation, led by Phuntsho Rapten, the recent Chairperson of the Good Governance Committee (GGC), and consisting of other members of the GGC of the National Council of Bhutan (NCB), the country’s upper house of Parliament, visited Nepal from 25 February–5 March 2024. The purpose of the visit was to observe and understand the major causes and impacts of rural outmigration from the mid-hill regions of Nepal and discuss Nepal government policies, plans, and strategies to manage the challenges of such outmigration. The delegation gained insights into the drivers and regulations around rural outmigration, ‘ghost villages’, farmland abandonment, and reduced production and increased imports in the mountain areas of Nepal through in-person interactions with local communities and officials at five villages in the three hill districts of Syangja, Lamjung, and Sindhupalchowk. They also exchanged lessons learned about fallow agricultural land with Nepali legislators and policymakers at local to national levels.

The GGC members, based on their experiences and lessons learned from Nepal, went on to conduct a comprehensive survey of the migration hotspots in Bhutan, and recorded and analysed the key factors and actors in rural outmigration. The MPs presented their recommendations to the NCB during its June session. This is anticipated to enable precise deliberations around the identified issues and open doors for informed policymaking to address the increasing trend of rural outmigration from the paddy areas of Bhutan – a trend, which if unmanaged, can expose the country to all the dire consequences of farmland abandonment, including reduced production and growing dependence of mountain countries and communities on global food supply chains.