Mountain biodiversity and human life are inextricably intertwined. Biodiversity directly supports ecosystem resilience, sustainable development, and human well-being, especially through critical services, including water, food, medicine, and climate regulation. Human activity has a clear and significant impact on mountain biodiversity in manifold ways.
In Nepal’s Madhesh Province, widely known as the nation’s ‘Grain Basket’, an unprecedented monsoon failure in July 2025 has led to a severe drought, disrupting rice transplantation and threatening food security. ICIMOD’s Earth Observation analysis reveals over 40% of rice fields under stress, with potential losses of up to 450,000 metric tons, posing a nationwide economic and food crisis.
Marmots spend most of the winter hibernating in their burrows, which need to remain dry and insulated from extreme cold and frozen ground. This behaviour suggests several possible relationships between marmots and permafrost.
This blog provides an overview of the work delivered and participated in by Hindu Kush Himalaya countries and ICIMOD in pushing the mountain agenda in the upcoming assessment report of the IPCC.
In order to adapt to the impacts of climate change, most countries in the region have developed National Adaptation Plans and Strategies and are now gearing up to implement them. ‘UAE-Belem work programme’ convened by UNFCCC is working on refining and developing indicators for measuring progress towards the Global Goal on adaptation in eight domains – water, food, health, ecosystems, infrastructure and human settlements, poverty and livelihoods, cultural heritage, and policy cycle.
Achieving global biodiversity, climate, and sustainable development goals isn't a short-term task. It demands our ongoing commitments – through sustained investments, strong partnerships, and tangible actions that make a lasting impact on the ground.
The newly formed ‘Yarlung Zangbo-Brahmaputra River Basin Network’ seeks to strengthen transboundary cooperation to overcome significant challenges in the region and achieve sustainable development in the region.
Panday, Academic and Nepal’s National Planning Commission member, argues that higher education institutions urgently need to rethink their role in the context of global temperature rise.
As global temperatures rise, hazards are increasing in south-central Nepal. A series of community-led projects supported by ICIMOD and the Government of Australia are helping communities adapt.
Mountain peaks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region – usually capped in a white blanket of snow in the winter – remain noticeably bare this year, particularly in the western Himalayas. This winter has been very unusual, with little or no snowfall throughout the region. Farmers are understandably concerned, as low snowfall has a direct and severe impact on agriculture. This is particularly acute for the HKH region which is heavily dependent on agriculture.
In a historic development, yak herder associations from 11 mountain districts across Nepal – from Darchula in the West to Taplejung in the East – came together to formally announce the formation of the Yak Chauri Farmers’ Federation Nepal.