Just a decade ago, it would have been difficult to imagine such a solemn ritual to honour the glacier, to lament the loss of much of its ice. Yet the changes are undeniable. Yala Glacier is disappearing.
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Just a decade ago, it would have been difficult to imagine such a solemn ritual to honour the glacier, to lament the loss of much of its ice. Yet the changes are undeniable. Yala Glacier is disappearing.
Countries in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region abound with bioeconomy solutions for climate resilience and sustainable development, but these remain restricted to the local level. ICIMOD leveraged the platform of IV Mountain Futures Conference to stimulate regional consensus for knowledge and technology exchange pathways to break the silos and amplify these solutions across the region.
Held on July 14–15, 2025, at ICIMOD, Nepal, the Regional capacity building and consultation workshop for inclusive climate policy and planning converged 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.
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).
As lead authors of the IPBES Nexus Report - ‘Assessment Report on the Interlinkages Among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health,’ ICIMOD’s Sunita Chaudhary, Biodiversity lead and Abid Hussain, Economies Lead, share eight critical points for addressing interconnected challenges on biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate in the Hindu Kush Himalaya.
With the impact of temperature rise on water availability set to compound already high levels of food insecurity in the region, ICIMOD has partnered with the World Food Programme (WFP) to protect vulnerable communities in the region.
A high-level delegation led by the Vice-Governor of Yunnan province of China met with ICIMOD officials to explore opportunities for collaboration with ICIMOD on 5 January.