Science-Policy Dialogue on “regional cooperation on adaptation to cascading climate risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya”

Summary

BACKGROUND:

The impacts and implications of climate change are not confined by national borders. They affect international trade and supply chains, capital flows, human mobility, as well as natural resources shared regionally and globally. Likewise, actions to adapt to the impacts of climate change can have effects far beyond the jurisdictions of implementing governments. The consequences of climate change, and the measures governments take to respond to them, may be viewed as sub-national and national policy issues, but they also transcend national boundaries and require collaborative remedial action. Yet, current response measures, adaptation plans and strategies usually fail to account for such dynamics.

The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) is one of the most vulnerable regions to the cross-border and cascading impacts of climate change. These impacts transmit across national and regional borders and pose grave threats to the region’s people – particularly women, children, persons with disabilities and economically and socially marginalized groups – and the economies, biodiversity and sustainability of ecosystems on which they depend. Ambitious and transformative adaptation actions at the local and national level are urgently needed, but collective and concerted action is also imperative if the region is to adapt to cross-border and cascading climate risk and sustain the HKH’s biodiversity and the livelihoods at the heart of its communities. A regional cooperation mechanism is crucial to coordinate such collective action, effectively respond to the cross-border and cascading nature of climate risk and pursue region-wide resilience.

The Science–Policy Dialogue on regional cooperation on adaptation to cascading climate risks in the HKH aims to identify what a cooperation mechanism on adaptation could look like, the main areas of work it could advance, and the tangible outcomes it could and should deliver.

OBJECTIVES:

The Science–Policy Dialogue on regional cooperation on adaptation to cascading climate risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya aims to engage stakeholders from key constituencies from the eight regional member countries (RMCs), including: policymakers, adaptation experts, UNFCCC national focal points, climate scientists and academics, civil society organizations, Indigenous people, economists and practitioners, as well as experts from international organizations to:

• Discuss cascading climate risks of importance to the HKH and the need for regional cooperation on adaptation to these types of risks, and build a collective HKH voice at the global level,
• Explore the barriers and enablers of building a regional cooperation mechanism on adaptation in the HKH,
• Create a shared vision of what a cooperation mechanism on adaptation in the HKH region should look like,
• Explore key areas of work and define what the HKH cooperation mechanism could deliver to RMCs and beyond, practically and politically.