Strengthening regional cooperation to address cascading climate risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Summary

Adaptation Without Borders and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), organised a session on Strengthening regional cooperation to address cascading climate risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) at the 8th Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation (APAN) Forum. 

This in-person session sought to explore the barriers and enablers of enhanced regional cooperation on adaptation to manage the cascading impacts of climate change. It built collective learning on what cascading climate risks are, how they affect mountainous regions such as the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), and the forms of regional cooperation that could present resilience-building solutions.

In this session, Katy Harris from Adaptation without Borders, and Deepshikha Sharma from ICIMOD introduced cascading climate risks of importance to the HKH, and shared insights on barriers and opportunities for regional cooperation on adaptation to these types of risks.

Jessica Troni from Adaptation at Altitude (A@A) and Arghya Sinha Roy from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) drew some lessons from regional cooperation mechanisms in mountainous regions and across the ASEAN. They highlighted knowledge sharing, capacity building, technology, and finance as means of strengthening regional cooperation on adaptation to cascading climate risks.

Government representatives from Bangladesh and Nepal discussed needs for enhancing regional cooperation and emphasised on political leadership and commitment and policy coordination to adapt to cascading climate risks and pursue region-wide resilience in the HKH.

Speakers

Moderator:

• Niall O’Connor – Stockholm Environment Institute, Asia

Speakers:

• Katy Harris – Stockholm Environment Institute and Adaptation Without Borders
• Deepshikha Sharma – ICIMOD
• Jessica Troni – Adaptation at Altitude programme
• Arghya Sinha Roy – Asian Development Bank
• Government representatives from the HKH regional member countries

The 8th Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation (APAN) Forum is considered Asia-Pacific’s largest and longest-standing gathering of adaptation practitioners to meet, exchange knowledge and experiences, and collaborate towards the pertinent outcomes and practical solutions that are needed to address the challenges of climate change. This year’s forum is hosted by the Ministry of Environment – Republic of Korea, under the bigger umbrella of the Korea Global Adaptation Week 2023 in Songdo, Incheon City. The APAN Forum is a biennial flagship event of the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN) Secretariat, hosted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific with the support of the Ministry of the Environment – Japan.