Resilient Economies and Landscapes

In most HKH countries, there are significant gaps in reliable data and information specific to mountain economies and the state of their ecosystems, and an even bigger gap in resilient mountain solutions. Highlights from our work in 2024 include:

The team contributed foresight assessments, and helped identify opportunities for livelihoods, including through migration, settlements and renewable energy. Developing climate-resilient agroecology in Nepal led to the establishment of new Community Learning Centres, an approach which was adopted into strategy and budget of local government (Karnali Province). We supported women and youth in green entrepreneurship and promoted the productive use of renewable energy in powering mountain economies. We helped mobilise funds at the ‘Nepal Startup National Conference 2030’, and facilitated the launch of 11 new bio-based enterprises in Bhutan. We supported Nepal’s Alternative Energy Centre to co-establish a decision support platform, ‘Productive Use of Renewable Energy (PURE)’ to secure funding for providing lift irrigation system for 48 sites and will extend the methodology with Bhutan.

The team accelerated the promotion of Nature-based Solutions for ecosystem restoration and prevention of biodiversity loss through transboundary collaboration. Our long-term engagement and advice on springs contributed to India’s Department of Land Resources initiating the design of a new national scheme for sustainable springshed management, with technical support from other Indian organisations. A comprehensive management plan was launched for Gangtey-Phobji wetlands in Bhutan, and rangeland policy was formulated in Nepal and Pakistan. We piloted trials for improving rangeland management practices in Bhutan and Nepal. With Nepal’s Forest Research Institute, we launched the National Land Cover Monitoring System to support forest conservation and carbon accounting. We developed Natural Capital Accounting in protected area management of Bhutan and mapped 34 transboundary sites of Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures across the HKH.