Climate Risks and Intersectionalities in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) Region

Organisers: ICIMOD, UNDP, IGES

About the event

To inform further collaboration and strengthen a shared understanding of climate risks and intersectionalities in the HKH region, ICIMOD in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) are driving a regional scoping assessment that can inform all stakeholders of the climate-induced challenges to human wellbeing and socio-ecological resilience of mountain communities, and the areas of programming to address the risks. The focus is on four dimensions: human mobility, food security, energy security and economic/livelihood security, and on 5 HKH countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan).

Objectives

1. Framework development: The scoping assessment seeks to define the nexus challenges or impact pathways resulting from climate change impacts on four domains of resilience building in the mountain context, specifically those of mobility, food security, energy security and livelihood security. The roundtable will introduce the preliminary construct of an integrated framework, based on a literature review, and seek to gather expert inputs on the validity and suitability of the framework for the region.
2. Contextualization and Gap Analysis: Through the integrated four-domain framework, the consultation will seek to identify and contextualize the key nexus challenges and impact pathways resulting from climate change and consequential to resilience-building efforts in the HKH context. The consultation is expected to help in prioritization of climate risks, understanding the nature of interventions required in a roadmap manner, as well as highlighting the knowledge gaps. Understanding the gaps within the framework, especially those specific to the HKH region, would also inform the development of the questionnaires for further targeted expert consultations.
3. Stakeholders Identification: The proceedings of the roundtable will also enable the study team to collaborate with the participants and source their insights for the identification of stakeholders. The participants can identify the stakeholders for the scoping study to ensure that contextual on-ground realities and intersectionality across the various communities in the HKH region are adequately reflected in the study.
4. Intersectionalities: The roundtable consultation presents an opportunity for the study team to examine the manner in which intersectionality of the various identities (marginalization, social status, economic status etc.) of mountain communities in the HKH region can present magnified and disproportionate challenges resulting from climate change impacts in the four domains.

Participants

The consultation will involve climate change experts, researchers, development practitioners, business and industry representatives, local authorities, and CSOs.

Expected outputs

• An integrated framework for the scoping study
• Identification of key stakeholders, institutional actors, etc for further questionnaire-based consultation
• Identification of data sources for the study
• Framing of key issues linked to the 4 domains, based on which the questionnaire can be constructed.
• Identification of geographic areas or “hotspots” where climate-induced risks such as food, livelihood, energy, and/or human (im)mobility, have been observed.

Background

As climate change accelerates, impacting every region and sector, there is growing apprehension about its potential to exacerbate many of the current social, economic, and environmental challenges and threats already being faced. Climate change can contribute to instability, lead to displacement and migration, worsen food production and access, and affect energy supply and the livelihoods of entire communities and regions. In many regions, the increasing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, sea-level rise, and droughts are already contributing to greater food and water insecurity, economic disruption, large-scale human displacement, and social unrest and national insecurity.

In the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, climate-related risks to food, water, and livelihoods are already affecting mountain communities, and in many cases forcing people to migrate. The women, children and the elderly are often disproportionately impacted by climate security risks. Beyond the mountainous region, glacier melting, in the long run, could cause an enormous negative impact on the food security of the two billion population downstream who depend on the himalayan river water resources. Cascading natural hazards from climate impacts are likely to drive out-migration further and threaten urban settlements in the hills as well as plains.

Focusing on four dimensions: human mobility, food security, energy security and economic/livelihood security, the study team will be conducting Country Consultation Workshops in each of these 5 countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan) as part of a bottom-up methodology to harvest the multiple narratives around climate risks and intersectionalities from diverse stakeholders.