Climate-resilient agriculture for sustainable food systems in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Organisers: ICIMOD, Government of Nepal, GRAPE project

About the conference

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), in collaboration with the Government of Nepal and the Green Resilient Agricultural Productive Ecosystems (GRAPE) project, is organizing this conference to bring together multi-stakeholders from the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) countries and beyond to foster cross-learning of best climate resilient practices, solutions, approaches, and policies for sustainability of mountain food systems, particularly in the HKH. It also seeks to advance knowledge on enabling environment climate resilient agricultural solutions (CRAS) and regional cooperation for wider adoption of these solutions to achieve sustainability in mountain food systems. Participants include researchers, experts from government and non-government sectors, practitioners, academicians, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

Objectives

• Promote exchange of best practices: Facilitate cross-sharing of the best climate-resilient practices and solutions to address the rising risks in mountain food systems.
• Address barriers and identify solutions: Deliberate solutions to address challenges and bottlenecks that disrupt the enabling environment for wider adoption of climate-resilient agricultural solutions in the HKH.
• Enhance collaborative efforts: Foster collaboration among governments, NGOs, researchers, and local communities to promote the widespread adoption of climate-resilient solutions and ensure long-term sustainability in mountain food systems.

Background

Mountains cover 22% of our planet and accommodate over 1 billion people. Yet, 40% of mountain communities face food insecurity. In the HKH alone, one-third of the population is food insecure and nearly half suffer from malnutrition—severely impacting children and women.

The HKH is grappling with severe challenges in agriculture including macro issues such as climate change, loss of agrobiodiversity, labor shortage, low tech adoption, and high post-harvest losses. Climatic changes – such as changes in temperature, erratic weather patterns, frequent floods, prolonged droughts, and shifting seasons – not only impact food production and income, but also exacerbate the existing social inequalities. Therefore, addressing these threats and impacts of climate change are among the most urgent challenges for ensuring the sustainability of our food systems and the resilience of agriculture.

In response, ICIMOD held the international conference ‘Enabling Resilient and Sustainable Food Systems in the Hindu Kush Himalaya’ in 2023 which spotlighted the urgent need for resilient and sustainable food systems in the HKH and facilitated cross-learning to address both climatic and non-climatic risks in mountain food systems. This year’s conference will build on this momentum, exploring innovative climate-resilient solutions, approaches for building climate resilience in the HKH, and strategies for widespread scaling and adoption.

For further information please contact:

Kamal Aryal kamal.aryal@icimod.org

Abid Hussain abid.hussain@icimod.org

Sunayana Basnet sunayana.basnet@icimod.org

Barsha Rani Gurung barsha.gurung@icimod.org