The components are interrelated in that climate change impacts on water resources can have far-reaching implications for both ecosystems services and food security, which in turn can lead to increased vulnerability of mountain communities, including women, to drivers of climate change, thereby making actions on the adaptation front both urgent and necessary. The main challenge of HICAP is to integrate not only ‘gender’ across all components but also the findings of the different components at appropriate scales, and communicate them to the wider public, including policy- and decision-makers at all relevant levels as well as the mountain communities of the Hindu Kush Himalayan region.