This document summarizes sustainable development opportunities and challenges in mountain areas. Mountains provide vital global resources like water, food, energy and biodiversity, but mountain ecosystems and people are under increasing pressure from climate change, water scarcity, and globalization. However, climate change has also opened opportunities for regional cooperation on issues like disasters. Other opportunities include growing markets for mountain niche products and tapping mountain areas' potential to provide ecosystem services. Effective and sustainable development in mountains requires addressing issues like poverty, migration, gender, water management, and landscape approaches that build resilience to climate change.

1. Sustainable Development
in Mountain Areas:
Change & Opportunities
David Molden
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
Kathmandu, Nepal

2. Mountains Matter
• Mountains ecosystems – a global resource
Vital for water, food, energy, forests, biodiversity
• Mountains are under pressure
• Mountain people offer solutions

3. The Mountain Agenda: New
Challenges since Rio (1992)
• Climate change
• Growing concerns - water scarcity, carbon
and forests, energy security, and food
security
• Persistent poverty
• Globalization – economic growth,
connectivity
• Outmigration and feminization of landscape

4. New Opportunities
• Climate change and disasters have
opened the doors to regional cooperation
• Growing market for niche products
• Mountains as providers of ecosystem
services
• Information technologies
 Change offers opportunities

5. Mountains are of regional and global
concern – water, food, energy www.icimod.org
Regional Member Countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan

6. Impact of Climate Change -
Imja Glacier, Nepal
1956
photograph of Imja
glacier (Photo: Fritz
Muller;
courtesy of Jack Ives)
2006
photograph of Imja glacier
(Photo: Giovanni
Kappenberger
courtesy of Alton C Byers)

7. Opportunities / needs
• Opportunity – regional cooperation around
floods, and water availability
• Flood warning systems
• Increase water storage assets
• Climate smart landscape management

8. Watershed management and
CC mitigation
Mitigation potential vs water consumption
• Mitigation/REDD+ potential  Higher in forested watersheds
and with afforestation/reforestation potential
However, forests can only take up carbon if they take
up water at the same time
 negative impacts of reduced
runoff in arid zones
 trade-offs

9. Landscape Management for
Climate Change
FAO-ICIMOD New Generation
Watershed Programme Proceedings

10. Mountain Poverty
National average
Bhutan
Mountain region
HKH region
Pakistan
India
Nepal
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Poverty higher in the mountains than in the plains, except for India
(for Himalayan Hindu Kush)

11. Specificities Of Mountain Poverty
Access to Basic HH Assets and
Facilities Accessibility Composition Liabilities Social Status
Afghanistan mountains X X X
Bangladesh mountains X na X
Eastern Bhutan X X X X
Uttarakhand X X X
Himalayan West Bengal X X X
Nepal mountains X X X
Pakistan mountains X X
Inaccessibility & marginality (biophysical and social marginality arising out of lack of
access) – mountain specificities – are common determinants of poverty in all countries

12. Household Income Sources
(Source: Poverty Assessment - PVAT, AdaptHimal)
% contribution to HH Income
HH having access: 91% • Land based activities
Landownership: 82% contribution to HH
HH cash crops: 72%
Av holding: 0.12 ha
income only 22%
16% Av plots: 4
22% • 54% HH income
from off farm; of
Agriculture this, 53% is
contributed through
8% wage labour.
• Opportunity?
Off-Farm income
increase returns from
Agriculture & allied land based and
Forestry (Herbs, MAPs etc) enhance off farm
54%
options
Business, Trade, labour etc
Remittance

13. Opportunities
• Mountain products – agricultural, forest, medicinal
crops – have ‘niche’ value, comparative advantage
• Potential of profitably tapping ‘seasonality’ of
mountain product availability – ‘off season’
downstream
• Untapped potential for enhancing returns – better
management, optimising products, promotion of
mountain products
• Value chain approach to build up this sector and
increase contribution to HH income

14. Outmigration
• High rates of labour migration in may
mountain areas
• Diversification strategy for mountain
livelihoods to reduce vulnerability
• Migration – positive or negative?

15. Gendered migration in the
Himalayas
Distribution of labour migrants by gender

16. Reasons for wives being
happy with labour migration
More freedom
Increase in decision making
High social status
Increase in incomes
Better future for children
0 20 40 60 80 100

17. Reasons for wives’ unhappiness
Husband developed extra marital affairs
Low income of migrants
Separation from husbands
Unhappy with in-laws
Workload increased
0 20 40 60 80 100

18. Key recommendations to increase
development impact of remittances
and migration in the HKH
1. Foster and manage skilled migration
2. Financial services and financial literacy for rural
areas to deal with remittances
3. Address challenges of male-outmigration
In combination with strategies to make rural
mountain life more attractive

19. International Centre for Integrated
Mountain Development

20. ICIMOD’s Mission
Mission
Enable sustainable mountain development for
improved well being through knowledge and
regional cooperation.

21. A Regional Organization
www.icimod.org
210 million
people in the
HKH
1.3 billion
people
downstream
Regional Member Countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan

22. Regional Programmes
• Landscape transects / ecosystems
• River Basins
• Cryosphere
• Adaptation to change / livelihoods
• Regional data base / long term monitoring
• Himalayan University Consortium
** interdisciplinary work

23. ICIMOD Thematic Programs
Data/ Remote Sensing/ GIS
Knowledge Management (IKM)
Water and Hazards (IWHM)
Ecosystem Services (ECES)
Livelihood Options (SLPR)

24. ICIMOD contributes to:
1. Fill Knowledge Gaps
2. Adapt to Change for
Improved Livelihoods
3. Collaborate across Borders
4. Build Capacity
5. Global Awareness and
Exchange of Mountain
Knowledge

25. Thank you

26. Operationalisation of mountain-
specific MPI
Educational background Education HH head Q2
Education School attendance No. of school-going children Q6
Quality of education Distance to next school Q4
Illness Frequency of illnesses Q8
Health Health care Reserves for health care Q9
Nutrition Food consumption Q51
Basic goods Non-food consumption Q52
Poverty Living standard Assets Telephone/mobile owned Q59
Quality of dwelling Quality of walls Q11.1
Electricity Availability of electricity Q12.1
Access to
basic Water Impr. source of drinking water Q14
facilities
Sanitation Improved toilet facility Q13.1
Accessibility Access to facilities Distance to market centre Q4

27. Operationalization of
Vulnerability
Socio-demographic profile Dependency ratio Q1
Entitlement to resources Agricultural land per head Q22
Livelihood strategies Remittances per head Q54
Adaptive capacity
Social networks No. of institut. which helped Q43
Accessibility Time to next market centre Q4
Coping strategies No. of adaptation strategies Q48
Wellbeing Per head consumption Q51, Q52
Health/sanitation Drinking water quality Q19
Vulnerability Sensitivity
Food security No. of month food suffficient Q49
Water security No. of month water sufficient Q17
Environmental fragility Quality of wall material Q11
Natural shocks No. of natural shocks Q42
Economic shocks No. of economic shocks Q42
Exposure
Perception of climate variability Perc. change in temperature Q48
Climate variability Extreme temperature data n.a.

28. System to delineate pockets of
poverty & vulnerability (PVAT results)
9 districts; 4 mtns; 3 hills; 2 terai Vulnerability
(within districts)
3600 households
Vulnerability Districts
Food security
(within districts)
Multiple dimensions for determining pockets
of poverty and vulnerability