Press release
Kathmandu june 5 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has appointed ICIMOD to act as one of three technical implementing partners in a major initiative designed to transform climate and disaster risk reduction in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region.
ICIMOD collaborates with ADB, engineering firm BGC, and a Swiss consortium supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation on $6.52M initiative to build resilience in mountains.
‘BARHKH’ initiative will harness regional and local best-practice alongside Swiss expertise in disaster risk reduction, as minimal damage from last week’s glacier landslide disaster in Alpine village Blatten proves impact of Alpine approaches.
Initiative aims to build permanent capacity and increase access to investment and training to save lives and protect infrastructure in vulnerable mountain rang.
ADB’s Building Adaptation and Resilience in the Hindu Kush
Himalayas (BARHKH) initiative, launched in December 2023, with a total of $6.52 million funding for its first phase, $450,000 of which goes to ICIMOD, seeks to reduce the human and economic risks from the rising intensity and number of climate-induced mountain hazards in the region, including floods, landslides, and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).
Switzerland, through the Regional Climate Action Partnership in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, has contributed CHF 2 million ($2.4M) to the BARHKH initiative. In addition, Switzerland is bringing in its decades-long expertise in climate change and disaster risk management through a range of Swiss institutions, including those from the private sector and academia. This collaboration aims to build on global knowledge and enhance regional capacity.
The initiative also seeks to cut the costs of disaster risk reduction for individual governments, promote climate resilient investments, and strengthen community resilience by developing shared data, systems on multi-hazard risks and multi hazard early warning systems, and with improved access to training, knowledge and finance.
The initiative sets out to build permanent regional capacity in interventions that address a spectrum of hazards, from floods, debris flows, landslides, glacial lake outburst floods to permafrost thawing.
nterventions will range from identifying disaster hotspots, reducing exposure, by using multi-hazard risk assessment to inform climate resilient investments, to ramping up early warning for early action, building impact-resistant infrastructure, insurance solutions, and increasing the effectiveness of operations, maintenance and finance plans.
In its first phase, which runs till October 2028, BARHKH focuses on Bhutan and Nepal. Phase two will focus on operationalisation, and scaling the initiative to additional countries, and sectors in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region.
”Our warming world is unleashing devastating hazards in our mountains. Even advanced economies are being stretche-we must act now to scale proven solutions across the HKH and we hugely applaud ADB for this initiative,” states Saswata Sanyal, Disaster Risk Reduction Lead at ICIMOD and Project Coordinator for BARHKH for ICIMOD.
”The escalating costs of disaster management and mitigation make it imperative for agencies and governments within and beyond our region to come together like never before – to ensure as many people and sectors as possible benefit from the best innovations and systems and techniques, at the lowest cost. We’re delighted to be among the technical advisers whose insights will advance disaster management and lower risk in this region.”
ICIMOD’s participation in this project was confirmed just days ahead of the opening of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR), the key fora for disaster risk experts to share knowledge, discuss development and trends. This year’s event, which closes tomorrow (6 June) is hosted by the Government of Switzerland.
”Mountain communities around the world, from the Alps to the Andes and the Himalayas, are threatened by increasing intensity and frequency of mountain-related hazards. Their lives, ways of life, culture, and heritage are all threatened,” the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction wrote in a statement in response to the glacier landslide which struck Switzerland last week.
”This tragedy could have been much worse if not for the quick actions of Swiss authorities, who provided early warning to the village’s residents and evacuated them, and their livestock, days ago. This is a testament to the power of disaster risk reduction in reducing loss of life and protecting livelihoods. Over the decades, the Swiss have developed significant expertise in managing mountain-related disaster risks and have been generously sharing it with countries across the world.
”With the hazard pattern changing so significantly with temperature rise, disaster management in the HKH is not yet where it needs to be,” said Declan Magee, Principal Economist and Team Leader BARHKH for ADB. “Huge knowledge exists in this region, and beyond it. This is a first crucial step towards pooling that knowledge base and technical expertise, building the appropriate capacity and leveraging the right investment and planning guidance to save lives, and safeguard economic development.
The press released has published in own authentic portal of ICIMODE. Nepal’ Offices.
Category: International
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Asian Development Bank (ADB) has appointed ICIMOD to act as one of three technical implementing partners
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The third pressures are on Europe’s ground and surface water, lack of concrete action
Jan Plagge, President of IFOAM Organics Europe
Kathmandu june 4, IFOAM released a Press statement to reduction the pollution in Organic European responses.
BRUSSELS, 4 JUNE 2025 – IFOAM Organics Europe welcomes the European Commission’s Water Resilience Strategy, a necessary European response to the growing water crisis. The acknowledgement of the role of organic farming for water resilience in improving soil health, water retention and reducing pollution is a step in the right direction. However, the Water Resilience Strategy lacks overall ambition and concrete action to effectively restore and protect water resources, specifically from pollution from pesticides.
“The strategy explicitly highlights organic farming as a solution to improve water resilience. By refraining from the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, and fostering soil health and biodiversity, organic farming is a key tool in tackling the water crisis and increase resilience to drought and floods”, said Jan Plagge, President of IFOAM Organics Europe.
However, the Water Resilience Strategy fails to address one of the major threats to Europe’s water bodies: pesticide pollution. Agricultural pollution, including from pesticides, accounts for one third of the pressures on Europe’s ground- and surface water, yet the strategy lacks concrete action to reduce synthetic pesticide use and prevent contamination from harmful substances like PFAS found in pesticides at its source.
“Leaving pesticide pollution out of the European Water Resilience Strategy is a major blind spot,” said Eduardo Cuoco, Director of IFOAM Organics Europe. “We cannot talk about restoring water quality while ignoring the impact of pesticides on our rivers, lakes and groundwater. With serious impacts on health and depollution costs, ranging from 5 to up to 100 billion a year for TFA (acid trifluoroacetic; PFAS residue) alone, it is not enough to clean up pollution, but we must prevent it in the first place.”
To be effective the EU must step up its efforts to address the major sources of water pollution and adequately support solutions like organic farming through a CAP that rewards farmers engaged in sustainability. press statement has published own authentic website. -
Significant Investment Opportunities Exist in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies
(IRENA : Director General Francesco
Kathmandu June 2, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. IRENA lauches a press own statement about the investment in energy sectors.
The Government of Brazil and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) will co-host the 1st Energy Planning Summit on 3–4 June 2025 at the BNDES Headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. The event will mark the official launch of the Global Coalition for Energy Planning (GCEP), a landmark initiative emerging from Brazil’s 2024 G20 Presidency to help close the investment gap in the clean energy transition through improved energy planning.
The Summit and the Coalition will contribute to building momentum ahead of COP30 in Brazil and other key global milestones.
“Although significant investment opportunities exist in emerging markets and developing economies, perceived risks remain a key barrier to investment, particularly from private sources,” said IRENA Director General Francesco La Camera. “Brazil has demonstrated how long-term energy planning, which incorporates investment-ready strategies, can help reduce those risks, attract private capital, scale up renewables, and strengthen local supply chains.”
“As GCEP Secretariat, IRENA will leverage its near-universal membership and extensive repository of best practices for renewable energy planning and modelling to support countries, particularly in the Global South, in developing energy strategies that align with national development and climate goals.”
H.E. Alexandre Silveira, Brazil’s Minister of Mines and Energy, said: “Promoting a just and effective energy transition necessarily requires recognizing the leadership of developing countries. By advancing the Global Coalition for Energy Planning, Brazil reaffirms its commitment to multilateral dialogue and to strengthening tools that connect strategic planning, public policy, and financing mechanisms in support of a more inclusive and sustainable energy future.”
This high-level event will bring together senior officials from energy planning and finance ministries in a structured dialogue to establish a new global platform for cooperation. Expected outcomes include agreement on priority workstreams, a roadmap for thematic coordination, and an initial mapping of partners ready to collaborate. By demonstrating how robust planning can reduce risks and unlock investment, the Summit aims to strengthen political commitment to use energy planning as a strategic tool to inform national and international development strategies.
Founding members and partners will sign a Letter of Principles at the Summit, outlining the Coalition’s shared vision and guiding priorities. -
Nepal’s First National Yak Day: Working together to protect the guardians of the high Himalaya
Kathmandu April 20, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Director General Pema Gyamtsho Release a press statment and said happya day of first yak on ocasssion of yak conference 2025, organizing conference of first time in Nepal, he said.
,.Today marks a historic and heartfelt moment for Nepal and for all those who call the mountains home. Nepal has made history as the first yak range country – or country in which yaks are found – in the Hindu Kush Himalaya to declare a national day dedicated to this magnificent species of long-haired domesticated cattle. This is a proud and timely recognition of the immense cultural, ecological, and economic value of yaks in our mountain regions.
In 27 mountain districts across Nepal, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities – particularly Sherpa, Tamang, Thakali, Rai, and Limbu – have nurtured and protected yak herding traditions for generations. These communities are the backbone of mountain agropastoralism – which combines growing crops with raising livestock – their lives deeply intertwined with the rhythms of transhumance, the seasonal movement of livestock across mountain pastures. This unique system, recently inscribed by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage, is not only vital for food and livelihood security, but also for the sustainable management of fragile alpine ecosystems.
Yak: more than a mountain animal
Yaks are a lifeline for the people of the mountains. They provide meat, milk, fibre, manure for fertiliser and draught power for agricultural tasks such as ploughing, in some of the world’s most challenging terrains. They play a vital role in the high mountain communities – not just as a source of sustenance, but as a keystone of cultural identity and socio-economic resilience. Their hybrids have enabled access to wider resource areas across altitudinal gradients, helping agropastoralists adapt to their mountain environments. The ‘folk taxonomy’ – or the way people name and organise these generational hybrids is a fascinating expression of deep Indigenous knowledge – scientific, spiritual, and cultural all at once.
In many respects, the yak is an iconic animal and can be described as both the ecological and cultural architect of the Himalaya. Yak herding is deeply embedded in the traditions, festivals, and spiritual practices of Himalayan communities. Conserving yak is not only about protecting an animal – it is about safeguarding mountain livelihoods, Indigenous knowledge, and fragile ecosystems in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH).
However, yak herding livelihoods are increasingly under pressure.
Climate change, shifting socio-economic patterns, and increasing restrictions on traditional mobility have placed immense pressure on yak herding systems. Rangelands are degrading. Genetic erosion is on the rise due to reduced cross-border exchange. And yet, the solutions are within reach – if we act together.
ICIMOD’s commitment to yak and rangeland resilience
At ICIMOD, we are proud to support the revitalisation of yak-based agropastoralism. Our work includes:
•Formation of the Nepal Yak Chauri Farmers’ Federation, a national platform uniting district yak networks to amplify herder voices. We have established a similar federation in Bhutan and are planning new federations in Pakistan and India, building a regional network of yak herders across the HKH.
•Supporting national partners to develop evidence-based policies and institutions for managing these lands to provide multiple benefits – livelihoods, carbon sequestration, water provisioning, biodiversity, and cultural tourism.
•Conducting dietary research to understand the nutritional needs and improve productivity of yaks in Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.
•Addressing the seasonal feed scarcity, piloting winter fodder development initiatives to improve year-round nutrition for yaks.
•Mapping grazing areas and understanding pastoral mobility patterns, which are crucial for sustainable rangeland management and climate resilience.
•Piloting rangeland restoration activities to enhance pasture quality, support biodiversity, and secure the long-term viability of yak herding systems.
On this first National Yak Day, I call on all of us – policymakers, researchers, development partners, and mountain advocates to celebrate, support, and sustain yak herding in the HKH. Let us listen to the voices of herders, invest in their knowledge, restore their rangelands, and ensure that future generations continue to witness the majestic silhouette of a yak on a mountain ridge. ICIMOD stands committed to supporting our partner countries in promoting sustainable, climate-resilient agropastoralism in the high mountains of the HKH.
Nepal has shown the way by dedicating a day to honour the yak. Let this be the beginning of a regional movement to recognise and protect the high-altitude heritage of the HKH.
Let Nepal’s leadership in declaring this National Yak Day inspire the region. It is time to elevate the yak – a symbol of resilience, heritage, and harmony with nature – to its rightful place on the sustainable development agenda.
Let us not relegate the existence of this majestic animal and the beautiful landscape it occupies to photographs and paintings for future generations of the Himalayan communities. -
Rural Liberians are Transforming Agriculture and Changing Lives
Kathmandu Aprill 8, Rural Liberians are transforming agriculture and changing lives
Liberia West and Central Africa Rural businesses Nutrition Livelihoods
Although two thirds of Liberians are involved in agriculture, much of their food is still imported from abroad. Two decades after a devastating civil war, Liberia has progressed considerably, but remains heavily dependant on international assistance.
IFAD is working closely with the Government of Liberia, rural Liberians and international partners to transform the sector that lies at the heart of economic transformation: agriculture.
STAR-P is central to this collaboration. This programme is co-financed by IFAD and the World Bank through US$51.71 million in grants and highly concessional loans, along with in-cash and in-kind contributions by project participants and the private sector. STAR-P works with rural producers to introduce modern business and agricultural practices, create connections to markets and develop vibrant agribusinesses that transform the agricultural landscape.
Through greater agricultural production and prosperity, small-scale farmers and rural entrepreneurs can build the incomes and food security they need to withstand economic shocks.
For 35-year-old Hawa in the Lofa county of northern Liberia, this collaboration has been life-changing. “I felt lost and alone before the STAR-P project,” she says. A visual disability forced her to drop out of school and she struggled to earn a living by selling drinking water at a local market.
Hawa has set up a small business with her new income from rice production.
This changed when Hawa became one of 55 visually impaired people who united to improve their farming and marketing practices through the Lofa United Blind Association. The association members adopted improved agricultural technology with support from STAR-P, including training, inputs and quality seedlings to grow rice.
As a result, these members tripled the area they cultivate. They now produce enough to feed their families with a surplus to sell in the market. Hawa earned enough to reinvest her funds in a small shop, which gave her an added income stream.
Thanks to her facility with numbers, Hawa is now the chair and financial secretary of the farmers’ association. She has not only managed to send her three children to school, but also earns enough that she has returned to university herself. “I want to be a big accountant in the world,” she says.
Hawa works with other visually impaired small-scale farmers through the Lofa United Blind Association.
Making a healthier future
While Hawa is just starting her entrepreneurial journey, 29-year-old Mariam has a business that received an invaluable leg up from STAR-P. Back in 2021, she sold fruit salad and hand-squeezed juice to commuters from a small kiosk in Monrovia, the Liberian capital.
Mariam saw how expensive healthy eating was for many Liberians and dreamt of reaching more people. She finally had the chance to pursue her ambitions when, while browsing the internet, she learned about a grant competition administered by STAR-P to revitalize businesses in agricultural value chains during the COVID-19 pandemic. She applied and was awarded funds to purchase a blender and juicer.
Mariam has gone from selling her juice in one small kiosk to opening five new locations.
“Previously, I had to squeeze juices manually, which was time-consuming and inefficient,” she says. “Buying this equipment sped up my work and improved my customer service.”
Now able to serve more customers, Mariam’s business grew. She moved her stall to a new location near a prestigious hotel, where she marketed her healthy juice made from locally sourced ingredients. In 2023, Mariam received another grant from STAR-P that enabled her to expand to five locations with a team of 14 staff members, most of them women.
Mariam’s business has not only brought prosperity to her and her team. It has also created a reliable market for 20 farmer groups in three counties, from which she sources pineapples, cucumbers and watermelons. She’s now looking to expand further and market her juices to students in rural counContinue page 28
Rural liberians …….
ties. By investing in Mariam’s vision, STAR-P has strengthened an entire value chain.
Mariam has hired 14 staff members, most of them women, to support her growing juice business.
Mariam and Hawa are just two of over 40,000 small-scale farmers and rural entrepreneurs who have benefited directly from STAR-P, which built their capacity through agricultural assets and services, post-harvest processing facilities and improved agricultural technology. By growing their agribusinesses, these producers are not only increasing their own incomes and building resilience, but also ensuring that all Liberians have access to locally produced and nutritious food. -
Weather, rise in international agricultural commodity prices pose upside risks to food inflation, warns RBI in MPC Minutes
Synopsis
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained its repo rate at 6.50% while acknowledging softening food inflation. However, the MPC minutes cautioned about upside risks from weather and global commodity prices. The RBI emphasized its commitment to controlling inflation amidst global economic stability but with persistent geopolitical uncertainties.
Despite expecting relief, the Reserve Bank of India on Friday through its MPC minutes warned that adverse weather events and rise in international agricultural commodity prices pose upside risks to food inflation.
“Going forward, food inflation is likely to soften in Q4 with seasonal easing of vegetables prices and kharif harvest arrivals; and good soil moisture conditions along with comfortable reservoir levels auguring well for rabi production. Adverse weather events and rise in international agricultural commodity prices, however, pose upside risks to food inflation,” said the MPC Minutes.
The RBI in its outlook further said that the global economy remains stable with growth holding up amidst waning inflation, albeit at a slow pace. Geopolitical risks and policy uncertainty, especially with respect to trade policies, have imparted heightened volatility to global financial markets.
Earlier, the central bank on December 6 announced its latest monetary policy decisions with repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.50 per cent. This followed a three-day meeting that began on December 4. The rate setting panel also decided to continue with the neutral monetary policy stance and to remain unambiguously focused on a durable alignment of inflation with the target, while supporting growth.
The recent spike in inflation highlights the continuing risks of multiple and overlapping shocks to the inflation outlook and expectations. Heightened geo-political uncertainties and financial market volatility add further upside risks to inflation, added the RBI in its MPC minutes.Further, RBI warned that high inflation reduces the purchasing power of both rural and urban consumers and may adversely impact private consumption. Saugata Bhattacharya, Dr. Rajiv Ranjan, Dr. Michael Debabrata Patra and former governor Shaktikanta Das voted to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent. Dr. Nagesh Kumar and Professor Ram Singh voted to reduce the policy repo rate by 25 basis points.
“The policy priority at this critical juncture has to be on restoring the inflation growth balance. The fundamental requirement now is to bring down inflation and align it with the target,” Das said as per the minutes of the December 4-6 MPC meeting released by the RBI on Friday.It was the last meeting of the MPC under Das, who demitted office earlier this month after completing an extended six-year tenure.