The Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment (Mountains, Climate Change, Sustainability and People)

This open access volume is the first comprehensive assessment of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. It comprises important scientific research on the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainable mountain development and will serve as a basis for evidence-based decision-making to safeguard the environment and advance people’s well-being. The compiled content is based on the collective knowledge of over 300 leading researchers, experts and policymakers, brought together by the Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme (HIMAP) under the coordination of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). This assessment was conducted between 2013 and 2017 as the first of a series of monitoring and assessment reports, under the guidance of the HIMAP Steering Committee: Eklabya Sharma (ICIMOD), Atiq Raman (Bangladesh), Yuba Raj Khatiwada (Nepal), Linxiu Zhang (China), Surendra Pratap Singh (India), Tandong Yao (China) and David Molden (ICIMOD and Chair of the HIMAP SC). This First HKH Assessment Report consists of 16 chapters, which comprehensively assess the current state of knowledge of the HKH region, increase the understanding of various drivers of change and their impacts, address critical data gaps and develop a set of evidence-based and actionable policy solutions and recommendations. These are linked to nine mountain priorities for the mountains and people of the HKH consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals. This book is a must-read for policy makers, academics and students interested in this important region and an essentially important resource for contributors to global assessments such as the IPCC reports. ; Constitutes the first comprehensive assessment of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, providing an authoritative overview of the region Assembles the collective knowledge of over 300 leading researchers, practitioners, experts, and policymakers Combines the current state of knowledge of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region in one volume Offers Open Access to a set of practically oriented policy recommendations Front Matter ....Pages i-xxii Introduction to the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment (Eklabya Sharma, David Molden, Atiq Rahman, Yuba Raj Khatiwada, Linxiu Zhang, Surendra Pratap Singh et al.)....Pages 1-16 Drivers of Change to Mountain Sustainability in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (Yanfen Wang, Ning Wu, Clemens Kunze, Ruijun Long, Manfred Perlik)....Pages 17-56 Unravelling Climate Change in the Hindu Kush Himalaya: Rapid Warming in the Mountains and Increasing Extremes (Raghavan Krishnan, Arun B. Shrestha, Guoyu Ren, Rupak Rajbhandari, Sajjad Saeed, Jayanarayanan Sanjay et al.)....Pages 57-97 Exploring Futures of the Hindu Kush Himalaya: Scenarios and Pathways (Joyashree Roy, Eddy Moors, M. S. R. Murthy, S. V. R. K. Prabhakar, Bahadar Nawab Khattak, Peili Shi et al.)....Pages 99-125 Sustaining Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (Jianchu Xu, Ruchi Badola, Nakul Chettri, Ram P. Chaudhary, Robert Zomer, Bharat Pokhrel et al.)....Pages 127-165 Meeting Future Energy Needs in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (Shobhakar Dhakal, Leena Srivastava, Bikash Sharma, Debajit Palit, Brijesh Mainali, Rabindra Nepal et al.)....Pages 167-207 Status and Change of the Cryosphere in the Extended Hindu Kush Himalaya Region (Tobias Bolch, Joseph M. Shea, Shiyin Liu, Farooq M. Azam, Yang Gao, Stephan Gruber et al.)....Pages 209-255 Water in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (Christopher A. Scott, Fan Zhang, Aditi Mukherji, Walter Immerzeel, Daanish Mustafa, Luna Bharati)....Pages 257-299 Food and Nutrition Security in the Hindu Kush Himalaya: Unique Challenges and Niche Opportunities (Golam Rasul, Abdul Saboor, Prakash C. Tiwari, Abid Hussain, Nilabja Ghosh, Ganesh B. Chettri)....Pages 301-338 Air Pollution in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (Eri Saikawa, Arnico Panday, Shichang Kang, Ritesh Gautam, Eric Zusman, Zhiyuan Cong et al.)....Pages 339-387 Disaster Risk Reduction and Building Resilience in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (Ramesh Ananda Vaidya, Mandira Singh Shrestha, Nusrat Nasab, Deo Raj Gurung, Nagami Kozo, Neera Shrestha Pradhan et al.)....Pages 389-419 Understanding and Tackling Poverty and Vulnerability in Mountain Livelihoods in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (Giovanna Gioli, Ganesh Thapa, Fawad Khan, Purnamita Dasgupta, Dev Nathan, Netra Chhetri et al.)....Pages 421-455 Adaptation to Climate Change in the Hindu Kush Himalaya: Stronger Action Urgently Needed (Arabinda Mishra, Arivudai Nambi Appadurai, Dhrupad Choudhury, Bimal Raj Regmi, Ulka Kelkar, Mozaharul Alam et al.)....Pages 457-490 In the Shadows of the Himalayan Mountains: Persistent Gender and Social Exclusion in Development (Bernadette P. Resurrección, Chanda Gurung Goodrich, Yiching Song, Aditya Bastola, Anjal Prakash, Deepa Joshi et al.)....Pages 491-516 Migration in the Hindu Kush Himalaya: Drivers, Consequences, and Governance (Tasneem Siddiqui, Ram B. Bhagat, Soumyadeep Banerjee, Chengfang Liu, Bandita Sijapati, Rashid Memon et al.)....Pages 517-544 Governance: Key for Environmental Sustainability in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (Hemant Raj Ojha, Rucha Ghate, Lam Dorji, Ankita Shrestha, Dinesh Paudel, Andrea Nightingale et al.)....Pages 545-578 Back Matter ....Pages 579-627