Prez Bhandari to inaugurate HKH conference

Kathmandu, Dec. 2: President Bidya Bhandari will inaugurate the international conference on ‘Resilient Hindu-Kush Himalaya (HKH) on Sunday at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) headquarters in Lalitpur.

Organised by the ICIMOD in cooperation with the Ministry of Population and Environment and the European Union (EU), the conference aims at identifying, discussing, and recommending the building blocks of resilience solutions suitable for mountain context.

The four-day conference will run till Wednesday, November 6.

Ministers and senior leaders from the region will discuss the role of resilience HKH in the future of sustainable Asia on the first day of the symposium.

According to the ICIMOD, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Gowher Rizvi, Pakistani Minister Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan, Nepali Minister Mithila Chaudhari, Member of Indian Niti Aayog V. K. Saraswat, and Bhutani Minister Yeshey Dorji will deliberate on the discussion.

Swiss Ambassador to Nepal Jorg Frieden, EU Ambassador Veronica Cody, Australian Ambassador Peter Budd and Norwegian Ambassador Lasse Bjorn Johannessen will also participate in the discussion.

The conference will bring together about 300 scientists, academicians, politicians, bureaucrats, business leaders, development practitioners, researchers, young scholars, media, community leaders and women.

The Conference will feature high-level panel discussions and internationally renowned though leaders, innovative solutions marketplace, daily news bulletins to share learning with a wider audiences, satellite events on specific resilience themes.

It will also feature poster and photo competition where 92 posters and 151 photos around the globe will be featured, and the best will be awarded.

The four-day conference will be focused on understanding the change and raising awareness on resilience from mountain perspective, developing options and opportunities for developing resilience building solutions for the KHK context, and foster partnerships for action by linking to global processes and strengthening regional cooperation, said Dr. David Molden, Director General of the ICIMOD.

The HKH provides water, livelihoods, and ecosystem services to more than 210 million people and provides water to more than 1.3 billion people – a fifth of the world’s population – living in downstream river basins.