Understand the impacts of climate change and adaptation responses within mountains.

 

Mountainous regions are significantly exposed to transboundary climate risks. Left unchecked, these risks could threaten countries’ societies and economies, damaging livelihoods, spurring inequalities, amplifying food and water insecurities, and impeding progress towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction Targets. For example, the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region spans eight countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan) and includes 12 major river basins (seven of them transboundary) that connect upstream and downstream areas through trade, culture, communication and resource management and support the livelihoods of nearly 2 billion people (Molden et al., 2017). The HKH region is vulnerable to transboundary climate risks that originate within the region (e.g. flooding, including from glacial lake outburst floods), and beyond it (e.g. food insecurity as a result of climate events in food-exporting countries outside the region) (Talebian et al., 2023). However, efforts to integrate transboundary climate impacts and associated risks within adaptation, and understand the impacts of climate change and adaptation responses within mountains more generally are insufficient (Bilbao Barrenetxea and Faria, 2022; Harris et al., 2022). Greater cooperation utilising the diverse pool of knowledge that exists across mountain ranges will help tackle this deficit and accelerate learning opportunities for mountain stakeholders.

Adapt to transboundary risks in mountain regions