“Action, action, action. If there are any priorities that we need to deal with climate change, we need to have action on the ground and we need to take this action at a speed and at scale with a sense of urgency.”

Kaydee Barker: This is the Livable Future Podcast, where we have discussions about the environment from a science & community perspective, seeking understanding & finding out how individuals can make a difference in the face of global change. I am Kaydee Barker, and I’m here with co-host Cody Sanford.

This podcast is now being made from multiple locations, including the Peak District of England, named for the ‘Pecsaetan’ or ‘Peaklanders’ that inhabited this area thousands of years ago, and Colorado, USA, the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Ute, Arapaho, and Cheyenne peoples. We would like to acknowledge and honor these people and their contributions, with particular recognition for the hardships faced and the resilience of Indigenous American people and their continuing stewardship of the land.

Cody Sanford: This is the second episode in our Mountain Life series and this episode’s focus is on the Himalayan mountains. I’m stuck on the fact that the Himalayas supply fresh water to 1.9 billion people. When considering the population figures of Europe (746 million), North America (579 million), and Africa (1.2 billion), it’s mind-blowing , to me, that the Himalayan mountain region can supply so many resources that it could fill the needs of whole continents.

Kaydee: Yeah that is crazy isn’t it? I’ve always been blown away by the beauty and magnitude of the Himalayas – as clearly many people are, since there are so many mountain climbers that go there, but this interview really puts into perspective what the mountains bring to the world besides beauty. As we’ll talk about in this episode, they provide many ecosystem services and nature-based solutions against climate change. We’ll also talk about climate tipping points, the impact of 1.5 degrees warming, and how partnerships and increased financing for climate mitigation and adaptation can make a huge difference for this region.

To learn about these topics, we spoke to the Director of Strategic Cooperation, Basanta Shrestha, from the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development, also known as ICIMOD. This organization is focused on sustainable development in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. This includes Nepal, where Basanta is located, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, and Pakistan. A primary objective of the organization is to aid mountain communities and ecosystems in mitigating (or reducing) and adapting to the impacts of climate change. ICIMOD conducts scientific research and implements capacity building and knowledge sharing in areas such as natural resource stewardship, water resources, biodiversity conservation, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable livelihoods.

Cody: Basanta has spent decades working to advance mountain sustainability in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region as the Director of Strategic Cooperation for ICIMOD. This is how I met him, through the Mountain Sentinels Alliance, an alliance comprising international networks dedicated to mountain research and action. On this episode’s webpage, there will be a link to both ICIMOD’s and Mountain Sentinels’ websites. I believe people can learn a great deal from organizations like these, because they foster collaboration and knowledge exchange among stakeholders, while developing innovative solutions to address the challenges faced by mountain communities and mountain ecosystems.

I got to know Basanta at the Mountain Sentinels Mountain Summit and at the 6th UN Mountain Partnership meeting in Aspen, Colorado. It was clear that he was an expert at initiating collaboration with a true dedication to advancing mountain sustainability. I’m eager to share our conversation about building powerful partnerships. Before we begin, please remember to subscribe to the podcast and follow us on social media. These are some of the most helpful ways you can support the podcast.

Now to our conversation with Basanta Shrestha, ICIMOD’s Director of Strategic Cooperation. Basanta, thank you so much for coming on the Livable Future Podcast. Can you tell us more about the Hindu Kush Himalayan region ICIMOD works in and how it’s being impacted by climate change?

Basanta: Thank you Cody and it’s my pleasure to be on this podcast. I have very fond memories and a lot of exciting experiences while I was in Aspen and in Colorado.

ICIMOD works in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region and encompasses eight countries and one of the youngest and the first mountain ecosystem in the world, encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, the last part of a Tibetan plateau, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. So fairly complex kind of geography and topography that we have. We also see this, whole Hindu-Kusimhalan region, is a global asset in terms of key natural resource endowment, in terms of freshwater reserve, one of the largest concentrations of freshwater besides the North and South Poles.

Also, we see in this mountain environment is home to very rich biodiversity. So, very key, fundamental natural resource endowment from water biodiversity that provides sustenance for not only people living in the mountains but the large population living downstream. It is estimated that almost two billion people are dependent in one way or the other from this ecosystem services from the Himalayan region. Now in terms of climate change, this is also one of the key hot spots in terms of global warming, climate change, and several scientific evidences, and also anecdotal evidences, suggest that even 1.5 degrees Celsius is too hot for the mountains, because temperature rise accounts in terms of elevation-dependent warming and it has been scientifically proven through various studies. And we are seeing the rampant impact of climate change all across the Himalayan region. Just to cite very current example, a devastating flood in Pakistan is one key example. More than 20 to 30 million people have been displaced due to these floods. And we see there are effects of climate change really hampering the region.

And namely, we observed the melting of glaciers all across the Himalayan region from east to west. And we, some of our studies, ICIMOD studies, suggest that about 20 to 30% of the glaciers’ volume has been depleted over the last three decades or so, which is very, very alarming in many different ways. I had mentioned the disasters. We also see the increasing level of magnitude, and severity of all kinds of disasters that we see in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan region in terms of floods, flash floods, landslides, forest fires, you name it. And these have deep, deep repercussions on the livelihoods of people. These have challenges in terms of achieving the sustainable development goals and others, not to mention other effects like reducing agricultural productivity, and biodiversity loss, which has hampered already very challenged kind of livelihood opportunities in the mountain region as such.

So I think climate change has been a defining issue. And we are advocating our regional member governments in terms of displaying solidarity and also the international platform like UNFCCC. And we would like to see how the mountain agenda can take center stage. In terms of mitigating climate change, at the same time, an adaptation to climate change is such. But once again, I think the Himalayan region is one of the hot spots from the climate change point of view. And we are facing some of the tipping points we see in the environment and also the negative consequences in the overall ecosystem and the livelihoods in the mountains.

Kaydee: I want to take a moment here to highlight why we’re talking about 1.5 degrees Celsius – why climate change talk often revolves around the term 1.5 degrees Celsius.

First of all, what do we even mean by that number?

Well, we’re talking about an increase in the global average temperature, which we have been measuring for around 160 years, since 1880. This global average comes from monthly averages taken now from thousands of weather stations all over the world, and it’s calculated independently at different centers, each of which publicly post the data so you can look. These are the Met Office of the UK, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, of the US, and the well-known NASA of the US. Each will be slightly different from the others because they use some different stations and have different calculation methods for comparing to either a 100-year average from 1901 to 2000 or a 30 year average from 1961 to 1990, but they all show temperatures following the same trend. We’ll link them on this episode’s webpage so you can take a look.

According to research from scientists around the world, compiled into the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, which we talked about previously in episode 12, 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above pre-industrial levels, which we consider the beginning of our records, from 1880 to 1900 – this change above pre-industrial levels represents an important threshold or tipping point for a lot of global changes, which Cody will talk about in a second. But because of this identified landmark temperature change, nations meeting at United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conferences have discussed the need to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius since 2010, then agreed on well below 2 degrees Celsius in the Paris Agreement in 2015, and finally adopted the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in the Glasgow Compact in 2021.

I think something important to understand about this 1.5 degrees temperature increase is that this is an average across the world over time intervals of one year. This means that some places may experience little to no difference in temperature or possibly even a drop in temperature, while others experience a larger, maybe even dramatic, increase in temperature. The impacts of global change are not evenly spread among everyone worldwide. Similarly, the temperature doesn’t necessarily increase evenly across the seasons, months, or weeks of the year. The average yearly temperature change is likely to be driven more by events like a severe heat wave and drought or a milder than usual winter rather than simply being slightly warmer year round. Climate science is by definition looking at long-term patterns and therefore it’s difficult to attribute with 100% accuracy which of these events are a result of climate change and which are part of random and normal cycles, but research such as Tim Cowan and colleagues in 2020 and the IPCC reports have found that these events are becoming more and more frequent in recent years as our global average temperature increases.

Unfortunately, we are already past around 1 degree Celsius, or almost 2 degrees Fahrenheit, above the pre-industrial average, according to the Met, NOAA, NASA and the IPCC. And according to IPCC Climate Change 2021 report, we are on a course to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next two decades.

Cody: With the average global temperature rise, ecosystems can undergo significant and irreversible change, and that is referred to as a tipping point. Tipping points can trigger cascading changes in the environment. Crossing these ecological thresholds can happen in various forms, such as the collapse of major ice sheets, the disruption of ocean currents, or the ocean’s ability to be a carbon sink. Specific examples from mountain ecosystem tipping points could be the irreversible loss of biodiversity, the extreme loss of forest and land cover on a mountain, which also increases the risk of major landslides due to soil erosion, and the loss of glacial and water resources, as Basanta was saying.

The IPCC Climate Report 2021 shows the current trajectory for Earth’s warming is between 1.8 and 5.7 degrees C by 2100. That range is dependent on the course of action we take in the coming years. The most startling research point I found, is that research shows if we fall within the Paris Agreement range of warming between 1.5 and 2 degrees C, six climate tipping points become likely, including the collapse of ice sheets, coral reef die-off, and an abrupt permafrost thaw. As always, we will have the sources listed on the website.

Also, I want to emphasize a point Basanta made. Mountains face additional pressure, since high elevation environments experience a more rapid change in temperature compared to lower elevations. This is known as elevation-dependent warming. This will cause mountain ecosystems and communities to face accelerated climate change impacts compared to other regions.

Whether an ecosystem reaches its tipping point or not when faced with environmental pressures is determined by its ecological resilience and is described as the ability of an ecosystem “to experience shocks while retaining essentially the same function, structure, feedbacks, and therefore identity” (Holling, 1973, Walker et al., 2006). This is a major focus of environmental sciences and climate policy, and as a concept referenced throughout this episode.

Now let’s continue the conversation with Basanta Shrestha, ICIMOD’s Director of Strategic Cooperation. Basanta, can you go into more detail about the work ICIMOD has focused on and where the organization looks to advance in the future?

Basanta: Talking about ICIMOD, our key focus as a knowledge organization in a regional setting in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region is evidence-based science, technology, and innovation to devise integrated and innovative solutions for the mountains that can catalyze policy changes, that can catalyze practices on the ground and also scaling those solutions. At the same time, also catalyze investment in sustainable mountain development. These have been a key thread in terms of our key focus as a knowledge organization. In terms of moving forward that we have just recently released a new strategy, ICIMOD Strategy 2030, looking into the 2030 horizon. And we aspire to aspire towards greener, more inclusive, and climate-resilient development to fulfill our clean objectives, so to speak. One from the conservation of the Himalayan environment, the other objective being to uplift the mountain economy, and uplift the conditions of the mountain people as such. So these have been a key focus and a direction that we are aiming for. And as a regional organization, it is owned by eight member countries, as you have pointed out, and we work in a regional setting closely with the government and other stakeholders.

Cody: Right now, climate action is at the top of the discussion for environmentalists. From your perspective, what actions do you think would help mountain communities and the ecosystems you work in? And do you have any examples you’d like to share?

Basanta: Two, or three decades of climate science and deliberations in big forums like COP 27 and a lot of forums at the national and regional level, all point to one key area in terms of taking action. Action, action, action. If there are any priorities that we need to deal with climate change, we need to have action on the ground and we need to take this action at a speed and at scale with a sense of urgency. With ICIMOD, in 2019, we have released what we call a Hindu Kush Himalaya Monitoring and Assessment report, perhaps one of the most comprehensive scientific knowledge and assessment to date. Good knowledge, evidence-based science, in terms of looking at some of the climate change issues and some of the actions that we need to take urgently. I just would like to point out a few.

One is, I think, we, as a regional organization and as a regional platform, we need to advocate together with other partners to limit global warming by 1.5 degrees Celsius. As I have said earlier, even 1.5 degrees Celsius is too hot for the mountains. So I think we need to have a concerted effort and united voice for the mountains so that we live in a 1.5-degree world, which is becoming difficult and alarming from many different points. But one of the actions we see, in terms of advocacy in a global forum like COP27 and others is from that point of view.

Second, from ICIMOD as a knowledge organization, again, from the regional context point of view, many climate change impacts are transboundary in nature. There are transboundary elements of climate change. We need to have concerted regional efforts in terms of fostering cooperation among different mountain countries at all levels. So regional cooperation is one of the key agendas in terms of galvanizing political commitment among the member countries and recognizing the transboundary climate risks and adaptation at all levels. For example, much of the melting of glaciers contributes to formation of the glacier lakes, and sometimes there are many instances of these glacier lakes and these flash floods transients from one country to another country. So devising an early warning system. Having cooperation and information and data exchange is a key facet in terms of this action.

And the third, I think, is how we really enhance mountain ecosystem resilience so that it can ensure ecological integrity and provide ecosystem goods and services for the sustenance of lives and livelihoods of mountain people and the downstream people, and in that context, for instance, nature-based solutions in the mountain environment and many other solutions based on evidence-based science, technology, and innovation are very, very important from this point of view. And also mobilizing finances for building adaptive capacity, and building the resilience of mountain communities is very, very important.

Likewise, we also need to enhance the kind of understanding about this mountain ecosystem and data and information flow, such as devising an early warning systems, having some sort of assessment that would contribute to meaningful action is very, very important from devising the kind of action at the regional level. And also, some of these actions – we are cognizant of the fact that though the effects of climate change are from the global level, many actions that we need to take from the regional level view.

Cody: Basanta, from your years of doing this work firsthand in terms of building sustainable mountain development, do you have any ideas and insights in how to accelerate climate action?

Basanta: Yeah, I think the kind of impacts that we are facing. We need climate action at speed and at scale. Just to give you an example, again, in terms of the climate change impact, I have talked about the melting of glaciers that will ultimately have a consequence in a water availability scenario in the Himalayan we say water is life and it is a sustenance of life. No. So it is disrupting in a way the whole life support system, you know, of millions of people, uh, both in the mountains and the downstream. Yeah. Just for example, like a spring set management, we are one nature-based solution that we are advocating and we are implementing it at a very rapid pace and scale. And we would like to mobilize kind of resources and also cooperate with the member countries. Many of our spring sources have dried up in the last decade or so. In some instances, more than 50 to 60% of the spring sources, which are the primary source for water for drinking, water for irrigation. And we are looking at some of the nature-based solutions using eco hydrological kind of solutions by reforestation, by using some of the native species to rejuvenate springs. And we have had some pretty much success in some of our member countries in Bhutan, in Nepal, in India. So we would like to really move with speed and scale.

And that’s just to give you one example in terms of access to water in the mountain areas. Likewise, agriculture, as a result of climate change, there are many negative effects in terms of agriculture. Again, if you look at the agriculture from the mountain subsistence agriculture that we see in a lot of mountain areas, these are challenged by the climate change impact.

And we are looking at some of the climate-smart agriculture using water-efficient technologies, using improved seeds, and also integrating some of the Indigenous knowledge in terms of organic agriculture and so forth so that people can adapt to changing that circumstance. Again, we are looking at also green jobs, and new entrepreneurship kind of skills set development for the mountain communities as such. So these are some of the examples, Cody, that I wanted to elucidate. Some of these actions, but these actions that we need to expand the horizon and really ramp up our efforts all across the Himalayas. And we need coordination at the regional level, at the global level, and also at the local level with the communities as such. Really need to accelerate this climate action.

I also would like to, you know, mention two additional points. One is a financing part, which is also one of the key agendas in COP27 as well. And there is a big gap in adaptation finance compared to mitigation aspects, you know, and we are of the opinion that this adaptation finance has to be really stepped up.

Second, in terms of mobilizing climate action, we really need to mobilize the youth group and especially the women in the mountain communities and perhaps in other parts of the world as well. But I think really mobilizing youth and mobilizing women because many of the mountain communities households are the more custodian in terms of taking action and taking decisions and managing the household and others. So in my personal opinion, you know, this underscores very, very important aspects.

Kaydee: A couple things to touch on here real quick. The term and idea of “ecosystem services” emerged in the 1990s and became popularized from a working group of researchers similar to the IPCC, who did a “Milliennium Ecosystem Assessment” for the United Nations from 2001 to 2005. They defined ecosystem services as “the benefits people obtain from ecosystems” and outlined four categories of these benefits or services: provisioning services such as food, water, timber, and clothing fibers; regulating services like filtering water and decreasing floods as we mentioned in the last episode; cultural services including recreation, aesthetic, and spiritual benefits; and supporting services that can be easily overlooked since they are a little less direct in their impact on humans, such as soil formation and nutrient cycling including carbon storage.

The researchers of the Millennium Assessment and others have equated these services to economic value, or into a combination of social, cultural, ecological, and economic values (MA, HKH Assessment). While not everyone agrees on the idea of assigning values, especially dollar values, to natural resources, the idea of ecosystem services is meant to remind us that we, as humans, depend on the ecology around us in order to live – we are not separate or disconnected from nature, and we should not take these services and resources for granted. Nor should we dismiss that our actions can impact an ecosystem’s ability to provide services to ourselves and other species.

Mountains are particular providers of many ecosystems services at local, regional, and global scales. Various studies cited in the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment have identified and focused on a number of ecosystem services in the Himalayan region, including the provision of water conservation, forest products besides timber, food, water purification, agriculture, firewood, recreation, and carbon storage.

The related concept of nature-based solutions have been discussed increasingly as a critical part of our strategies as we adapt and attempt to slow climate change. The focus tends to be on greenhouse gas reductions and carbon storage, and indeed studies such as Griscom et al. 2017 and Bossio et al. 2020 have estimated huge potential for carbon storage as well as reductions in greenhouse gas emissions if we steward our ecosystems better. Additionally, a paper from Daniela Cusack and others in 2014 assessed climate mitigation strategies for technical potential, cost effectiveness, ecological risk, institutional capacity, public acceptance, and ethical concerns, and they found that nature-based solutions such as supporting and enhancing forests and soils offer high impacts with low risks and relatively low costs, making them ideal to include in national and international climate actions.

Nature-based solutions also tend to have added benefits for biodiversity and ecosystem services. It’s therefore definitely fitting that the world is turning back to nature for solutions, and this is actually what I went back to school for and now work on in my research, is soil stewardship as a nature-based solution. However, I do want to make it clear that we have to keep in mind that any set of solutions to climate change also need to be accompanied by a reduction in our dependence on high-emission energy sources and land use practices. We can look to nature and technology only so far as our saviors – we also have to stop doing harmful things.

Cody: Now back to the interview with Basanta Shrestha. Basanta, thank you for these insights on climate action. I believe they are valuable for everybody listening. But in a different category, I see partnerships are a driving aspect of your network, and ICIMOD has many notable organizations such as NASA listed as collaborators. As the director of strategic cooperation, what qualities do you believe are valuable for building these partnerships?

Basanta: Thank you, Cody, again, for a very good question. As a knowledge organization, partnership has been a hallmark of ICIMOD, in a way to say that our key role is as a catalyst, linking science to policies, linking resources to development. And we play a kind of intermediary role and work with the various kinds of stakeholders. So partnership is a very, very centrality of ICIMOD or in terms of effective partnership, if we talk about is a make or break situation for ICIMOD to achieve its mission and its goal as such.

And you have mentioned that we have a partnership at various levels at the international level, organizations like NASA, and IPCC, some of the foundations you mentioned are very, very important from ICIMOD’s standpoint of view in terms of bringing some of the cutting-edge science, bringing some of the knowledge and customizing this knowledge in a regional kind of a context. And many of these partnerships, we feel that you know, if we have a shared vision, and common interests, that partnership drives.

And some of the key principles that we embrace in terms of a partnership are maintaining transparency, maintaining equity, and maintaining very open and frank communication are some of the key facets of the good partnership. And just to give you an example with NASA, with USAID, that we see utilizing our observation satellite-based technologies in the mountain environment is some of the key challenges, you know, in terms of gaining a good assessment of the mountain environment because of inaccessibility, remoteness, data collection is often challenged in the mountain environment because of its topography and the kind of ruggedness and inaccessibility issue. So we believe that our observation satellite-based tools really provide very meaningful solutions. And we have a program called SERVIR where we try to link “space to village.” And we have had more than a decade of partnership with NASA, and it’s going from strength to strength in terms of our collaboration and partnership.

Likewise with IPCC. And we see that the Himalayan reason is one of the data gap reason in IPCC’s third report in 2007 because there is not adequate studies in terms of our scientific evidence to, you know, provide the basis for the climate change impact and the climate science point of view. So we have really geared up our association with IPCC and other scientific communities to build this scientific foundation and lay the comprehensive Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment report. So just to cite some of these examples, likewise, we have a number of different foundations and a number of international partners and development partners who provide support to ICIMOD in terms of taking actions on the ground and to fulfill its mission and objectives as such one of the key threads of eSIMAR in terms of bringing forth its agenda and also implementation of its program on the ground.

Cody: Equity, I believe, is an important pillar in these partnerships. Could you go into more detail about how you achieve this?

Basanta: We are very mindful about these aspects, about equity and also transparency, maintaining transparency, as well as some meaningful partnership development with the kind of organizations that we work with and that we collaborate with. And as an organization, we have evolved from that point of view as well.

One is in terms of any collaboration, putting up the expectation from both sides. When we say partnership, there is a give and take from both two parties. And to be able to have a very frank and open discussion and to be able to articulate what is expected from this collaboration is one of the key fundamental aspects.

And we have also utilized – there has been an organization that evolved from the UK, which is called Partnership Brokering Association. And that provides some of the skillsets based on practice-based learning from the development projects. Because many of the development projects have failed because of clarity on a partnership and there is not enough adequate kind of attention given in terms of some of the key underlying principles of the partnership building. So we are embracing some of the methodological tools that have evolved from practice-based learning, especially from Africa and Asia.

In terms of partnership building, and partnership management. And we are cognizant of these skill sets and how we can inculcate these sorts of skill sets across the different professionals within ICIMOD so that these principles are engrained while building partnerships, while implementing our programs with partners, and so forth.

Just to give you an example, you know, we work with various community-based organizations, for example, Climate Smart Agriculture, and others. So we have a very clear articulation of a partnership agreement, which entails the kind of expectation from both parties, kind of obligations that from both parties, and also nurturing kind of a relationship. Using some of the soft skills, using some of the partnership challenges and nurturing kind of a good relationship between the two organizations is key to achieving success. Over the years we have seen many partnerships. Some of these partnerships have not worked out, but, you know, if we really look at some of the key aspects of our partnership building in terms of nurturing relationships using some of the key principles of a partnership that has really, you know, is a key foundation for the success of our programs.

Cody: So then Basanta, what advice would you give for people aiming to do research or collaborate with these communities in an equitable way?

Basanta: Thank you, Cody, for this question. Mountains are often, we say marginalized in many different aspects, not only from the international point of view, but even if you look at the reason, you know, a mountain remains in a margin in many different ways – in terms of the policy, and also it’s a peculiar kind of environment that the mountain environment presents, in terms of inaccessibility, in terms of ruggedness, and topography. And there are inherent challenges and complexities in the mountains as such. Also, having said that, there is a very uniqueness of mountain communities and the mountain environment as such. So, to have that understanding of mountain communities, and if I may say, putting the demand side in front in terms of collaboration and partnership building. If we look at any, you know, let’s say the local level action, if we are aiming to look at some of the local level action, the kind of stakeholder consultation and engaging many different stakeholders, all the stakeholders on the ground is very, very important. And any programs that we devise that need to be demand-driven rather than the supply push from that point of view. So that’s one kind of advice that I would like to give.

Second, I think more from the supply side, if I may, there are also new innovations that are happening, new technologies that are evolving, and emerging technologies. For example, if you look at the fintech solutions, if you look at some of the new financing instruments like carbon financing and others, I would also bring this new innovation and new kind of instruments that can defraud the current stage of development, that can provide meaningful solutions to our mountain communities, also would be very, very important from that point of view.

So I would say two pieces of advice. One is looking at the demand-driven aspects in terms of building partnerships. Second, more from looking at some of the innovations and looking at some of the technological solutions that we can pursue together in terms of bringing transformative change to the mountain communities. Back to you, Cody.

Cody: One last question. You’ve mentioned mountains are on the margins a few times. Can you go into detail on what you mean by this?

Basanta: So mountains are in the margins in a sense that – just to give you an example, Small Island Nations, there is a lot of united voice about the sinking islands and climate change is affecting so much on the Small Island Nations. I’m not undermining, these are very, very important issues for the Small Island Nations, there is no doubt about it.

There are on the other hand, mountains, and Himalayas, which are also very, very important geography or important from the natural resource endowment point of view, in terms of the natural resource asset point of view, which is impacted due to climate change. And sometimes we do not get adequate kind of attention for the mountains in the forums like COP27 as much as the Island Nations. So our view is, my view is mountains are as important as islands as well. Perhaps this also needs coordination and also solidarity among the mountain nations to rally the kind of support, to rally that kind of united voice.

Cody: Basanta, thank you so much for coming on the Livable Future Podcast. You’ve provided so much great insight. Is there anything else you’d like to add to the conversation?

Basanta: It’s been such a pleasure, Cody, to have this interaction, and since we met in Aspen, we also, you know, have common interests and also looking at some of the key challenges of the mountains. As I’ve said, mountains are on the margins. The mountain agenda and the mountain voice do not get adequate attention in forums like COP27 and others. Perhaps we need to have a coordinated kind of effort from all the mountainous countries to promote a united mountain voice and mountain agenda so that the mountain environment or the mountain communities also get the kind of adequate attention that is needed from a climate change point of view in COP27 and other forums as such.

Discussion

Cody: Thanks again to Basanta for coming on the show. I guess one of the key points I want people to understand from this whole mountain series, but particularly from this episode, is how important these mountain ecosystems are and how vulnerable they are in the face of climate change. Kaydee, what stuck in your mind from this episode?

Kaydee: I agree, and also I really loved how we can all stand together to elevate the mountain voice. I think Basanta really said it well that what we need most now is climate action at speed and at scale. We need more scientific research connecting into policy for the mountain regions, we need restoration for impacted ecosystems, and we need finance for restoration and adaptation projects for these vulnerable and often marginalized communities. Cody, I think you’ve looked into climate finance a bit more than I have – what does that look like?

Cody: Yeah. Climate Finance is a catch-all term for the financial mechanisms, resources, and investments committed to addressing climate change challenges. This includes funding for mitigation, which means reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and funding for climate adaptation, meaning building ecological resilience to climate impacts. In other words, there are methods to allocate, mobilize, and utilize funding to support initiatives with the goals of mitigating climate change and helping communities and ecosystems adapt to its impacts. This funding can be sourced through national and regional governments allocating resources for climate adaptation, it can happen through public-private partnerships, and through international funding like the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for some examples.

Kaydee: Thanks for that overview, Cody. I feel like we’ll be talking more about Climate Finance in the future. I think the other thing that really stuck with me from this conversation is just the importance of crafting and building effective partnerships for action. I looked at the Partnership Brokers group that Basanta mentioned, and they have a great handbook called “Brokering Better Partnerships” that gives definitions of different types of partnerships, describes the partnering process, and identifies some key principles and attributes of partnering. As Basanta highlighted, equity and openness are key principles, along with diversity, mutual benefit, and my personal favorite, courage, because it really does take courage to be bold and build connectivity between people and between organizations.

Cody: I will also remember the advice that Basanta said for making effective partnerships – the traits of equity and transparency, while being willing to sit down and have the hard honest discussions. It’s concrete advice for anyone, but in particular, from my observations in the environmental sciences, almost everything is a partnership of some kind, and the better you are at building these, the more accomplished you can be.

I want to take a moment and highlight how powerful, and frankly, how cool I think the interdisciplinary, action-oriented science is, that I see from ICIMOD and the Mountain Sentinels. I love seeing science connect to the community, and in order for science to have real world impacts, it often needs to be interdisciplinary in nature. And by interdisciplinary, we mean a multitude of experts with various skills and knowledge bases collaborating together on a project that is typically seeking to answer a complex issue. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, “none of us are smarter than all of us.” The power of teamwork, while allowing each other to remain true to our individual identity and without falling into a group think pattern, we can achieve more than if we try to reach these goals by ourselves.

Kaydee: That’s so true, and it’s actually something I love about environmental research. No one person can know everything or do everything, and so people connect with each other across teams and universities and organizations and countries in order to do the work. As we’ve talked about before as well, projects, whether research or activism, become really powerful when they reach across disciplines and cultures, because having different perspectives with a shared vision and purpose can help us to find and imagine and create more ways of approaching a goal. It requires really listening to each other, and – another key point from the Partnership Brokers’ handbook – it requires us to continually review and adjust and build on the work together.

Cody: Yeah that is a good point. A partnership is not a stagnant thing, and adjustments are sometimes needed to make it most effective. On another note, in order to tackle the challenges of climate change, as Basanta said, we need “action, action, action.” So what action items can we take away from this episode?

Well, for starters, we can amplify mountain voices. One of the most powerful things you can do right now is raise awareness about climate change impacts in the mountains within your own community. Also, continue to actively listen to the perspectives and needs of mountain leaders, who are working to build resilient mountain ecosystems and communities. Listening and elevating mountain voices can help bring mountain issues to the center of the conversation when we’re discussing climate change.

Kaydee: You can also advocate for increased political attention and funding for mountain regions among your connections and through public forums and policy comments, as we talked about in the last episode. Finally, if you feel you can, consider donating some money or time to organizations like ICIMOD that work towards sustainable development and ecosystem restoration in the Himalayan region and mountain regions in general. That’s all for today, thank you so much for listening to the Livable Future Podcast. We hope you’ll continue this journey with us, subscribe, and engage with us on our social channels. ‘Til next time!