Dr Pema Gyamtsho is the director general of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). He served the Royal Government of Bhutan for over three decades in natural resources management and planning, rural development, agriculture, forestry, livestock and food production, rangeland management, livestock development, participatory approaches, research and extension institutional building, climate change and environmental protection, biodiversity conservation and organic farming. He has also previously led ICIMOD efforts in policy and partnerships and regional rangeland management work. In his previous role as minister of Agriculture and Forests, he was involved in the enactment of over 60 pieces of legislation and throughout his career he has worked at the grassroots level overseeing the formation of over 400 farmers' groups and cooperatives. On the occasion of, and to mark the 40th anniversary of ICIMOD (December 5), The Himalayan Times caught up with Dr Gyamtsho and discussed issues such as climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. EXCERPTS:

How successful is ICIMOD in achieving its goals in relation to Hindu Kush Himalayas and climate change?

Targets keep moving, conditions keep changing, but if you see within a given period, ICIMOD has achieved tremendous results. Initially, ICIMOD was created to research degrading landscapes and natural resources, soil erosion and landslides. I think that was a triggering point for its creation. It studied all the factors leading to land degradation, but It was not limited to just this. It worked on agricultural productivity, forest cover, and issues such as deforestation, drying water sources, and engineering, geo-engineering and so on, which have actually contributed to the entire ecology.

Previously, mountains were described as fragile, vulnerable, marginalised and inaccessible, which they still are. ICIMOD has successfully brought these issues to policymakers, planners, and development partners. So the current picture of the mountains is that almost all mountain communities are connected by roads. Almost everywhere there is access to the internet and telecommunications. Accessibility has been transformed dramatically due to our initiatives.

But has it increased or decreased the vulnerability of mountain communities? This is the question we have to ponder on. I think in several ways we have increased the vulnerabilities and exposed mountain communities to all sorts of challenges. We have seen rapid demographic changes. For instance, young people, particularly young men have migrated, leaving behind women and elderly people. This has had serious consequences on the future of mountain communities. By building infrastructure, particularly roads, mountain landscapes have actually deteriorated. Infrastructure development work has damaged the environment and invited natural calamities that are worsened by climate change. As a result, disasters such as floods, glacial lake outbursts, and flash floods are increasing.

What is the strategy 2030? How is it going to help humanity?

Our work has contributed to supporting capacity building, developing forests, influencing policies and supporting the planning of management of natural resources. ICIMOD has made significant contributions to the increase in forest cover from around 25 per cent in the 80s to around 45 per cent in Nepal. Similarly, ICIMOD has been instrumental in water resources management by addressing the issue of water shortages through rainwater harvesting and also by widening springs and so on. These are some examples of ecosystem management. High altitude areas are a rich repository of biodiversity and ICIMOD has supported policy formulation as well as planning of national parks and protected areas.

But the biggest achievement of ICIMOD is bringing together regional member countries by providing a platform for such works. So countries of this region come together and discuss common issues. We have sharpened our focus on the current and emerging challenges. We need to deal with the impacts of climate change, rapid loss of biodiversity and poor air quality.

We have given priority to addressing the challenges of global warming. Our regions are more vulnerable as glaciers are melting rapidly. In fact, ICIMOD was one of the first organisations to come out with an inventory of glaciers to find how many glacial lakes there are and which glaciers and lakes are in danger. That assessment has helped create awareness of the importance of glaciers.

Twenty years ago, not many countries in the region had the capacity to apply GIS, remote sensing and earth observation technologies. ICIMOD brought these technologies to our partners in the regional member countries. This has enhanced the capacity for application of GIS and mapping in many countries. Currently, we are looking at which glaciers are melting at what rate and which glacial lakes are expanding, where are the new glacial lakes formed; Where are the danger points, which are the highly risky glacial lakes vulnerable to GLOF. We are also working on disaster risk reduction along the river basin by establishing a community-based early warning system and focusing on trans-boundary elements as disasters don't stop at the border of any country.

Many glacial lakes are located upstream in China, but when any of them bursts, the impact is felt downstream in Nepal, Bangladesh, and India. That's why we are trying to bring together communities in upstream and downstream countries.

We have a dedicated programme to be better prepared for floods and other disasters. It's called Climate and Environmental Risk. It has two focus areas. One has to do with the cryosphere - areas with snow, ice, glaciers, and so on. The second area is disaster risk reduction - floods, landslides etc. We have another focus area - improvement of air quality. Air pollution is also a trans-boundary issue. In our region, air quality has become worse than it was decades ago.

We are trying to bring the region together to address the air quality issue.

Another focus area we are working on is mountain economies, green and resilient economies. During COVID pandemic period, we learned that we could not rely only on tourism. We also cannot rely solely on agriculture. If we have to sustain our livelihood, not just the mountains, but everywhere else, I think we need to look at a combination of different economic options. I think tourism will be very important but not on its own. We need to support tourism with agriculture, with livestock and small-scale enterprises in the mountains. People have a range of options. This is something we are looking at now.

How do you think mountains can be used in a sustainable way?

This region is a huge asset for promoting tourism, cultural and natural assets, including the potential for mountaineering.

But mountaineering needs to be carried out in a sustainable manner within the carrying capacity of mountains. We can blame climate change for everything, but we cannot keep on blaming climate change while we keep on putting much pressure on the mountains. The number of mountaineers climbing Mount Everest exceeds the mountain's capacity. Hence, we need to be sensitive to mountain ecosystems. If you look at the Hindu Kush Himalayas, 60 percent of HKH land cover in the higher altitude is for pasture. This system is very crucial for the region, but we have not been able to do much for the pastoralists. We need to improve their livelihood, living conditions and production system. If you look at Afghanistan, the extreme west, the western area of our geography is very dry (cold and arid). We need to see what we can do there. How we can hold desertification. On the other hand, eastern Cherrapunji experiences the highest rainfall in the world. The HKH has both the driest and most wet systems. How do you deal with this?

Due to global warming, invasive species both flora and fauna, which used to grow in warmer areas are moving up. The tree line is moving up. Vegetation changes are happening. Along with this, habitats are changing. The tigers are moving up to the habitat of snow leopards. So where would the snow leopards go eventually? They would have to disappear. These are the kinds of things we need to monitor. The key requirement to make a difference is to address climate challenges of all the triple planetary crises that we've already talked about climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

Saving snow is another task ICIMOD is stressing on. How vulnerable is our snow ? How is it going to invite catastrophes if not saved?

Due to the elevation of mountains, warming is taking place much faster in the mountain region resulting in faster melting snow. We are emitting a lot of CO2 and dust particles from industries, transport sector, forest fires, and agricultural burning. Where do all these go? Eventually, the wind carries them and deposits them on snow and ice. From the west, fine dust particles from the deserts, sand particles are being blown and getting stuck on the mountain, which is called the albedo factor. This is also contributing to rapid depletion of snow and melting of ice.

Additionally, all the excess activities that we are now carrying out, mountaineering, trekking, all that is leading to the rapid melting of snow and glaciers. These have serious implications on the lives and livelihood of not only people living in the mountains or within the mountains, but also people living downstream.

If the snow and ice melts, it would contribute to rising sea level affecting people living in the coastal areas or in the islands and people along the course of the river. While too much water in the summer causes floods and disasters, there will be very little water flow in winter resulting in severe water shortage. The rivers will not have enough water to power energy plants. The consequences of what happens upstream will then be seen on food, energy, industries, and on the economy.

Now, in the short term, because of this rapid melting of glaciers, there will be increase in water. But in the long run, 50 years later or 100 years from now, the rivers are going to run short of water. That would affect millions of people, not just those living in the mountains but millions downstream. That's why we need to bring upstream and downstream countries together.

We need to raise our voice and say that 1.5 degrees is too hot because every point of increase will have widespread effects. We have to really work hard to keep the temperature below 1.5 degrees centigrade. There is no option.

We communicate our science, knowledge and information to stakeholders who can make decisions and generate awareness among the public. We also want to make sure the public responds to this message. We should strengthen our communication and advocacy efforts and because of the urgency we need to bring this to the notice of everyone including policy makers, politicians and scientists. We are seeking the support of the media, athletes and popular figures so that they can help us to take this message. I think the key message is we do not have the luxury of waiting, we have to act now.

What are the chief works ICIMOD performs to reduce climate and environmental risks?

We are now organised into three groups. The first group is climate and water risk or environmental risk. The starting point is assessment of the risk. Next is bringing those risks to the notice of affected countries and communities. Then there is work with the government. ICIMOD is not in a position to change policies and reduce air pollution, but we work with the government, with partners in the government.

For example, ICIMOD has worked with the brick kiln sector to transform the technology from the conventional system which is very polluting to a new technology called zigzag technology. This has reduced emission. But we don't invest in changing this, so the private sector takes it up and governments create the necessary policy conditions. This technology has been adapted in a big way by the industry in Nepal and it has now been transferred to Pakistan. In Pakistan, close to 20,000 brick kilns have adopted the zigzag technology. So, that's the kind of work we do.

We look at how fast the lakes are melting and how fast the lakes are expanding and how fast the moraines are weakening the barriers and then we also project the possibility of an outburst for forecasting prediction. Then together with our partners in the member countries we create awareness and also sensitise the affected communities, prepare them for upcoming challenges so that they are more prepared. Vulnerable groups like women and children are better protected. These contribute to the safety and security of not only the mountain, but also people living in downstream areas.

Talking about agriculture, the key problem is shortage of water. We cannot stop the water from warming or the climate from changing, but we have to be prepared. One of the earliest manifestations of climate change is the drying of water sources. Springs are drying up and this is the main source of drinking water. We have looked at how we can reduce the drying of springs, how we can revive some of the drying springs so that people still have access to drinking water. That's why we have a dedicated programme for reviving springs and this is working. This was adopted not only in Nepal but also in Bhutan and the Himalayan states of India.

You can find two major assessment works that were carried out. One in 2019, a book called Himalaya assessment looked at no power no water and then this year we brought out another recent assessment. It has a broad outreach in terms of highlighting what is happening, what is the current situation, what is predicted. We have pilot sites communities where we try to also introduce resilient agricultural practices around water and pest diseases.

In Kavre, you will find the community, where we bring all the simple technologies to the communities for example water harvesting, revival of springs and then producing vegetables that will have access to markets. We have also introduced Jholmal. Jholmal is a biopesticide and biofertilizer produced from plant extracts and cattle urine. With its use, we can control pest synthesis as well as improve the fertility of the soil.

Debates are arising that climate change could be beneficial. If yes, in what sense can we cash in on climate change?

This is true because the availability of water will increase. In practice, whether it will work or not is beyond us. But we have to make best use of this water by building hydropower plants and producing energy for economic development. This is the opportunity that increased water availability presents. We can grow crops where they could not be grown due to temperature limitations. But this will not sustain, because along with this, on the one hand, the temperatures are becoming conducive to grow new crops. On the other, these crops demand new inputs. Whereas traditional crops, indigenous crops may not need pesticides, or herbicides, or water irrigation, the new crops may demand all this. So new practices, and so on.

Along with opportunities, there are also challenges. How long can they be sustained is the question. But in the short term, yes, now we have stories that people say, in the mountain communities, in the early days, because it was so cold, we used to wash only once a year, but nowadays, we can wash every day. So there are some practical benefits like that, from the increase in temperature.