Regional training on springshed management for socioecological resilience in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is an intergovernmental organization working with partners from its regional member countries (RMCs): Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. The Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) – an Initiative under ICIMOD’s regional programme on Mountain Knowledge and Action Networks (MKAN) – organized a 13-day regional training on springshed management for socioecological resilience in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) from 24 March–5 April 2019 in Kathmandu. The training was organized with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) through its Indian Himalayas Climate Adaptation Programme (IHCAP) under the Global Programme Climate Change and Environment (GPCCE).

The 13-day training programme on springshed management for socioecological resilience in the HKH was one of the most comprehensive trainings on springs till date. It had both theoretical (nine days) as well as field-based (3 days) components; the theoretical training was conducted at the ICIMOD headquarters in Khumaltar (Lalitpur, Nepal), while the field training was conducted at Godavari, Lalitpur. The uniqueness of this training programme lay in the nature of its participants who came from varied educational backgrounds and diverse geographical locations. A total of 27 resource persons were involved in training 23 participants – 9 of them women – from the HKH countries.

The knowledge and experience that were shared among the participants resulted in enriching discussions during the programme. Since most of the participants were from academia, a lot of scope has been created for further research to take place in this domain. It also opened up doors for collaborations and partnerships amongst the academia, NGOs and government departments. Overall, the training programme was a great success.