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Mountains of Southeast Asia and the Pacific (SEAP) region spread across two geographic regions – mainland Asia and island/archipelagic states in the Pacific Ocean – and constitute one of the world’s highest and also most severely threatened biodiversity pools
. A number of indigenous peoples who are marginalised, poor, and underserved by their respective states live in the structurally weak and fragile mountains. They are made even more vulnerable by increased frequency and intensity of rainfall, extreme temperatures and severe tropical storms. Increasing population and economic pressures are driving migrant lowland settlers towards the SEAP Mountains while extractive companies harness timber, minerals and water resources without giving local communities their due share. In general, the mountains have not been mainstreamed in governance in most Southeast Asian countries. This highlights the immediate need for policy reforms to protect social and ecological systems in the mountains for strengthening sustainable development, preventing environmental damage, and improving national and regional food security
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Mountains of the Southeast Asia and Pacific (SEAP) region spread across mainland Asia and the island/archipelagic states in the Pacific Ocean
. These countries host one of the world’s highest and most severely threatened biodiversity and gene pools. Many of the region’s indigenous peoples who live in the highlands have developed home-grown and time-tested knowledge and skills in protecting and conserving tropical mountain ecosystems. The SEAP mountains have been generally ignored or are subsumed in forest and other resourcebased national policies and programmes. Consequently, forest, water and mineral resources have been expropriated with little benefits going to the mountain peoples who have mostly remained marginalised and vulnerable
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The HKH mountains abound with diverse natural resources
. They provide valuable ecosystem goods and services including water, food, energy, biodiversity, and hydrological regulating functions to support the livelihoods of people living upstream and downstream. Mountain ecosystem goods and services support the livelihoods of more than 210 million mountain inhabitants
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During the upcoming Rio+20 summit in Brazil, the main expectation of developing mountainous countries in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region is stronger political commitment
. Nepal, for example, hopes that the Rio+20 outcome document will express concrete global support for greater synergy, balance, and integration of the pillars of sustainable development—environmental, economic, socio-political, and cultural sustainability. This should translate into poverty reduction, greater equity, and improved wellbeing.
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The Indus river basin supports the world’s largest irrigation system
. Climate change is definitely adding risks to the prime sectors of agriculture, energy, disaster management, and sanitation, where water plays the most critical role. The main issue is uncertainty in the volume and seasonality of future water supply
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The Indus River Basin is characterized by downstream areas with the world's largest irrigation system, providing food and energy security to more than 215 million people
. The arid to semiarid basin is classified as a net water deficit area, but it also suffers from devastating floods. Among the four basin countries, Pakistan is most dependent on water originating in high mountain catchments and is therefore most vulnerable to climatic, socioeconomic, and other global changes that are impacting both supply and demand. Given the consensus that there is a lack of systematic and consistent hydrological, meteorological, biophysical, and socioeconomic data to promote integrated water resources management (IWRM) at the basin scale, an international consultation of scientists, water managers, and development partners was organized in 2010. These experts suggested developing a long-term Indus Basin Research Program aiming to build a robust, consolidated, and shared scientific knowledge base and thus improve understanding of the coupled human and ecological processes and their interrelationships in the basin. This paper summarizes the rationale for initiating such a coordinated multidisciplinary research, knowledge management, and capacity development process aiming to support water management policies and programs from design stage to implementation, using the framework of integrated river basin management (IRBM). The paper further stresses the need to implement IRBM using IWRM tools, recognizing that multiple factors and actors play critical roles in improving management of water and other natural resources to enhance overall water productivity. The steps needed to initiate and consolidate national and international institutional coordination, capacity development, and policy support to operationalize an IRBM process are spelled out. A long-term research and capacity-building program for international organizations and scientists is recommended to foster transboundary cooperation and scientific collaboration
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In pursuit of sustainable forest conservation, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal have promoted participatory forest management (PFM) approaches such as community forestry, joint forest management, and social forestry
. This study assessed these approaches based on policy and legal frameworks, organizational arrangements, and decentralization of authority, which are considered the fundamental requirements for the success of PFM. The findings of the analysis revealed that although there is a tendency among all four countries moving toward PFM, their features and fundamentals vary considerably from one country to another. Overall, community forestry in Nepal appeared to be a robust participatory system, while the social forestry of Bangladesh?a highly centralized approach?is deemed very weak. The community forestry approach in Bhutan and joint forest management in India fall between these two extremes. Broad policy recommendations are outlined for promotion of genuine PFM
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