Strengthening transboundary collaboration towards disaster risk reduction in the Upper Koshi Basin: The significance of local institutions

The Upper Koshi Basin region is extremely vulnerable to glacial lake outburst floods, landslides, floods, flood-induced debris flows, and earthquakes. The multi-hazard risks in this region cannot be managed without a proactive, transboundary, and multi-stakeholder collaborative effort between the two riparian countries – China and Nepal.

Since the channels of bilateral cooperation on disaster risk reduction (DRR) between the two countries are not defined and formalised beyond a memorandum of understanding, a key intervention strategy is to utilise available platforms for informal bilateral exchange as entry points for potential collaborations, test them for effectiveness, and formalise them as the opportunity comes. A community-centric approach that promotes greater collaboration between DRR-related institutions of both countries at the local level can ensure that the interventions are implemented, sustained, and scaled effectively