KATHMANDU, June 10: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), headquartered in Nepal, has partnered to promote sustainable development in the Hindu Kush Himalayan countries.
UN Assistant Secretary General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Kanni Wignaraja and ICIMOD Director General Dr Pema Gyamtsho signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Thursday.
Climate change threatens our survival
Under this MoU signed in Pokhara, UNDP and ICIMOD will collaborate to establish a framework for regional cooperation between the organizations to develop and share knowledge, promote capacity development, develop policies and practices, and enhance collaboration in the Hindu Kush Himalayan countries.
Speaking after the signing of the MoU, Dr Pema Gyamtsho, DG, ICIMOD said, “This is a game-changing partnership arrangement that will enable UNDP and ICIMOD to work together in the HKH region by drawing on their respective strengths and comparative advantages. The urgency of actions required addressing climate change, biodiversity loss and air pollution warrants this level of collaboration and scaling up.”
The partnership paves the way for increased collaboration between UNDP in eight Hindu Kush Himalayan countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan and ICIMOD on both regional and country-level climate actions.
