Experts Call for Altering Food Systems in Hindu Kush Himalaya to Meet Climate Change Threat

Patna: At a time when climate change is affecting food security and safety, experts have called for urgent need to transform food systems in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region to meet the triple threat of climate change, nature loss, and acute food insecurity.

The call was given at a recent event hosted by the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), attended by academics, researchers and policymakers from Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, and Pakistan. The event focused on the need for climate-resilient agriculture for sustainable food systems in the HKH region.

“It is urgent, in the teeth of the climate crisis, that we reshape agriculture in the Hindu Kush Himalaya,” Abid Hussain, who
leads the ICIMOD’s economies work, said at the event. He noted that this region was warming at double the global average, and changes in water supply from loss of mountain snow and ice, and much more extreme rainfall, were putting extraordinary pressure on food and farming.

“It’s increasingly clear that industrial farming methods – including the use of chemical fertilisers and deforestation – have been a calamity for the biosphere, for human health, and for the climate, and have failed to deliver prosperity for farmers. Switching to alternative methods of agriculture has the power to improve livelihoods, human health, the health of our rivers, the quality of the air we breathe and, with soil being such a potent tool for carbon sequestration, offers a huge opportunity for us to hold onto a habitable planet,” he added.

Food and farming are responsible for one quarter of global greenhouse emissions, second only to energy use. But with alternative models of farming capable of actually locking away carbon in the soil, global experts increasingly emphasise the sector as a solution to the climate crisis. 

Given the population sizes in the HKH region, and acute food insecurity needs, it’s crucial this be a priority zone for investment in this transition to agroecological methods, other experts said, at the event.

Kamal Prasad Aryal, who led the action research component of the GRAPE project, said “Our work in these provinces, working closely with smallholders, shows how low-cost, scalable agricultural solutions can really quite quickly result in better soil health on farms, which translates to better quality yield, while reducing farmers’ reliance on costly externalities”. 

He said “We’re already seeing these organic and natural methods of production contributing to an uptick in farmers’ incomes and food security. With two-thirds of the population in Nepal engaged in agricultural work, we really hope more policymakers, farmers, donors, businesses, and publics from across this region embrace the huge opportunity that these climate-resilient agricultural practices underpin.”

At the event, experts shared their studies and vision that helped delegates learn methods that could be scaled up, including climate-resilient agricultural practices, community learning centres, digital solutions and renewable energy technologies in agriculture.

In August this year, at a workshop on climate-resilient and inclusive agriculture in Nepal at ICIMOD , it was discussed that agriculture had long been an integral part of livelihoods in the HKH region, including Nepal. It was noted that agriculture in Nepal was facing numerous challenges induced by climate change, such as natural disasters, increased incidence of pests and diseases, loss of agro-biodiversity, and soil degradation. These issues, alongside increased workload of women and youth migration, threaten food security and exacerbate poverty in the region.

Experts stressed that the critical need for food and nutrition security required urgent action to enhance the sustainability of food systems. In this context, the Renewable Energy for Resilient-Food Systems (RERAS) project aims to achieve this by promoting climate-resilient solutions and renewable energy across various stages of agricultural value chains in Bajura, Jumla, Mugu, and Sindhuli districts, it was noted.

The writer is a freelancer based in Patna, Bihar.