This short report presents a selection of the key findings, achievements and lessons learned from the Himalayan Climate Change Adaptation Programme (HICAP) over the period 2012– 2017. A more comprehensive overview of all of HICAP’s work is provided in the annual programme reports. This summary report focuses on selected HICAP approaches to science, action research, pilot activities, and communications and outreach. In doing so, we aim to highlight:

Building on collaborations on disaster management in Gilgit Baltistan in 2017, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), the Gilgit Baltistan Disaster Management Authority (GB-DMA), and the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) have reinforced their commitment to improve disaster risk management in Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan, by joining hands to develop the Disaster Risk Management Plan of Gilgit Baltistan.

ICIMOD has prepared flood inundation maps in view of the floods and landslides that this year’s monsoon has triggered in Bangladesh. The maps have been prepared using Advanced Land Observing Satellite 2/ Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (ALOS-2/PALSAR) and Sentinel-1 satellite images made available by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Foreword

The water resources and freshwater ecosystems in the transboundary river basins of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) are a source of survival and other livelihoods opportunities for people. Though the region is known for a physical abundance of water, the reality is that most communities in the basin still live in a state of water poverty. They face serious challenges of water scarcity and water-induced disasters caused by both climatic factors and human impacts.

As climate change impacts are increasing the likelihood of natural disasters, such as floods and landslides, having a thorough disaster risk management plan is become more important for communities throughout the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). The government of Gilgit Baltistan in Pakistan has recognized the efforts of the Indus Basin Initiative of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and consortium partners to establish more resilient mountain villages through partnership with the Gilgit Baltistan Disaster Management Authority (GB-DMA).