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Megatrends in Hindu Kush Himalaya: Climate Change, Urbanisation and Migration and Their Implications for Water, Energy and Food

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Abstract

The Hindu Kush Himalaya is undergoing rapid change, driven by twin megatrends of climate change and urbanisation, which threaten their crucial water-provisioning services for over a billion people across Asia and undermine quality of life, economic development, and environmental sustainability within the region. This chapter examines current and future megatrends from a mountain perspective, assessing the impacts for water, energy and food security of glacial melt, altered river flows and drying springs, coupled with unplanned urban growth and outmigration. Further innovation is needed in responding to climate-induced risk, developing hydro-power sustainably and enhancing mountain agriculture.

Keywords

Hindu Kush Himalaya Climate change Urbanisation Migration Water Energy Food 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Philippus Wester, Arun Shrestha, Mandira Shrestha and Soumyadeep Banerjee of ICIMOD for guiding us to the right literature and providing comments that helped improve the paper. Authors are also grateful to Avash Pandey of ICIMOD for providing research assistantship. The first version of this paper was presented at Mega Trends Conference held at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore on February 25 and 26, 2016. The authors are thankful for comments received from workshop participants. This study was partially supported by core funds of ICIMOD contributed by the governments of Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Norway, Pakistan, Switzerland, and the UK. The views and interpretations in this publication are those of the authors and are not necessarily attributable to ICIMOD.

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© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)KathmanduNepal
  2. 2.Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy/School of Geography and DevelopmentUniversity of ArizonaTucsonUSA

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