The Himalayan Climate Change Adaptation Programme (HICAP)
HICAP is a collaboration between three organisations – CICERO, ICIMOD, and GRID-Arendal. The programme aims to enhance the resilience of mountain communities, and particularly of women, through improved understanding of vulnerabilities, opportunities, and potentials for adaptation.
Prosjektfakta
HICAP produced downscaled scenarios for climate and hydrology Analyse current and projected impacts of climate and land-use changes on natural resources, ecosystem services, and the communities depending on them Analyse the local and institutional resilience and capacities for change Propose concrete and actionable strategies and policies to enhance adaptation
The project has a strong focus on high-quality science, capacity-building of both researchers and local actors through stakeholder involvement and cooperation, and dissemination and communication of research findings.
The Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region is a highly dynamic region, with many socioeconomic and environmental drivers of change at play, including climate change. The HKH region crosses political, national and sectorial borders, and covers (parts of) Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, China, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. The ecosystems and the people living in the HKH and its river basins are highly dependent on the monsoon and melting glaciers for water for drinking, irrigation and forestry. Currently, the region frequently suffers from too much water, which leads to flood risk during the rainy season, and too little water, which leads to droughts and crop failure during the dry period. The current and projected increased incidence of extreme weather events and magnitude of associated natural disasters related to climate change are exacting high economic and social costs. Meanwhile, changing market conditions, absent or failing infrastructure and institutions, and other conditions put extra pressure on the communities, while intensified and unsustainable water and land-use put extra pressure on the environment. This combined set of pressures challenges the resilience of natural and human capacities and the environment, and the Himalayan region and the downstream areas that depend on its water supply and ecosystem services, including the Indo-Gangetic plain – “the grain basket of South Asia” – are particularly vulnerable to these changes.
Duration: September 2011–December 2016 (possible extension to 2017)
Financial support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)
