International Centre For Integrated

Published purpose

This Integrated Climate Adaptation Solutions for the Hindu Kush Himalaya Region (ICAS-HKH) project aims to increase resilience to climate change impacts and improve the livelihoods of rural women, Indigenous Peoples and local communities in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. The revival of springs and improved management of springsheds - the areas of land that contribute groundwater to a spring - are vital to ensuring present and future water security in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, a region that faces significant challenges from climate change. Working primarily with women, ICAS-HKH aims to support communities, women’s and Indigenous Peoples’ groups and local institutions to design and implement gender-responsive interventions to improve springshed management, address water scarcity and provide renewable energy technology for irrigation systems. ICAS-HKH seeks to promote the development and implementation of gender-responsive policies, strategies and guidelines by local government institutions to enable the scaling up of the approach. It also aims to enhance the capacity of beneficiaries to access other sources of climate adaptation funding to sustain this approach in the long term. Project activities include: (1) promoting sustainable land management practices and installing renewable energy technology for irrigation such as solar panels and pumps; (2) building the capacity of policy and decision-makers to strengthen the enabling environment for scaling up the integrated climate adaptation approach beyond the pilot sites, including through policy recommendations, knowledge-sharing events, workshops and joint monitoring visits; and (3) identifying climate adaptation funding sources and building the capacity of women’s groups and Indigenous Peoples’ and local community networks to design climate adaptation projects, prepare investable proposals and access funding.