David Molden

Gender Equality as a Key Strategy for Achieving Equitable and Sustainable Development in Mountains: The Case of the Hindu Kush–Himalayas

Abstract The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) believes in a future where the mountain people of the Hindu Kush–Himalayas can experience enhanced livelihoods, equity, and social and environmental security; where they can adapt to environmental, socioeconomic, and climate change; and where future generations of mountain and downstream populations can enjoy the benefits and opportunities afforded by the regions natural endowment. ICIMOD is an intergovernmental center that develops and shares information and knowledge, facilitates learning, and uses innovation and effective communication to empower its eight regional member countries—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan—and the women, men, and children living there. ICIMOD believes that interventions are most successful when they take into account the points of view of everyone in society, regardless of gender, caste, or ethnicity. Inclusiveness is the hallmark of ICIMODs work.

ICIMOD's Strategy for Delivering High-quality Research and Achieving Impact for Sustainable Mountain Development

Abstract Thirty years ago, 8 countries of the Hindu Kush–Himalayan region (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan) realized the importance of mountains and established the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). With an 8-country charter, ICIMOD serves as a regional intergovernmental center for cooperation on the sustainable development of the Hindu Kush–Himalayan region. ICIMOD believes in a future in which the regions mountain people can experience enhanced livelihoods, equity, and social and environmental security; in which they can adapt to environmental, socioeconomic, and climate change; and in which generations of mountain and downstream populations can enjoy the benefits and opportunities afforded by the regions natural endowment. ICIMOD foresees a future in which the role of the region, as the water tower for more than a billion people, a cultural and spiritual hub, the home of global biodiversity hotspots, a significant ecological buffer zone, and a source of resources and services for mountain and lowland people, is upheld, valued, and recognized globally and regionally.

The Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme: Action to Sustain a Global Asset

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development is coordinating the Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme, which will be carried out with partners and individual experts. The assessment addresses the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainable mountain development and will serve as a basis for evidence-based decision-making to safeguard the environment and advance people’s wellbeing. It is not a one-off assessment but will be an ongoing process. A 2017 publication is planned as the first of a series of monitoring and assessment reports.

Special Issue: Gender and Sustainable Development in Mountains—Transformative Innovations, Tenacious Resistances

Despite years of ‘‘gender mainstreaming’’ in development, many challenges remain. A decade ago, Anand and Josse (2002) noted the persistence of gender discrimination, exploitation, and disenfranchisement of women in mountain regions. Although there have been some innovations and progress towards gender equality since their article appeared in MRD, tenacious resistances and contestations persist in the face of rigorous feminist research, knowledge, agency, and activism (Cornwall et al 2007; Sandler and Rao 2012). Both institutional barriers and global drivers of change (eg climate change, globalization, geopolitical shifts, economic crises, and gender-blind development interventions) are worsening the conditions of women’s lives, as well as widening socio-economic inequalities between women and men (Pearson 2004; UNICEF 2009). For women and men living in harsh mountain conditions, challenges have a different set of complexities compared to those of people living in the plains (Anand et al 2002). Innovative and strategic approaches to gender transformative change have never been more necessary. However, their potential within development institutions requires serious reflection, stocktaking, analysis, and resources, as well as profound changes to gender power relations in both institutional and applied development contexts (Verma 2014, in this issue).

Focus Issue: Water Governance in Mountains

The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development recognized that ‘‘mountain ecosystems play a crucial role in providing water resources to a large portion of the world’s population’’ in its Rio+20 outcome document, The Future We Want (UNGA 2012). While the role of mountains as a water resource base is well recognized, their role in sustainable use and management of water—for food and agriculture, for livelihoods and poverty alleviation, for drinking water and sanitation, for energy, cities, and industries, and in combating desertification, land degradation, and drought—is significant but underappreciated. The role of water governance in mountains, and how mountains relate to the plains, is a ‘‘blind spot’’ in the literature, especially when compared to water governance in the plains, where there is a large body of work on integrated water resource management.

Focus Issue: Family Farming in Mountains—Institutional and Organizational Arrangements in the Context of Globalization

Mountain farming is family farming, as claimed in a publication prepared for the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) 2014 (Wymann von Dach et al 2013). Indeed, global estimates show that 500 million of 570 million farms can be conceived as family farms (Lowder at al 2014) according to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s definition (FAO 2013). The share of family farms is likely to be the same or even higher in mountains, where external investment in land by corporate agricultural enterprises is presumably less attractive than in the more accessible lowlands. Mountain farms in developing countries are geared mainly towards family consumption, while farming in industrialized countries is market-oriented; and in Europe, mountain farming is increasingly being determined by policies that also emphasize the role of landscape preservation. The contribution of family farming to sustainable development in mountains thus differs a great deal from region to region. But all mountain farms face similar challenges and opportunities: environmental constraints as well as unique niches and diversity, lack of infrastructure and poor accessibility as well as attractive settings. In addition, mountain farms deal with increasing climate variability and global socioeconomic dynamics such as outand in-migration, commodification of crops and natural resources, tourism, conservation, and radical changes in cultural and political values. Based on centuries of experience in tackling mountain environments, farming families and communities have developed distinctive forms of institutions and organizational arrangements. This issue of MRD addresses the question to what extent these institutions and organizational arrangements have been able to cope with the current multiple challenges. It also explores whether family farming practices have succeeded in generating solutions in combination with new institutional arrangements and policies, and whether this enables family farmers in mountains to benefit from new opportunities.

Focus Issue: Modernization and Sustainable Development in Mountains

The modernization paradigm, often criticized as oriented only towards economic growth without considering social justice and environmental integrity, is still influencing development, including in mountains. But it is also slowly changing under the influence of postgrowth and transition debates, the ideals of common welfare and wellbeing, and the concept of resilient economies. Under what conditions can this shift within the paradigm take place in mountains, and could sustainable modernization in mountains become a trendsetter? What is needed to make modernization lead to sustainable development? Sometimes there are synergies between the two goals, but more often trade-offs exist that need to be assessed and wisely dealt with in order to reduce negative impacts. In this Focus Issue, several papers address modernization and sustainable development, showing that development in mountains can take up positive aspects of modernization—for example, improved energy production and use, multilocal livelihoods, combined use and conservation of natural resources, agrotourism, and improved governance—and thus lead to greater sustainability if handled well.

MountainNotes Becomes MountainAgenda: MRD's Third Peer-reviewed Section

Much debate exists on what kind of knowledge is needed for sustainable development and how it should be produced and communicated (Cash et al 2003; Hessels and van Lente 2008; Van Opstal and Hugé 2013). Among the key insights in this debate are that mere transfer of scientific information will not lead to change; that science cannot produce relevant knowledge if it does not take into account how this knowledge relates to the normative value of sustainability; that scientists and non-scientists need to co-produce knowledge at some stages of the knowledge generation process in order to increase its robustness; and that the conventional scientific review process is not sufficient for ensuring the validity, adequateness, and reliability of knowledge for sustainable development (Hirsch-Hadorn et al 2008).

Broadened Governance for MRD and Reviews of Climate Change Research in the HKH

MRD is proud to announce a broadening of its geographic and thematic expertise, achieved through a change in governance introduced earlier this year and supported unanimously by the institutional members of the International Mountain Society (IMS)—MRD’s publisher. This change in governance has enabled MRD to enlarge chief editorship from one to several distinguished experts who have a track record in mountain research and development and represent a renowned mountain organization.MRD welcomes Dr DavidMolden, Director General of the International Centre for IntegratedMountain Development (ICIMOD), as its second Editor-in-Chief. Immediately after agreeing to serve in this important strategic position, David Molden worked with Hans Hurni on a call for papers on ‘‘Water Governance in Mountains’’(MRD 33.3) and supported the focus of the present issue’s MountainNotes section on reviews of climate change research in the Hindu Kush– Himalaya. This kind of strategic guidance will further strengthenMRD’s mission. Chief editorship is planned to be shared by 3–4 renowned mountain experts who promoteMRD’s long-term vision and define the journal’s strategic orientation, under the overall guidance of the IMS.