Name: Andreas Schild
Publish Date: 06 March 2009




Website: www.icimod.org

Andreas Schild is a development specialist with over 30 years of experience in designing, planning, executing and monitoring co-operation programmes mainly in sustainable natural resource management and rural development. Though his long-term assignments and multiple missions in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, he is familiar with the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region. He joined the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in April 2007 as the Director General and was awarded with the Sir Edmund Hillary Himalayan Environment Award by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation on 14 October 2008.

What makes the Himalayan mountain ecosystem fragile?

The Himalayan mountain system is geologically young and still at a formative stage. This translates into seismic activities and a high incidence of erosion. The fragility also refers to other phenomena: the Himalayas – due to the enormous differences in altitudes and microclimates – harbour an enormous biodiversity and cultural and biological wealth within a very limited geographic space. This diversity is easily affected by changing temperature and precipitation patterns and this, together with the increased risks of natural hazards, makes the Himalayan region among the most vulnerable areas for climate change, similar to some coastal areas.

What will be the impact of glacial melting on the biodiversity of the region?

Glacier melting has little direct impact on biodiversity except for large-scale habitat destruction through flash floods. More important are the indirect consequences due to the loss of wetland habitats and lack of water when the glaciers disappear. Glaciers and biodiversity suffer equally from climate change. The effect of climate change on biodiversity cannot yet be assessed comprehensively in the Himalayas: We cannot say that biodiversity has been reduced: we are aware that certain ecotones (between alpine and tundra and between sub-alpine and alpine) are in danger, and with this the related species. There are indications of change in phenology, where plants are flowering earlier than normal bringing changes in migratory patterns of nectivorous species, and sometimes shifting of species to higher altitudes. However, there are multiple factors playing a role. What we can observe in the mountains very clearly is the invasion of non-palatable species in rangelands, a phenomenon which affects cattle rearing in mountain areas. So, there is a linkage
between biodiversity, glacier recession due to climate change, and people's livelihoods.

Could you inform our readers about the link between glacial melting and the rising sea levels which are considered a major threat to the Small Island Nations around the world?

During the decade from 1993 till 2003 the sea level rose by an annual average of 3 mm. According to the IPCC estimates, half of this rise is due to thermal expansion and one-third is attributed to glacier melting. These are figures deducted from modelling exercises and contain a certain degree of error.

The consequences of glacier melting are felt more immediately in the directly affected mountain areas and the river basins. The glaciers, and cryosphere in general, lose their regulatory power: Precipitation runs off more quickly in the form of water instead of being stored as snow and ice. In short, we can say that in the river basins, due to glacier melting, we have more water at the time that we have too much anyway (during the monsoon) and we have less water, when we need it most.

How does ICIMOD's research demonstrate this link and prove that certain human activities accelerate global warming which is the primary culprit of sea level rise?

At present, ICIMOD's main focus is not on the establishment of cause and effect between human activities and accelerated warming. We concentrate on the observation of the consequences in terms of increased natural hazards, and on the adaptation mechanisms and how to enhance resilience. This might appear short-sighted. But it is done because in general the mountain systems are suffering from global warming and not generating it. However, I agree that we need to be able to explain the phenomena in order to have proper answers. One important factor is atmospheric pollution. So far, we have limited our role to the collection and analysis of data to enhance understanding and knowledge in the frame of global research programmes. As soon as we have more resources, we shall pay more attention to atmospheric pollution because this is probably a major cause of glacier melting.

Could you explain why people living at high altitudes are more vulnerable to the impact of climate change as compared to people living in other regions? In general, how will climate change impact the livelihoods of the people living in mountainous regions?

I would say people living in the mountains are more vulnerable than people living in most lowland areas, although people in the low-lying coastal belts, particularly the small island states, are as vulnerable as mountain people. The vulnerability in the two regions has different characteristics. The vulnerability in the mountains has different faces: first, the temperatures are increasing at a faster rate at higher altitudes than in the plains. This phenomenon is global, and particularly observable in the Himalayas, and means that the changes are more rapid and thus more difficult to adapt to. In the Himalayas, many people are still reliant on subsistence agriculture and natural resources for their daily survival, and the changes in temperature and weather patterns affect these directly, for example, in the viability of growing particular crops, and the availability of wild plants and animals. Then mountain people are particularly affected by increased risks and hazards like glacial lake outbursts, flash floods, landslides, and droughts. The risks for the mountain people are not new: they have always existed. But now they are more frequent, more intense, and less predictable. These new vulnerabilities are partly being met by seasonal or permanent migration. Globalisation and climate change are mutually reinforcing the impact on vulnerability.

However, climate change and globalisation also create new opportunities. Mountain people are not just losers, they can also be winners. Warming on the Tibetan plateau creates new economic opportunities (see the number of greenhouses around Lhasa). Potentially they might be better off than their colleagues in the coastal areas as a result of clever policies using the money transfers from migrant labour and creating infrastructure for new opportunities for niche products, as well as the generation of hydropower.

There is a growing awareness of the ecosystem services mountains provide to the downstream areas: reduction of erosion and water harvesting through integrated watershed management and afforestation, providing carbon sinks, conserving and managing biodiversity as a world heritage and also as a gene bank, maintaining intact landscapes as areas of recreation for city dwellers and tourists, and many others. Harnessing these services requires appropriate policies and priority setting. One prerequisite is probably awareness building among the population and strengthening their potential to voice their grievances. There are enormous governance and access issues to be solved. But we see mountain people potentially as winners and not losers of change. The challenge is to create appropriate policy and institutional frameworks and to develop sufficient political power that the adverse impact of climate change can be minimised and opportunities maximised.

How does ICIMOD spread awareness among the vulnerable communities about the risks of climate change?

Broadly, ICIMOD has adopted a three-pronged approach that includes the following:
a) Enhancing knowledge and understanding about the risks of climate change through its research, as knowledge on the risks and impacts of climate change and adaptation mechanisms is the key factor for developing an informed policy response to climate change, which is lacking in the Himalayan region at a regional scale.
b) Dissemination of knowledge, information, and understanding through different mechanisms such as publications, networks, seminars, symposia, and formal and informal interactions about the risks of climate change as well as adaptation options and mechanisms to enable communities to cope with the effects of climate change
c) Building partnership with national, regional, and global networks, and civil society organisations, NGOs, and CBOs

We think awareness building and dissemination of concrete and factual information will become more and more a core activity of ICIMOD. We want to use our institutional strengths: we are hosting on our premises the Mountain Forum, a global network for the dissemination of knowledge and experience, we are hosting the Asian hub of the Mountain Partnership, where we want to bring complementary institutions together, and we are hosting SANDEE, the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics, as well as directly managing the Asia Pacific Mountain Network (APMN), the Asia Pacific node of Mountain Forum. Based on this potential, we want to use modern communication instruments more systematically, and are actively looking for like-minded partners. Together with them, we want to create a powerful Asian network of information exchange and mutual learning, with the objective of creating awareness among the young, first, the professionals, second, and the policy makers at the top.

Does ICIMOD undertake any capacity building activities to help the the local populace adapt to the impact of climate change?

Capacity development through training, access to information, and strengthening the institutional capacities of stakeholders is one of our top priorities. We do not do this directly at the grass roots level, there are many NGOs and CBOs who do this much better than we do. We promote the knowledge of decision makers and multipliers, and train trainers, researchers, and academic institutions so that they can multiply the impact of our work. ICIMOD also supports strengthening of the institutional capacity of its regional member countries so that they in turn can build the capacities of local communities for adaptation to the adverse impact of climate change.

Do you partner with the local people in your capacity building and awareness generation programmers?

For capacity building and awareness creation, we partner with local organisations and NGOs. Identifying dynamic groups as multipliers is the challenge. We are using different avenues for this. Our knowledge products and services (books, manuals, training, and courseware) are developed with the different user groups in mind. We publish specific training manuals which are tested with local partners on usability. These manuals can be downloaded by users and applied in their local environment without further support from ICIMOD. Workshops are conducted and materials shared and used. The knowledge can be reused by the participants in their local situation. Through our network, we inform the mountain communities (NGOs, universities, policymakers) on lessons learned from elsewhere which can be adapted to this region, and of course we work together with regional and international development organisations – the best avenue for disseminating the message. We have to be aware that working through local people and institutions is the royal path to bring about awareness and change which is sustainable.

Could you elaborate on how ICIMOD monitors the changes in climate over a period of time? How do you study and forecast its impact?

We are using different models and approaches to monitor changes. First of all, although I agree it is not very scientific, we monitor changes through human observations. ICIMOD has a growing photo library which holds images of the Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountains from way back. It is easy to look at a mountain range in 1960 and compare that with 2000. Our international photo exhibition on the effects of Changing Landscapes in the Himalayas is a result of this comparison, working together with The Mountain Institute and others. In addition we monitor, in collaboration with other observers, changes in the HKH region, through a combination of direct monitoring, and remote sensing and satellite imagery, enabling us to view the behaviour of the glaciers in the Himalayan region. However, we need to collect more data on many variables.
The census bureaus in the regional countries do collect data, but what is currently missing is a tool to integrate this data and make it comparable. Also, many data are captured by the scientific expeditions that frequently visit the Himalayas. It is ICIMOD's aim to develop a portal which captures data and provides access routes to data collections in our member countries. It is worth mentioning that ICIMOD is promoting a regional programme to assess the changes resulting from climate variability through local researchers, universities and global research programs working in the areas concerned. In addition, we are undertaking a regional programme to analyse the perceptions of local people and their adaptation to climate change.

What kind of technologies/tools (Information and Communications Technologies, in particular) do you utilise for these studies?

In 2008, ICIMOD adopted a new Strategic Framework for 2008-2012. One of the topics in this Framework is implementing a revised knowledge management programme. This entails, looking into the new possibilities for information exchange such as Web2.0 and network, collaboration tools, etc. It is also clear that ICIMOD should be able to repackage information quickly for different platforms such as mobiles and iPods and apply different formats such as e-books and YouTube. We have already drastically overhauled our website, which is now based upon the newest technologies and provides an excellent dissemination platform for the years ahead. A recent example of this were the highly successful conferences and workshops on biodiversity that we organised in December 2008.

The organisation of these events, and the collaboration among participants and speakers, was facilitated by our new website, which enhanced the speed of communication and dissemination. We are gradually moving into the area of e-learning and e-training modules using modern ICT.

So we can say that new and modern technologies are being used. Teleconferences, communities of practice and social networking tools are more  and  more  applied, but we also realise that there is a digital gap between the urban and rural areas. Despite the many advances ICT brings to the table, we recognise the continuing importance of face to face contacts and interactions. We need to blend different approaches that suit different audiences. We strongly believe in horizontal learning experiences through exposure visits and peer learning. We also experience that informal events like an open house and brown bag seminars are very popular and attract particularly the younger generation.