Pastoralism and Rangeland Management on the Tibetan Plateau in ...

Welcome Address by Madhav Karki, ICIMOD
On behalf of ICIMOD, it gives me a great honour <strong>and</strong> pleasure to warmly
welcome you all to this regional workshop on: <strong>Pastoralism</strong> <strong>and</strong> Rangel<strong>and</strong>
<strong>Management</strong> on the Tibetan Plateau in the Context of Climate <strong>and</strong> Global
Change jointly organized by TAAAS, InWEnt, ICIMOD <strong>and</strong> NPC, Nepal. At
the outset, I would like to express my gratitude to the TAR Govt. <strong>and</strong> Govt.
of PRC for hosting this workshop in Tibet, Lhasa under the overall leadership
of TAAAS.
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
was established in 1983 with the dual m<strong>and</strong>ates of reducing poverty <strong>and</strong>
conserving the environment in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region
which covers five provinces of China – Xinxiang, Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, <strong>and</strong>
Guizhou provinces of China. It is an autonomous, non-political <strong>and</strong> intergovernmental
organization with 8 founding member countries that include Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal <strong>and</strong> Pakistan.
The primary objective of the Centre is to “help promote the development of an
economically <strong>and</strong> environmentally sound mountain ecosystem <strong>and</strong> to improve
the living st<strong>and</strong>ards of mountain populations of the region”.
Rangel<strong>and</strong>s cover about 60 percent of the 4.3 million km2 of the Hindu
Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region <strong>and</strong> directly provide a livelihood to the large
population living there. Rangel<strong>and</strong>s contain diverse geographical <strong>and</strong> cultural
l<strong>and</strong>scapes which have been shaped both by the forces of nature <strong>and</strong> by the
communities that inhabit them. Over thous<strong>and</strong>s of years, communities have
developed their own particular ways of adapting to geophysical, climatic, <strong>and</strong>
biotic conditions. However, the important role that pastoralists play as the custodians
of rangel<strong>and</strong> ecosystems has not been sufficiently valued by decisionmakers.
Rangel<strong>and</strong>s remain a generally neglected sector in terms of research,
legislation, government planning, <strong>and</strong> particularly of spending for sustainable
development. This situation has resulted in poor management decisions <strong>and</strong>
has been a major cause of rangel<strong>and</strong> degradation <strong>and</strong> desertification.
As you are all aware, globalisation <strong>and</strong> climate change have an increasing
influence on the stability of fragile rangel<strong>and</strong> ecosystems <strong>and</strong> the well being of
the pastoralist community, a large number of who are poor <strong>and</strong> marginalized.
ICIMOD working with our member country partners aims to assist these herders
<strong>and</strong> farmers to underst<strong>and</strong> these changes, adapt to them, <strong>and</strong> make the most
of the opportunities, while addressing multiple issues <strong>and</strong> challenges many of
which are of trans-boundary <strong>and</strong> upstream-downstream nature. We support
regional research <strong>and</strong> development programmes through partnership jointly
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