SOUTH ASIA NEIGHBOURS ADVANCING REGIONAL INTEGRATION, COOPERATION AND ENGAGEMENT IN SOUTH ASIA Abiding by nature, not national borders: Institution building in the Himalayas by Aditya Valiathan Pillai #OneSouthAsia CASE STUDY 3, 2021 Mountains are hard to govern. National global warming, river basin governance, boundaries rarely reflect mountain and disasters. geography and carve mountains into ecologically and socially incomplete Regionally owned institutions attempt sections. Mountain ecosystems, glaciers, to bridge these jurisdictional divides. rivers and communities are deeply The International Centre for Integrated intertwined, bearing all the complexity Mountain Development (ICIMOD), based in of systems that have evolved over Kathmandu, does this by presenting a unified millennia. Understanding this complexity picture of natural systems that evolved and then governing it is an especially independently of the modern nation-state. challenging task. In the Himalayas, the In doing so, ICIMOD attempts to force state borders that divide the mountains are machineries to adopt a higher vantage point hard and sometimes militarized, and states and think about problems and solutions as have traditionally been only been mildly though borders do not exist. This project is interested in cooperating on cross-border difficult because states are naturally inclined issues, such as melting glaciers because of to act to preserve their interests. Abiding by nature, not national borders: Institution building in the Himalayas 1 SOUTH ASIA #OneSouthAsia ICIMOD is a unique regional institution; globalization, were, and still are, damaging on its board sit eight Himalayan nations – mountain environments. Erik P. Eckholm, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, writing in Science in 1975 describes the India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. It has mood at the meeting where ICIMOD managed not only to function but grow in was conceived: the 35 years since it was founded despite the somewhat precarious relationships between “An unusual meeting was convened in countries on its board. It is the face of a large Munich, Germany, in December 1974. Any network of researchers across the region, organizing principle, any common thread coordinating and disseminating scientific among the participants, would have evidence on the region’s dire vulnerabilities eluded an outsider. The group included to climate change. biologists, anthropologists, foresters, ecologists, economists, geographers, The Himalayas, which include some of the businessmen, and civil servants, and they highest peaks on earth, have an outsized had travelled to Munich from Europe, influence on South Asia and beyond. The North and South America, Africa, and Asia. Himalayas indirectly support about 1.9 What drew this disparate group together billion people through rivers that culminate was a shared concern for a problem that in the East China Sea in the east, and the Aral has scarcely been recognized as one Sea in Uzbekistan in the west. But relatively deserving attention in its own right: the little scientific data is yet available about deterioration of mountain environments in the impact of warming temperatures and the poor countries.” – Erik P. Eckholm the implications for ecosystems, societies, politics, and even borders in the region. Participants discussed the need to create institutions to promote ecologically sound This case study is based on 11 interviews mountain development. In the years that with ICIMOD’s leadership and senior staff, followed, UNESCO and the governments and a former Indian environment minister. of Switzerland and Germany put forward Interviews were supplemented by reviews financial resources, and the eight of ICIMOD’s annual reports, independent Himalayan nations endorsed the concept five-year reviews, academic papers, and at a UNESCO general conference. In 1983, program reports. ICIMOD was established in Kathmandu as an intergovernmental organization. From the start, ICIMOD said its role was to assist, collect, review, and coordinate mountain Foundations research produced by institutions in member countries. Its mandate was designed to ICIMOD was conceived in a movement that prompt regional cooperation by sustaining recognized mountains present a unique set scientific collaboration between member of governance challenges. Social changes countries. driven by industrialization, urbanization, and 2 Abiding by nature, not national borders: Institution building in the Himalayas #OneSouthAsia SOUTH ASIA A unified lens for a a change from Delhi’s traditional preference fragmented mountain for a bilateral approach. India agreed to range a program to restore and protect the Mt. Kailash region – a remote area revered by ICIMOD’s board has a key role in carrying Hindus, Buddhists, and other religions – that out the institution’s mission to stimulate required China, India, and Nepal to agree regional collaboration amid national on national program plans. Ramesh said he interests. At its inception, the board had saw this as a small but useful first step toward uneven representation from member better environmental cooperation between countries (three from Nepal, and one each India and China. India increased its annual from Bhutan, China, India, and Pakistan) support to ICIMOD, pledging $500,000 over along with the three founding donors and 2009-11 compared to its total contribution UNESCO. In 1991, after several years of of $1 million from 1983 to 2006. ICIMOD’s organizing and setting up the institution, expertise in glaciology was seen as an asset the board overhauled its structure in an to Indian institutions such as the National important balancing step, giving each Institute of Himalayan Glaciology in Dehra country one seat and allocating an equal Dun and the G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan number of board seats to scientists. Environment and Development in Almora. Of specific interest was ICIMOD’s research Initially, ICIMOD carved a niche for itself on mapping Himalayan glacial lakes, large with small programs that focused on natural reservoirs of water contained by sustainable development in mountain depleting glaciers that pose a significant areas, from rural energy to off-farm jobs. downstream threat. In 1995, the institution reoriented itself to urge member nations to collaborate on The transboundary landscape program difficult transboundary environmental has grown in recent years to cover some issues. The regional cooperation program of the most politically and ecologically attracted new donors that year and has sensitive parts of the region and world. been an important reason for European Beyond the politically improbable feat of and Australian financial support since. bringing China, India, and Nepal together to protect the Mt. Kailash region, ICIMOD ICIMOD’s explicit regional orientation runs a program in the border regions of has been a useful political channel for Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, incremental cooperation. Between 2009 at the intersection of the Karakoram, and 2011, during Jairam Ramesh’s tenure Pamir, and Wakhan ranges. Less sensitive as India’s environment minister, ICIMOD was is a program that brings Bangladesh, India, part of a fledgling and unfulfilled period of and Nepal together for the Kanchenjunga environmental multilateralism. For example, zone. These programs aim to find a in climate negotiations then, India signaled balance among developmental needs, a willingness to adopt a more proactive delicate ecosystems, and climate change emissions mitigation policy and to engage pressures. They involve, to varying degrees, with multilateral platforms such as ICIMOD, generating more information about these Abiding by nature, not national borders: Institution building in the Himalayas 3 SOUTH ASIA #OneSouthAsia areas, creating systems for governments that represented 42 percent of annual to exchange information, and building income during the period. The remainder, local capacity to manage the landscape. about 54 percent of annual income, came ICIMOD’s work generating governmental from a large and diverse basket of smaller sanction for these efforts was a significant donors that funded individual projects or political achievement. As ICIMOD’s contributed directly to one of ICIMOD’s website notes, its approach “implies larger programs. In the decade leading up coordination and cooperation among all to 2015, more than 30 donors, such as the those responsible for an area, regardless of World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, jurisdiction, as defined by ecosystems rather European Union, and the United States, were than administrative boundaries.” The vision program contributors. of abiding by nature rather than national borders is hard to execute in a region with Reliance on donors instead of stable, relatively few examples of functioning interest-generating financial assets affects cooperation, and little trust. However, the an institution’s form and priorities. Scarce seeds of regional cooperation planted resources must be devoted to fundraising, in ICIMOD’s apolitical projects may which requires building relationships with eventually help support broader changes donors, establishing public credibility, when environmental crises in the Himalayas communicating results, and ensuring sound become harder to ignore. management. Most importantly, a reliance on donor funding requires an institution to demonstrate relevance through impactful agenda setting and consistently high- Institutional trial and error quality research. ICIMOD’s budget grew by an average ICIMOD stopped growing in the decade 7 percent annually in real terms during between 1996 and 2005. Its annual funds the three decades from 1986 to 2015. Its 1 had peaked in 1999 at $6 million, a average growth masks relative stagnation in milestone that took six years to surpass. the first two decades followed by a decade An independent five-year review of the of remarkable growth. Its growth since 2006 organization in 2006 found ICIMOD had has been shaped by two factors: a strategic not done enough to make itself relevant re-orientation toward regional relevance to member countries. The review said – especially in climate change – and an ICIMOD’s ‘institutional positioning was overhaul of institutional practices. unclear,’ member states were ‘unaware of its strengths and impacts,’ and its work ICIMOD regional member countries rarely translated into policy. A regional contributed only 4 percent of average focus was sometimes missing in its programs annual income over three decades from and ICIMOD risked overstretching itself 1986 to 2015. Their contributions fluctuated, by moving beyond the Himalayas and sometimes drastically from one year to the beginning work in places like Sri Lanka. The next. European aid provided stable funding review painted a relatively dire picture, 4 Abiding by nature, not national borders: Institution building in the Himalayas #OneSouthAsia SOUTH ASIA saying that “all donors interviewed (…) improve communication with member said the time has now come for regional countries and to align its programs with member countries to take more ownership national needs, echoing a previous review. through financial commitments. Some The report cautioned that recent growth had questions about the impact ICIMOD might come at the cost of coherence was having (…).” The review report asked in regional programs. Indeed, about 60 ICIMOD to prioritize regional interests, percent of ICIMOD’s income in 2006- develop deeper links with governments, 15 came from splintered funding tied to and adopt a more forward-looking strategy. projects while only one-third came from core funding. By comparison, in the prior The 2006 review also identified internal decade, core funding and project finance challenges. ICIMOD’s management was were nearly equal. Short-term project based on command-and-control principles finance can be difficult to manage because rather than confidence in the staff. Its each grant has separate transaction costs governance was choked by a long list of and expectations. The impermanence of committees, administrative procedures, such funding creates uncertainty, often and clearance requirements. ICIMOD curtailing long-term vision. was having a hard time retaining its most talented staff beyond their three-year ICIMOD’s restructuring of internal machinery contracts. The review called for an internal served an important strategic change. Its overhaul. It directed leaders to recruit core quest to be more regionally relevant led to staff by offering better incentives and job a focus on climate change in the Himalayas. security that was not tied to fluctuations in In 2014-15, its four largest programs, by project funding. expenditure, were on transboundary landscapes, regional climate adaptation, In the years since that 2006 report, ICIMOD the Himalayan cryosphere and atmosphere, has turned the tide through staff trainings, and transboundary rivers. These programs a restructuring of administrative functions, designated climate change as a focal point and efforts to ensure longer tenure. Staff and together totaled nearly one-third of were organized in larger interdisciplinary ICIMOD’s spending. teams with multiple, more stable lines of funding. An independent five-year The collective effect of these institutional review in 2016 indicated the efforts paid changes is a remarkable increase in funding off. It noted that “the ability to attract since the plateau of the late 1990s and early and retain experienced professional staff 2000s. ICIMOD’s average growth rate was within ICIMOD and also within the strategic 12 percent from 2006 to 2015, adjusted for partners is a key factor in ICIMOD’s success.” inflation. By comparison, its inflation-adjusted The report found the organization had growth was 0.5 percent for the decade from adopted “a well-structured and organized 1996-2005. ICIMOD’s increasing relevance approach to operational management as a front-line research platform for climate with progressive practices.” However, change was a particularly important factor the 2016 review said ICIMOD needed to in its growth. Abiding by nature, not national borders: Institution building in the Himalayas 5 SOUTH ASIA #OneSouthAsia An aerial view of the melting Siachen glacier. Photo from the World Bank Images The inevitability of climate change ICIMOD was founded in 1983 to create publication of a now-discredited prediction avenues for ecologically sound development that Himalayan glaciers could disappear in the Himalayas. In the decades since, by 2035 in the UN Intergovernmental Panel climate change has transformed how the on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment world sees mountains. The Himalayas, which Report.2 That report was also influential include the 10 highest mountain peaks on because it formally confirmed the Himalayas Earth, are particularly vulnerable because as a “knowledge gap for adaptation” and they warm faster than other regions. A said a large number of potentially hazardous substantial portion of our understanding of glacial lakes “far exceed the capacity of Himalayan vulnerability comes from ICIMOD countries in the region to manage such and its partner institutions. risks.” The report was important in narrowing ICIMOD’s focus on climate change. A crucial climate question for the region, and for ICIMOD, is the future of retreating Glaciers have been part of ICIMOD’s work Himalayan glaciers. The glaciers sustain since at least 1999. Its early work was the billions of people across Asia with water first to document that Nepal had more supplies and unleash massive flooding than 3,500 glaciers and a surprisingly large when large lakes formed by melted glaciers number of glacial lakes – more than 2,300, break through natural dams. Glaciers of which 20 were potentially dangerous. attained public prominence after the 2007 The study was pioneering because of 6 Abiding by nature, not national borders: Institution building in the Himalayas #OneSouthAsia SOUTH ASIA the paucity of data on the Himalayas. ICIMOD’s report was styled after the UN Analyzing glacier melt and threats from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate unstable glacial lakes requires meticulous Change’s Assessment Reports, with inventorying, categorizing, and monitoring contributions from 210 authors, 20 review of glaciers. The information is crucial to editors, and 125 external reviewers. It seven downstream countries and countless collected and synthesized data about vulnerable communities. several mountain themes, from glaciology and basin hydrology to the governance Between 1999 and 2005, incremental implications of mountain change. A key progress was made with assessments of achievement is that the report was put Bhutan, Pakistan, and part of the Indian together by authors from the Himalayan Himalayas. It was not until 2018 that all region, with cooperation and financial Himalayan glaciers were fully mapped from backing of ICIMOD’s member countries. Tajikistan’s Amu Darya basin in the west to The report fulfilled ICIMOD’s organizational Myanmar’s Irrawaddy basin in the east. objectives: to act as a platform for regional That study, conducted by ICIMOD and research, to stimulate member country the Chinese Academy of Sciences, used cooperation and information exchange, satellite data to capture the state of these to see the mountains as an undivided glaciers from 2003 to 2007. Previous efforts natural system, and to clarify the climate to isolate glaciers in time were less reliable vulnerabilities of the region. because of the varying timeframes of data sources. ICIMOD’s study is a baseline The 2019 assessment was also part of for future research on glacial floods and ICIMOD’s broader strategy to publish more climate change-induced glacial shrinking. research in top peer-reviewed journals, initiated in 2012. This was a major shift. But how fast are Himalayan glaciers Since its inception, ICIMOD had acted as disappearing? That central question was a documentation center for knowledge not answered until recently. ICIMOD’s 2019 produced elsewhere and had generally synthesis of knowledge about the Himalayas showcased its own work in self-published made international headlines as a landmark reports. In the first year of the new strategy, report for its alarming conclusions. The ICIMOD set a target of producing 15 peer- report, The Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment: reviewed articles but published more Mountains, Climate Change, Sustainability than twice that number. In 2006, ICIMOD and People, says, “Even if warming can be published work in only a dozen journals limited to the ambitious target of +1.5 °C, that were unknown to a general audience. volume losses of more than one-third are A decade later, in 2016, ICIMOD staff projected for extended HKH glaciers, with published work in 67 mostly well-recognized more than half of glacier ice lost in the eastern journals. In recent years, ICIMOD researchers Himalaya” by 2080-2100. The report states that have published articles in Science and “the most negative scenarios in the Eastern Climate, and had a notable cover story in Himalaya point towards a near-total loss Nature Climate Change. While ICIMOD’s of glaciers.” academic output ranges from governance Abiding by nature, not national borders: Institution building in the Himalayas 7 SOUTH ASIA #OneSouthAsia to conservation, a significant portion is core Two elements of ICIMOD’s growth are climate research related to the cryosphere worth noting. First, its ability to redefine and and atmosphere. ICIMOD’s management communicate its political salience to diverse sees the academic shift as a key reason for regional constituencies. ICIMOD began as its financial stability, with over $130 million an effort to organize and communicate of assured funding for the current five-year knowledge to a global network of scientific cycle. Such publications bring ICIMOD institutions. Over time, it has been useful to international credibility and help it attract governments of the region and the global talented researchers. scientific community in clarifying the state of Himalayan glaciers. It has also tried to The strategic embrace of climate change execute smaller programs of value to may also increase ICIMOD’s value to vulnerable mountain communities, which member countries. Rigorous assessments can generate good will if communicated of climate vulnerability can be used to governments correctly. Today, the as diplomatic tools in global climate institution is part of several member negotiations. They could act as the countries’ environmental policy processes empirical foundation from which member and has taken on features of a regional countries make claims for greater mitigation public good. ambition from developed countries and reinforce demands for financial and In the Himalayas – where national interests technological transfers. are often seen as contradictory to regional interests – regional institutions are forced to devote considerable effort to making their case. ICIMOD’s story demonstrates Conclusion useful methods of achieving this objective: proactive engagement with political In 1983, ICIMOD was born into a world that constituencies; efforts at reputation building was just beginning to recognize unsustainable through research to earn a place in like- patterns in mountain development. It has minded global and regional networks; and matured in the age of climate change. In the hiring recognized subject experts to carry the process, the institution transformed itself from institutional flag. These efforts are still a work a regional mountain documentation center in progress at ICIMOD, but they seem to be into a platform for the co-production of producing results. crucial climate knowledge. ICIMOD survived a trough in the late 1990s by restructuring The second element is ICIMOD’s institutional itself internally and more firmly aligning itself checks and balances. It has ridden a wave with the climate agenda, and in the process, of growing public interest in mountain the global research agenda and regional fragility and climate change because of its interests. Its role as an apolitical platform internal mechanisms for course correction. for regional mountain collaboration and A series of five-year reviews by independent research gives it access unavailable to most panels have improved ICIMOD performance other institutions. because review recommendations, once 8 Abiding by nature, not national borders: Institution building in the Himalayas #OneSouthAsia SOUTH ASIA accepted, must be executed by board concern grows. To tackle the many dangers and management. ICIMOD benefits from of climate change in an ecologically and other annual and biannual reviews with hydrologically interconnected South Asia, board involvement, and measures for public some of these institutions will have to be transparency. regional in their mandate. This case study might be useful to them, and other institutions We might be at the cusp of a proliferation hoping to improve prospects for regional in climate-focused institutions as global cooperation. funding for the issue increases and domestic Endnotes 1. All data sourced from ICIMOD annual reports on the causes, effects and responses to climate available at http://lib.icimod.org. Calculated in change. They are generally regarded as definitive 2019 dollars. and are put together by leading experts in various fields of study on climate change. 2. The IPCC’s Assessment Reports are periodic compilations of the current state of knowledge Picture Credits: The World Bank Images Neighbours Series A key objective of the World Bank’s South Asia Regional Integration, Cooperation and Engagement (RICE) approach is broadening evidence-based communication and outreach activities that will help strengthen the case for RICE and generate domestic demand. The ‘Good Neighbours’ series showcases successful cross-border stories demonstrating regional cooperation to build support for regionalism in South Asia. Series Editor Mandakini Kaul is Senior Regional Cooperation Officer, South Asia Regional Integration and Engagement at the World Bank. Editor Nikita Singla is Consultant, South Asia Regional Cooperation at the World Bank and is Associate Director at New Delhi-based Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals. About the Author Aditya Valiathan Pillai is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. The World Bank SOUTH ASIA 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433 Advancing Regional Integration, Email: onesouthasia@worldbank.org Cooperation and Engagement in South Asia Website: www.worldbank.org/onesouthasia