HI-AWARE is one of the four consortia of the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA). The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is one of the members of the HI-AWARE Consortium. Other members of the HI-AWARE Consortium include the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Climate change, Alternative Energy, and the Water Resources Institute of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (CAEWRI-PARC), and Alterra-Wageningen University and Research Centre (Alterra-WUR).

HI-AWARE had its inception phase from April to September 2014, and will be implemented till September 2018. The programme carries out research, capacity building and policy advocacy in four river basins of the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, namely, the Indus, Upper Ganga, Gandaki and Teesta, with the aim of generating evidence-based knowledge for building communities’ adaptive capacity and climate resilience, and for developing people-centered and gender-sensitive adaptation policies and practices. To achieve this end, it is very important to bridge the gap between research and policy, and translate scientific findings into practice on the ground. HI-AWARE hence lays great emphasis on improving and strengthening the science-policy interface on climate resilience and
adaptation in the HKH region.

In keeping with this objective, ICIMOD held a workshop titled ‘HI-AWARE: Science-Policy Dialogue’ on 4 September 2014 at the ICIMOD headquarters in Kathmandu. The workshop brought together eminent experts from government agencies, research institutes and NGOs to discuss some of the components of the HI-AWARE initiative and provide comments and inputs for strengthening the initiative. This report provides a brief summary of the workshop proceedings and highlights the main points raised during the sessions. During one of the sessions, Walter Immerzeel from FutureWater gave a presentation on the biophysical factors leading to vulnerability to climate change.

More information can be found on the project website.