01 September 2025
ICIMOD to host regional hub of prestigious global network in bid to increase scientific knowledge and policy responses to at-risk mountain biodiversity
Kathmandu/ Bern, 1 September 2025 - The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) has become the third regional hub for the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA) global research network, reflecting both the region’s immense biological richness and precarity.
The GMBA Hindu Kush Himalaya hub, which will be hosted by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, will set out to develop assessments on the status, trends, and knowledge gaps on the zone’s biodiversity and enhance regional research capacity at a critical moment for mountain ecosystems.
It will also examine drivers of change and evaluate the flow of Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP).
“It’s an honour and a great responsibility for ICIMOD to become the latest regional hub in the important GMBA network,” said Izabella Koziell, Deputy Director General, ICIMOD, at a ceremony to mark the hub’s opening. “Mountain ecosystems in our region and around the world are on the brink of collapse – so this platform and the visibility and additional capacity that this collaboration brings could not be more important or timely.”
Speaking on the agreement, Markus Fischer, Co-Chair of GMBA, states: “ICIMOD’s excellent expertise in employing knowledge for sustainable development in the HKH region perfectly complements GMBA’s strengths in global mountain biodiversity research. We are very much looking forward to this synergistic collaboration, to the benefit of biodiversity and people.”
Under this agreement, ICIMOD will initiate the HKH Biodiversity Assessment in 2025 and lead its implementation and coordination across the region. The HKH Biodiversity Assessment seeks to enhance understanding of mountain biodiversity in the region through systematic knowledge mapping, analysis of publicly available datasets, and expert consultations.
The agreement is the latest in a sustained focus on biodiversity within ICIMOD, including this year’s appointment of Sarala Khaling, a leading conservation expert to head the organisation’s Resilient Landscape and Economies group, the promotion of Sunita Chaudhary to the role of Biodiversity Lead, and the hosting of the first-ever IPBES Lead Authors workshop in Asia in February 2024.
GMBA serves as a platform for scientists and stakeholders to connect and share knowledge about mountain ecosystems and species. Initiated by the Swiss Academy of Sciences in 2000, the GMBA has evolved into a global research network under Future Earth since 2016. It is managed by an international Scientific Steering Committee and supported by various funding bodies, including the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences.
About International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region stretches 3,500km across Asia, spanning eight countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. Encompassing high-altitude mountain ranges, mid-hills, and plains, the zone is vital for the food, water, and energy security of up to two billion people and is a habitat for countless irreplaceable species. It is also acutely fragile, and vulnerable to the impacts of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), based in Kathmandu, Nepal, is an international organisation established in 1983, that is working to make this critical region greener, more inclusive and climate resilient. For more information, read our Strategy 2030 and explore our website.
