Pema Gyamtsho
Distinguished
guests from the ministry and government departments, USAID, our media friends,
and ICIMOD colleagues.
A
very good morning and a warm welcome to ICIMOD! I am pleased to welcome you to
our headquarters to celebrate Earth Day 2022 and the launch of Nepal’s National
Land Cover Monitoring System.
This
year’s Earth Day campaign calls for courage to preserve and protect our health,
our families, our livelihoods and “Invest in our Planet” together.
ICIMOD’s
rally cry to “protect the pulse” underscores the importance of investing in our
planet as the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region – the pulse of the planet – is
most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. With 18.23% of its landmass
under snow cover, the HKH region has the largest reserves of ice outside the
polar regions. It is home to four global biodiversity hotspots and contains the
headwaters of 10 major Asian river systems. The HKH provides essential resources,
especially water and ecosystem services, to close to two billion people – or
one-fourth of humanity.
The
HKH region is also a climate hotspot. In a 1.5°C world, glaciers in the HKH are
projected to lose one-third of their volume by 2100. This will exacerbate
climate-induced disasters in the region and have negative impacts on river
flows and lives and livelihoods in the region and beyond.
In
response to this alarming climate crisis, the eight HKH countries signed the
Ministerial Declaration and launched the HKH Call to Action to achieve – climate-resilient
mountain communities; carbon-neutral mountain societies; and climate-aligned
financial flows in the region.
This
year’s Earth Day pledge “to act (boldly), innovate (broadly), and implement
(equitably) for a green and prosperous future” closely reflects the sentiment
of our HKH Call to Action.
On
this special day, we are also celebrating the launch of Nepal’s National Land
Cover Monitoring System and the release of the national land cover data. The
system will improve reporting on forest cover change and support Nepal in
making evidence-based policies to improve related land management practices. The
release of Nepal’s national land cover data will help fill the data gaps
prevalent in our region, and support national and international reporting on
national forest cover and carbon stocks.
Regular
monitoring of land cover and land use change is important for land use
planning, sustaining ecosystem services, and building resilience to climate
change.
Last
year, we launched the Regional Land Cover Monitoring System (RLCMS), an
operational service that provides annual land cover mapping and change analysis
services for the entire HKH region. Adapting the same framework, we are working
with line agencies in other ICIMOD regional member countries (RMCs) to develop
national land cover monitoring systems that are customized to national needs.
Nepal
is the first country in the region to institutionalize the NLCMS and officially
endorse the datasets.
Let’s
take this opportunity to congratulate the Forest Resource and Training Centre
(FRTC) for achieving this major milestone.
It
has been a pleasure for ICIMOD to collaborate with FRTC in this important
endeavour. At this juncture, I want to assure that ICIMOD will continue extending
technical support to FRTC to generate annual land cover maps and maintain the NLCMS.
I
would also like to acknowledge the support from USAID and NASA, who have
trusted us with hosting SERVIR’s Hindu Kush Himalaya hub for over a decade.
Through this unique initiative, we have been able to promote the use of Earth
observation and geospatial information technologies to address critical
challenges in climate change, food security, water and related disasters, land
use, and air quality in our region. We hope to continue this collaboration to
improve resilience and sustainable resource management at local, national, and
regional scales into the future.
(Pema Gyamtsho,
Director General of ICIMOD's Remarks on the Land Cover Monitoring System for
Nepal Launching ceremony)
