Researchers from leading Arctic universities and Hindu Kush Himalayan academia, think tanks, and policy, will be in Kathmandu to attend a three-day conference starting Wednesday (3 September).

The conference will include experts’ presentations on the accelerating pace and devastating impacts of cryosphere losses in the Arctic and the Hindu Kush Himalaya.

Researchers will seek to identify ‘interpolar responses’ to the risks to food, water, and energy security cryosphere losses pose, such as mainstreaming these within governments’ nationally determined contributions, national adaptation plans and the Global Goal on Adaptation.
 
A total of 95 academics will attend the event, with 33 from Artic universities and 62 from Hindu Kush Himalayan organisations.

Journalists are welcome to attend day one of the three-day event from 9am till 12.30pm, when they will have the opportunity to hear from the below speakers: 
Dr. Johanna Ikävalko, Director, Arctic Centre
Prof. Mitsutaku Makino . President Ocean Policy Research Institute
Dr. Rajendra P Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Forests and Environment 
Anil Mishra - Chief of the Hydrological Systems, Climate Change and Adaptation Section, UNESCO
Professor Michael Bravo, Cambridge University, UK 
Prof. Kang Shichang,  Professor and Director General, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chair of Chinese National Committee for the Int’l Assoc of Cryospheric Sciences
Dr. Franco Salerno Senior Researcher at the Institute of Polar Sciences
Prof. Gunnar Stefansson, Vice-President, University of the Arctic 
Prof. Bing Chen, UArctic Chair, Memorial University, Canada
Yangji Doma Sherpa, General Manager, Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), Nepal
Ranjan Datta, Canada Chair, Mount Royal University
Dr. Pema Gyamtsho, Director General, ICIMOD, Nepal
Dr. Kenzo Hiroki, Professor Emeritus, GRIPS, Japan
Prof. Dr. Myrle Ballard, Canada Research Chair, University of Calgary, Canada
Markus J. Thonhaugen, Senior Advisor, High North Center for Business and Governance, Nord University, Norway
Dr. Kamrul Hossain, Research Professor, University of Lapland, Finland
Event details:

Date: 3 September 2025
Time: 09:00 am – 12:30 pm (local time)
Venue: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Lalitpur, Kathmandu.