Kathmandu: The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) Parliamentarians’ Meet, 2025, has concluded by issuing a five-point call for action. The KHK Parliamentarians’ Meet was organised by the Agriculture, Cooperatives and Natural Resources Committee of the House of Representatives for the first time in Nepal. The two-day event that was held under the theme ‘Sustaining Nature Empowering People’ in Kathmandu from Monday concluded today.
According to National News Agency Nepal, parliamentarians and representatives from the countries in this region have called to take immediate steps in the sectors of climate change, air pollution, and biodiversity conservation through regional cooperation. At the concluding ceremony, Coordinator and member of the organising committee, Bir Bahadur Balayer, informed about the Meet’s conclusions.
The HKH Meet drew conclusions that the growing climate risk, pollution, and loss of biodiversity in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, which have shared ecological, social, and economic importance, have posed serious challenges to community and ecosystem. The event also stressed the importance of climate tolerance, clean air, and biodiversity conservation for the secured future of coming generations. It called for cooperation for regional unity, inclusive development, and sustainability by making the legislative role of parliamentarians effective.
The call for action includes issues such as organising the meet regularly and exploring the possibility of establishing a ‘Hindu Kush Himalaya Parliamentarians Forum’ for regional talks, exchanging experiences, and best practices. The Hindu Kush Himalayan Region encompasses Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, and Pakistan.
Earlier, addressing the concluding session, Speaker Devraj Ghimire stated that joint efforts of all countries are indispensable as common challenges such as climate change, air pollution, and biodiversity loss cannot be solved by any single country alone. Highlighting that the Hindu Kush Himalaya region is home to 240 million people and about two billion people depend on its natural resources, he emphasized that it is one of the most sensitive regions of the Earth. “The temperature in this region is increasing at a rate almost double that of global warming, causing serious impacts such as melting of glaciers, devastating floods, water crisis, and increasing droughts.”