The mountains of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), commonly referred to as the “water towers of Asia,” provide two billion people across the continent a vital lifeline – water for food, energy, and ecosystem services.
Rapid and often haphazard economic development and population growth coupled with climate change threaten to push the region – specifically the most needy and vulnerable among its inhabitants – into a vicious cycle of droughts and floods, of water that is unfit to drink, and a range of environmental hazards.