7 September 2018: The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and country partners embarked on implementation of HI-LIFE, a regional conservation and development initiative that seeks to promote an integrated conservation and development approach in the Far-Eastern Himalayan landscape in China, India and Myanmar. The implementation phase of the Initiative, which was first proposed in 2008, will run from 2018 and 2022.

Drawing on the shared ecological, hydrological, historical, cultural and socioeconomic features that characterize the Far Eastern Himalayas, the HI-LIFE initiative aims to take a strategic approach to promote strengthened transboundary cooperation in the region. Among other outcomes, the project aims to contribute to long-term partnership mechanisms and good landscape governance with optimized ecosystem services and livelihoods benefits, while also strengthening the regional voice on the landscape’s contribution to the SDGs.

The genesis of the project dates back to the International Mountain Biodiversity Conference in 2008, which was followed by a series of regional consultations, feasibility studies and trainings to define long-term conservation and development strategies and a regional cooperation framework.

The implementation phase will include promoting: a regional knowledge sharing platform and regional biodiversity database; joint management mechanisms for key species of high conservation value; harmonized policies for protected area management, corridors and habitat connectivity; and developing sustainable community-based tourism as well as value chains for bamboo and medicinal plants. [Mountain Partnership News Release] [HI-LIFE Brochure] [Initiative Webpage]