Kathmandu: India, China and Nepal have agreed on a landmark plan for the conservation and sustainable development of the landscape of sacred mountain Kailash, which spreads across the three countries.
Representatives from China, India, and Nepal have endorsed a draft Regional Cooperation Framework for conservation and sustainable development of the Kailash landscape at a workshop on the outskirts of the capital.
The Kailash-Mansarovar Landscape covers the area linked culturally and geographically to the sacred mountain -- also known as Kang Rinpoche, and Kailasa Parvata ? which spreads across three neighbours.
The workshop, which was held from December 16 to 18 in Nagarkot, a hill station 35-km east of Kathmandu, was
jointly organised by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Nepal.
Andreas Schild, Director General of ICIMOD, said the Kailash initiative is a unique experience, and the learning will be replicated in the future in other transboundary landscapes of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas.
The framework is expected to facilitate transboundary biodiversity, environmental, and cultural conservation through scientific and technical cooperation, according to a press release issued by ICIMOD Headquarters here.
The focus of the framework is on enhancing biodiversity and cultural conservation, ecosystem management, sustainable development and climate change adaptation.
It will facilitate information exchange among the member countries and help in the development and management of a knowledge base.
It is based on principles of participatory management, equitability, sustainability, partnerships, ecosystem management and transboundary cooperation.
Some 35 representatives from 13 institutions, including senior government officials, participated in the workshop.
The Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China; GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, India; and the Central Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, participated in the meet.
PTI
