What is HimalAndes?
HimalAndes Initiative started in 1997 as a drive to promote information exchanges and cooperation in science and technology between the two major mountain massives of the planet.
1997: First International Workshop (Kathmandu, Nepal)
From November 29th through December 2nd the HimalAndes Initiative, with support from Ashoka Innovators for the Public and ICIMOD conducted in Katmandú, Nepal, the First International Workshop to Promote Cooperation and Exchanges Between the Andes and the Himalaya.The proceedings of this workshop were published in Lima, Peru in 2001.
2006: E-Conference: "Conservation of Agro Biological Resources and ABS: Promoting Cooperation and Exchange between the Andes and the Himalaya"
In 2006 a second conference was conducted, under a 3-week electronic format, supported by the Mountain Forum, the Mountain Partnership and ICIMOD. This conference focused on “Conservation of Agro Biological Resources and Access and Benefit Sharing: promoting Cooperation and Exchange between the Andes and the Himalayas”. Almost 150 participants from over a dozen countries from both the Himalaya and the Andes and beyond, as well as members of the Mountain Partnership and Mountain Forum signed up for this HimalAndes Initiative e-conference to interact and discuss key issues related to biodiversity and access and benefit sharing in both regions. This e-conference focused on the rich repository of biological resources and its associated knowledge base, characteristic of both regions, offering a poorly tapped ‘window of opportunity’ for cementing a South-South cooperation among both mountain regions.
The challenge facing Himal-Andes cooperation was defined in the direction of the facilitation of exchanges that would foster the development and establishment of a functional access and benefit sharing regime benefiting the people of both the regions. Other issues in the discussions were intellectual property rights, bio-piracy, safeguarding the interests of traditional communities and the potential benefits that could accrue from allowing bio-prospecting and utilization of traditional knowledge systems. All the contributions of this e-conference can be accessed at the Mountain Forum bibliographic repository.
2013: E-Conference "Knowledge Sharing on water management innovations in the Andes and Himalayas in the context of climate change" (http://wiki.km4dev.org/Knowledge_Sharing_around_water_management_innovations_in_the_Andes_and_Himalayas)
With support of Helvetas and Equilibria, in 2013 the HimalAndes Initiative organized a 3 weeks e-focused discussion on "Knowledge Sharing on water management innovations in the Andes and the Himalayas in the context of climate change. It was hosted by KM4Dev network. Over three weeks the discussion was organized in three topic:
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Innovations on water management and knowledge sharing networks in the Andes and Himalayas
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Traditional Knowledge Sharing on Water management in the Andes and Himalayas
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Innovations and alternative uses of water in the Andes and the Himalayas
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2023: E-Conference coming soon!