The Government of Meghalaya will host an international conference titled “Scaling Nature-based Solutions for Himalayan Resilience” on the 30th-31st of January 2026 in Shillong. The conference is jointly organised by the Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), and will bring together policymakers, practitioners, academics, development partners, private sector representatives, youth, and community leaders from across the Indian Himalayan Region and the wider Hindu Kush Himalaya.
The Indian Himalayan Region is among the most climate-vulnerable landscapes globally, facing increasing risks from erratic rainfall, extreme weather events, ecosystem degradation, biodiversity loss, floods, and landslides. These challenges pose direct threats to water security, food systems, livelihoods, and human settlements, underscoring the need for integrated, landscape-level responses that strengthen both ecological integrity and human well-being.
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have emerged as a globally recognised framework for addressing climate change, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development together. Rooted in ecological design principles, NbS focuses on working with nature to deliver multiple benefits, including climate resilience, livelihood security, and ecosystem restoration. Across the Himalayan region, a range of NbS approaches—such as springshed management, watershed and landscape restoration, agroforestry and community-based conservation—are already being implemented.
However, many of these efforts remain fragmented or limited to project-based interventions, with weak linkages to policy frameworks, financing systems, and cross-sectoral planning. The conference aims to address this gap by focusing on NbS design principles and the enabling conditions required for scaling, including institutions, governance, finance, technology, and partnerships.
Meghalaya provides a strong context for this dialogue, with the state having developed an integrated institutional approach to landscape and natural resource management through MBDA. Flagship initiatives such as the MegARISE project demonstrate how NbS can be operationalised at scale through coordinated interventions including afforestation, soil and water conservation, springshed revival, agroforestry systems, Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES), sustainable livelihoods, participatory finance, and GIS-based natural resource management systems.
At the regional level, ICIMOD brings extensive experience in advancing NbS across the Hindu Kush Himalaya through science-based, inclusive, and partnership-driven approaches. Through programmes such as the Himalayan Resilience Enabling Action Programme (HI-REAP), ICIMOD has supported regional cooperation, knowledge exchange, and investment models for scaling NbS.
Over two days, the conference will feature high-level policy dialogues, technical sessions, community perspectives, youth engagements, and discussions on financing and technology for NbS. The conference is structured around a three-tiered outcome framework: developing actionable NbS pathways for Meghalaya, policy and finance-oriented recommendations for scaling NbS across the Indian Himalayan Region, and strengthened regional collaboration on mountain-specific NbS.
By convening stakeholders across policy, practice, finance, and communities, the conference seeks to advance a shared, action-oriented agenda for scaling Nature-based Solutions to build long-term resilience in Himalayan landscapes.
