Climate change and the Eastern Himalayas

The Eastern Himalayas stretch more than 1,500 miles across Nepal, Bhutan, and northeastern India and rank among the world's most important biodiversity hotspots, where iconic species such as snow leopards, red pandas, and one-horned rhinoceroses can be found roaming ecosystems from riverine mangroves to alpine tundra. The greater Himalayan range, often referred to as the "Third Pole," also holds one of the world's largest stores of frozen freshwater outside the Arctic and Antarctica.

This vast mountain system plays a critical role in regulating the climate and water cycle of South Asia, acting as a barrier that prevents dry northern air from disrupting the monsoon systems that sustain the region.¹ At the foot of the mountains, the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers provide freshwater to roughly one billion people, underscoring the Eastern Himalayas' importance not only as a global biodiversity hotspot but also as a vital source of water security and climate stability for much of Asia.

Conservation efforts across the Eastern Himalayas are gaining momentum as governments, local communities, and international organizations work to address escalating climate and biodiversity threats. In Nepal, WWF and its partners are advancing the Freshwater Challenge, a global initiative focused on restoring degraded rivers and wetlands by 2030 to strengthen ecosystem resilience and water security.

While the region faces mounting pressures from climate change and human activity, these ambitious conservation efforts offer a pathway to protect critical freshwater resources, conserve globally important biodiversity, and strengthen the resilience of the hundreds of millions of people who depend on the Eastern Himalayas.