The Sustainable Development Golals and natural resource management in the Himalayas

Ole Reidar Vetaas
University of Bergen

Inger Måren
University of Bergen

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) follow, and expand on, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from 2000 due to expire at the end of this year. If member states agree on the draft set of 17 SDGs at the UN summit in New York in September, they will become applicable from January 2016. The expected deadline for the SDGs is 2030.

As human populations and their use of land have expanded, particularly in South Asia, this has led to immense pressures on the region’s natural resources and the Himalayan region is particularly interesting in a SDG perspective. It is coined the third pole, but contrary to the north and south poles, it acts as the water tower for almost 40% of the world’s population.

Natural resources and water resources, paramount for human welfare and food and energy production, yield important ecosystem services in the region. Our work is based within the agro-ecosystems of Nepal, including extensively used forests.

We will focus on four out of the 17 suggested SDGs within this framework, namely:

2) End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture

6) Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

12) Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

15) Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss