Kailash Confluence 2022: Rethinking Transboundary TourismWednesday, September 28th, 2022

Stakeholders from India and Nepal come together and discuss opportunities and barriers in promoting transboundary tourism in the Kailash Sacred Landscape.

Kathmandu, Nepal (29 September 2022): The Kailash Confluence is a transboundary platform for promoting tourism and trade among the three countries in the Kailash Sacred Landscape – China, India, and Nepal. Stakeholders from India and Nepal interacted at the Kailash Confluence organized by Namkha Rural Municipality, Nepal Tourism Board and Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative.
Three iterations of the Kailash Confluence have been organised since 2018 with a focus on promoting transboundary trade and tourism between Pulan County in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and Humla District in Nepal. These events were conducted in Halji Village in 2018, Yalbang Village in 2019, and Simikot of Humla District in 2021. These events have been extremely successful in highlighting the tourism potential of Namkha Rural Municipality at both national and international levels.
Tourism and trade in the Kailash Sacred Landscape were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with the closure of international borders leading to challenges in cross-border movement. As tourism has started regaining momentum in the landscape, it is important to prioritize several issues relating to sustainable tourism, including tourism skills development and capacity building, infrastructure upgrading, sustainable consumption, waste management, and equitable benefit sharing.
The Kailash Confluence 2022 addressed these opportunities and barriers for transboundary tourism. With participants from India and Nepal, the program also provided a platform to exchange tourism best practices from the two countries. During the event, there was a focus on two unique cultures of the landscape – the Limay culture of Humla District, Nepal, and the Rung culture of India and Nepal.

ABOUT NAMKHA RURAL MUNICIPALITY
Namkha Rural Municipality was established on 10 March 2017 as per the new Constitution of Nepal 2015. It is the largest rural municipality (by area) of Nepal and is located in Humla District of Karnali Province. The municipality covers an area of 2,419.64 square kilometres and has a population of 3,900. It is divided into six wards with its headquarters in Yalwang in Ward 5.
Namkha Rural Municipality borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and is the official gateway from Nepal to Mount Kailash and Manasarovar Lake in China.

ABOUT NEPAL TOURISM BOARD
The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) is a national organization established in 1998 by an Act of Parliament of the Government of Nepal. It is a partnership between the Government of Nepal and the private sector tourism industry to develop and market Nepal as an attractive tourist destination. The Board provides a platform for vision-drawn leadership for Nepal’s tourism sector by integrating government commitment with the dynamism of the private sector. The NTB promotes Nepal in both the domestic and international markets and is working towards repositioning the country’s image in the tourism arena.

ABOUT ICIMOD
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is a regional intergovernmental learning and knowledge sharing centre serving the eight regional member countries of the Hindu Kush Himalaya—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan—and based in Kathmandu, Nepal.
ICIMOD visualizes the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources at the scale of larger landscapes defined by ecosystems. Guided by the four north-south transects of the HKH and six identified transboundary landscapes (Kailash, Kangchenjunga, Far Eastern Himalaya, Hindu Kush Karakoram Pamir, Everest, and Cherrapunjee-Chittagong), we aim to enhance socio-ecological resilience to environmental change.
Globalization and climate change have an increasing influence on the stability of fragile mountain ecosystems and the livelihoods of mountain people. ICIMOD aims to assist mountain people to understand these changes, adapt to them, and make the most of new opportunities while addressing upstream-downstream issues.

ABOUT KAILASH SACRED LANDSCAPE
The Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative (KSLCDI) is a collaborative programme being implemented across the borders of China, India, and Nepal. The programme aims to achieve the long-term conservation of ecosystems, habitats, and biodiversity, while encouraging sustainable development, enhancing the resilience of communities in the landscape, and safeguarding cultural linkages among local populations. The objective of the KSLCDI programme is to strengthen regional, transboundary cooperation by institutionalizing elements of the regional cooperation framework.
The programme aims to mainstream sustainable ecosystem management approaches and practices in the context of climate change adaptation in the Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL), and national policies and plans at all levels. KSLCDI works toward building the capacities of key institutions for long-term environmental monitoring and socioeconomic research for better planning and decision-making.
Concept note of the conference: https://www.icimod.org/event/kailash-confluence-2022-rethinking-transboundary-tourism/
For more information, please contact:
Samir Bajracharya – Manager TP & RD
Nepal Tourism Board
sbajra@ntb.org.np

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