About the event

The Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) Secretariat is facilitating a stakeholder consultation meeting as a side event of the South and Southeast Asian University Network (SSE ASIAN UN) Third President Forum in Kunming. This meeting aims to discuss and prepare for the establishment of the Sustainable Futures of Mountains and Uplands Chapter of the SSE ASIAN UN. The mountain chapter aims to promote knowledge exchange and cooperation in research and training on the most acute environmental and pressing socio-economic issues faced by upland communities in South and Southeast Asia amongst SSE ASIAN UN members.

The Third President Forum of the SSE ASIAN UN in Kunming will focus on food security, which is among the key challenges in the uplands and mountains. Vice Chancellors of 12-15 universities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, and Pakistan will attend the forum. The occasion is also an opportune time to touch base with Presidents and Vice Presidents of HUC members in China as part of the effort to refresh the China HUC cluster since the last General Assembly in Kathmandu (2018). 

Expected output

The HUC Secretariat will facilitate a follow-up amongst the SSE ASIAN UN members within and outside of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) and prepare a proposal and a draft of the Charter to be submitted to SSE ASIAN UN Representative Council. The mountain chapter is expected to be launched in 2024.

Background

The SSE ASIAN UN was established in 2018 as an initiative by Yunnan University and endorsed by the Ministry of Education, People’s Republic of China. Its mandate is to serve as a regional platform for higher education cooperation to enhance people-to-people exchanges and bonds amongst South and Southeast Asian countries. 75 out of 120 university members of SSE ASIAN UN come from South and Southeast Asian countries, including HKH countries Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Pakistan.

Yunnan University is a good-standing HUC member. It hosted the first meeting of the HUC Thematic Working Group on Trans-Himalayan Environmental Humanities in 2019. Its Institute for International Rivers and Eco-Security is one of ICIMOD’s strategic knowledge partners. Dr Wenling Wang serves as one of the Co-Leads of the HUC Thematic Working Group on Water and a member of the HUC Sustainability and Resource Mobilization Task Force. She has also contributed to ICIMOD’s work on the Upper Indus River Basin Network China Country Chapter.