Mark Holmes is the Executive Director of The Glacier Trust, the UK-based charity established in 2008 that focuses on enabling climate change adaptation in Himalayan communities of Nepal with its ‘on-the-ground efforts.’ It collaborates with local NGOs to implement sustainable development projects that address the challenges posed by climate change in these high-altitude regions. These initiatives include sustainable agriculture, agroforestry, water management, and education programs aimed at enhancing the resilience of vulnerable communities. In this context, The DMN News caught up with Mark Holmes to discuss Glacier Trust’s works in Nepal. Excerpts:
How does the Glacier Trust collaborate with Nepali NGOs and academia to implement climate adaptation programs in the Himalayas? Could you share specific success stories?
We work closely with Nepali NGOs that we have developed strong working relationships with over the last 16 years. At present we work with EcoHimal in Solukhumbu and Kavrepalanchok, and HICODEF in Nawalparasi, and we have had some wonderful success stories. In Solukhumbu, we have successfully created an Agro Forestry Resource Centre in Thulung-Dudh Koshi which is a community-led organization that focuses on promoting sustainable organic agriculture, agro -ecology and agroforestry, and environmental conservation. Deusa AFRC is enhancing the livelihoods of local communities, while simultaneously enabling them to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
By supporting farmers to adopt layer farming techniques, we have helped them to grow coffee and other high value crops, along with fruit trees that provide essential shade for coffee plants, and root vegetables for sale and consumption locally. At Deusa AFRC, the farmers have learned how to harvest and process the coffee beans ready for export to roasteries in Kathmandu and beyond. Excitingly, we are now involved in establishing a small-scale commercial roastery in Mukli, which once operational, will mean that coffee beans grown and picked locally can be roasted locally too. Doing this means that far more of the income generated by coffee sales stays with the communities who grow it. Soon, we hope to see locals and tourists in Solukhumbu drinking coffee that has never left the region.
This success of coffee cultivation has also been replicated in Nawalparasi through our partners at HICODEF, where 11 villages are now growing high-value tree crops and seeing the benefits. We are keen to expand even further into neighbouring communities who are keen to adapt in this manner. The success in Deusa led to the Agro Forestry Resource Centre model being replicated in Mandandeupur and Kavrepalanchok. This has been really successful in supporting farmers not only to adapt to increasingly more difficult climate conditions but move away from chemicals and fertilisers towards sustainable organic farming. However, Mandandeupur was heavily impacted by the landslides in September 2024 so there is a need to support our communities to recover from these devastating impacts to allow them to continue on this path.
What strategies does the Glacier Trust use to ensure that the voices of local Himalayan communities are heard in planning and implementing adaptation projects?
Our projects are designed from the ground up to meet the needs of the community, so there is consultation throughout the design process with our partners in Nepal liaising closely with farmers, school and government bodies to ensure the project is both successful and relevant to the issues being faced. This conversation continues throughout the project to best meet the evolving needs of the community. As a small charity working with local NGOs on community projects, we’re well placed to do this and make long term commitments, our projects last many years, over a decade in several cases.
Can you elaborate on how your programs contribute to developing climate-resilient livelihoods in rural Himalayan areas?
Our work supports communities to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change, ensuring that their livelihoods and the sustainability of the whole community is as resilient as it can be. We focus on agricultural processes and introduce proven methods, such as agroforestry (moving away from more vulnerable plant crops to more resilient tree crops) and layer farming (where plant and tree crops are intertwined to make use of available space, provide shade and improve soil structure). Not only are these crops more resilient but they are higher value, meaning an increase in income to the farmer too. In Kavrepalanchok, for example, household incomes within communities we have worked with have increased on average by 347 percent since 2018 as a direct result of projects there delivered by EcoHimal.
Is the Glacier Trust leveraging modern technology, such as remote sensing or digital platforms, to address climate adaptation challenges in Nepal?
Not at the moment. Our projects are based on low-tech solutions, such as agroforestry and layer farming, making their implementation simple and straightforward in remote communities. However, there will be opportunities in the future to explore utilising new technologies to support our aims, especially as reliability improves.
How do you assess the outcome of the COP29? What do you think needs to be done to ensure that the COP process doesn’t end up as ‘business as usual’?
The COP process continues to operate at too slow a pace and it’s not meeting the needs of the most vulnerable nations. The COP concept is a sound one. However, the reality is outcomes are simply not bold enough to have any lasting impact. The Global North really does have a moral responsibility to support the Global South in adapting to dramatic changes in climate that are having a hugely disproportionate impact on them.
‘Nations like Nepal need to come together to create one louder voice in forums like COP 29.’
Compensation for losses and damage from the impacts already felt is also critical, but is still not materialising at the levels it should and often comes with significant strings attached. We share the frustrations of many colleagues in the Global South that funding and support from richer nations is neither coming quickly enough, nor in quantity that is required and just. The COP process is also at risk of turning into a huge fossil fuel lobbying convention, where the voices of global oil and gas corporations are drowning out those voices of smaller nations. We no longer have the time to debate and discuss, we are now in the time of action. The best time to act on climate change was 30 years ago. The next best time is today.
How could LDCs like Nepal raise their voice in international fora to highlight the imminent threats they are facing from polycrisis?
Papua New Guinea boycotted COP 29 in protest at the slow progress and inactivity of the process and I can see more boycotts happening in the future if the process no longer meets the needs of LDCs and disproportionately impacted nations. On the current pathway, I’d say this is becoming more and more likely. I’d argue nations like Nepal need to come together to create one louder voice in these forums, although that comes with its own set of complexities.
What lessons from your work in the Himalayas can be applied to other climate-vulnerable regions in the Global South?
Communities need to be empowered and supported to adapt to climate change. Some successful solutions can be replicated and have a real positive impact, whilst some communities will require more bespoke answers, but it really needs to be from the ground up. Areas we have been successful in have also seen local government become more involved and that is vital in creating long-term success.
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