| International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development | |
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ICIMOD Logo |
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| Formation | 5th December 1983 |
| Headquarters | Kathmandu, Nepal |
| Membership | 8 member countries |
| Director General | Dr. Andreas Schild |
| Website | www.icimod.org |
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is an international independent mountain learning and knowledge centre committed to improving the sustainable livelihoods of mountain peoples in the extended Himalayan region. ICIMOD serves eight regional member countries (RMCs) of the Hindu Kush-Himalayan area – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan – and the global mountain community. Founded in 1983, ICIMOD is based in Kathmandu, Nepal, and brings together a partnership of its regional member countries, partner institutions, and donors with a commitment for development action to secure a better future for the people and environment of the extended Himalayan region.
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Together with its partners and regional member countries, ICIMOD is committed to a shared vision of prosperous and secure mountain communities committed to peace, equity, and environmental sustainability.
ICIMOD’s mission is to develop and provide integrated and innovative solutions, in cooperation with national, regional, and international partners, which foster action and change for overcoming mountain people’s economic, social, and physical vulnerability.
The idea of creating an institution to promote the ecologically sound development of mountainous regions was first discussed at the International Workshop on the Development of Mountain Environment in December 1974 in Munich, Germany, but it was only five years later in 1979 during a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Regional Meeting in Kathmandu, under the framework of the Man and the Biosphere Programme, that concrete commitments were made to establish the Centre. The Government of Nepal offered to host the new institution, and the Governments of Switzerland and the Federal Republic of Germany and UNESCO agreed to act as the founding sponsors. His Majesty’s Government of Nepal and UNESCO signed the agreement that provided the legal basis for establishing the Centre in September 1981 in Paris. The Centre was finally established and inaugurated on 5 December 1983 with its headquarters in Kathmandu, Nepal, and legitimised through an Act of Parliament in Nepal in the same year.