Quy Nhon, Vietnam: At a time when climate risks across Asia are intensifying at an unprecedented pace, Dr. Chubbamenla Jamir, Director of the Native Foodscape Foundation (Delhi), emerged as one of the strongest voices advocating for mountain communities at the Asia Climate Risk and Impact Strategic Workshop 2025.
Held from 25–27 November in the coastal city of Quy Nhon, the workshop brought together climate scientists, policy strategists, and regional leaders to address the escalating vulnerabilities faced by diverse ecosystems and populations across the continent. Among them, Dr. Jamir’s interventions stood out for their emphasis on the lived realities, traditional knowledge systems, and urgent struggles of Indigenous mountain communities.
Representing these communities in her dual capacity as Director of the Native Foodscape Foundation and Board Member of the Asian Mountain Academic Network (AMAA), Dr. Jamir engaged in a series of high-level dialogues that shaped the workshop’s core discussions.
Her focus remained clear: climate resilience in Asia cannot be achieved without centring the people who occupy its most climate-sensitive landscapes. Drawing from her years of interdisciplinary work at the intersection of food systems, ecology, and Indigenous knowledge, she highlighted the unique risks faced by mountain populations—from changing precipitation patterns to disrupted food cycles and declining biodiversity—and the need for climate strategies that are not only scientifically robust but socially inclusive.
The three-day workshop served as a strategic platform to strengthen long-term collaboration across sectors. Built around the Science–Impacts–Society framework, the event explored how scientific insights must connect meaningfully with community experiences and policy action. Dr. Jamir contributed actively to sessions on the Multi-scale Climate–Air–Water Nexus, stressing that the cascading impacts of climate change on water sources, forest resources, agriculture, and health in mountainous regions require urgent, multi-dimensional approaches. Her advocacy underscored that climate action cannot be fragmented; it must cut across scales—from local to transboundary—and must recognise the interdependence of ecosystems and cultures.
A central goal of the workshop was to identify critical gaps and lay the foundation for a joint pilot project aimed at accelerating climate action across Asia. In these discussions, Dr. Jamir emphasised the importance of ensuring Indigenous representation within the design and evaluation of climate projects. Pilot initiatives, she argued, must evolve from extractive models to genuinely participatory ones—where communities serve not as beneficiaries but as knowledge partners and decision-makers.
The workshop was convened by an impressive consortium of global and regional institutions: the World Climate Research Programme’s Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (WCRP-CORDEX), the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), Future Earth, the UK Met Office’s WISER Asia Pacific programme, the Manila Observatory, and multiple regional partners. The collaboration reflected a shared urgency to confront Asia’s rapidly escalating climate risks and to formulate science-driven, equity-based mitigation and adaptation pathways.
Dr. Jamir’s participation in Quy Nhon followed another significant achievement earlier this year. In September, at the International Mountain Conference (IMC), she emerged as one of the most prominent representatives from Northeast India, bringing global attention to the ecological fragility and cultural richness of the region’s highlands. Her contributions at IMC helped cement her role as a leading voice in global mountain research and Indigenous advocacy.
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Central to the institutions behind both events—the WCRP in particular—is a mission to deepen scientific understanding of the planet’s interconnected climate systems. Their work informs climate policies under the Paris Agreement, the UNFCCC, the Sendai Framework, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Dr. Jamir’s presence within these global and regional spaces signifies a growing recognition that Indigenous expertise—rooted in ancestral land stewardship and adaptive resource management—is indispensable to shaping a climate-secure future.
In Quy Nhon, her message resonated clearly: climate resilience in Asia must be co-created with the communities who have protected its mountains for generations. Through her leadership, the voices of these communities are not only heard but increasingly recognised as essential to building a just and sustainable future.
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