On 16 October 2025, the Institute for Security & Development Policy (ISDP) hosted the Second Stockholm Forum on Himalaya, under the theme “Tibet at the Edge of a Tipping Point.” The forum convened scholars, policymakers, and analysts from Europe, Asia, and the Indo-Pacific to highlight the urgency of the climate crisis in Tibet, often called the “Third Pole,” and to mobilize greater international engagement ahead of COP30.

Prof. Dr. Jagannath Panda was a distinguished participant and contributor to the Forum’s deliberations.

Prof. Panda’s Role & Contributions

• As a key speaker, Prof. Panda joined leading experts in underscoring that Tibet’s rapidly changing climate is not a peripheral issue, but a central node in global environmental stability.
• He contributed to discussions on how ecological degradation in Tibet— glacier melt, thawing permafrost, water system imbalances — can have cascading effects well beyond the region, affecting downstream river basins that serve over a billion people.
• Prof. Panda emphasized the need to bridge climate science and policy, promote evidence-based mechanisms for independent monitoring (e.g., glacial health, river flows) in Tibet, and ensure its visibility in global diplomacy.
• He supported calls for a Himalayan Climate Policy Consortium ahead of COP30, to prepare policy recommendations and frameworks specifically for integrating Tibet into UNFCCC discussions.

Key Themes & Outcomes from the Forum
The Forum articulated several critical themes and produced policy-relevant outcomes:

• Tibet as central to global climate governance: Participants argued that climate discussions remain incomplete without treating Tibet as structurally necessary to planetary systems.
• Dual-use infrastructure & ecological risk: The intersection of strategic infrastructure (roads, airstrips, hydropower) and environmental stress was highlighted as a key danger, particularly for downstream nations.
• Human–environment nexus: The Forum highlighted how population relocations (especially of nomadic communities) disrupt traditional ecological practices and erode local adaptive knowledge.
• Calls to action for COP30: The most urgent demand was that COP30 in Belém, Brazil, must formally recognize Tibet’s climate crisis in its agenda. Participants called for inclusive diplomatic space, multilateral monitoring, and cross-regional scientific cooperation.
• Institutional innovation: The idea of a Himalayan Climate Policy Consortium was floated as a mechanism to foster research, advocacy, and policy preparation specifically on Himalayan climate issues.