The Indigenous Climate Knowledge Fellowship is a three month pilot for Indigenous storytellers from Himalayan communities. Each fellow documents Traditional Ecological Knowledge based responses to the climate crisis and develops one strong story with mentorship and editorial support.
Himalayan Climate
Watch Network
Strengthening Himalayan Indigenous climate knowledge and resilience.
Explore our visionHimalayan Climate Watch Network is building an Indigenous led climate knowledge ecosystem for the Himalayan region.
We centre Traditional Ecological Knowledge, community led climate insights and South–South Indigenous collaboration to ensure that Himalayan communities lead climate understanding, adaptation and governance.
What we are building
A climate knowledge system led from the mountains
Himalayan communities hold deep ecological wisdom but are often excluded from global climate data and decision-making. We aim to center the lived realities of those closest to the land.
Our first concrete step toward this vision is the Indigenous Climate Knowledge Fellowship.
HCWN is a long-term effort to create a community-rooted, climate analytics ecosystem for the Himalayas. We aim to:
- Document Indigenous ecological knowledge and climate experiences.
- Support community-based storytellers and researchers.
- Develop ethical, participatory methods for data gathering.
- Connect Indigenous communities across the region.
- Lay the groundwork for an Indigenous-governed data platform.
Our first step: the fellowshipIndigenous Climate
Indigenous Climate
Knowledge Fellowship
The fellowship is not the final goal. It is our way to start building trust, methods, examples and a network that will shape HCWN's wider climate knowledge work.
Why the Himalaya matters
A region on the frontline of climate change
The Himalaya is a vital climate region. It feeds major river systems, supports rich biodiversity and sustains millions of people. At the same time, it is experiencing rapid glacial retreat, unstable seasons, water stress, landslides and other climate driven changes.
Indigenous Himalayan communities are among the first to feel these shifts. They understand these landscapes through generations of lived experience. HCWN works so that this knowledge is recognised and valued as climate intelligence, not treated as an afterthought.
Who we serve
Indigenous communities across the Himalayan region
HCWN serves and collaborates with Indigenous people from across the Himalayan range and its diaspora. Our aim is to support cross regional and South–South Indigenous collaboration, so that communities can learn from one another and act together with stronger visibility and voice.
Supported by
Developed with early support
HCWN is developed within Mudland Climate Lab, the climate justice and research pillar of Mudland.
The pilot phase receives catalytic development support from the BeVisioneers – Mercedes Benz Fellowship, which provides mentoring and structure as we shape this initiative.
Walk with us
If you are an Indigenous storyteller, researcher, community leader, media platform, university, funder or ally who connects with this vision, we would be happy to hear from you.
