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.
Himalayan Climate Watch Network (HCWN) is building an Indigenous-led climate knowledge ecosystem for the Himalayan region.
We centre Traditional Ecological Knowledge, community climate insights, and South–South collaboration so Himalayan communities can lead climate understanding, adaptation, and governance.
What we are building
A climate knowledge system led from the mountains
Himalayan communities hold deep ecological knowledge yet remain excluded from global climate data and decision-making.
HCWN works to centre lived realities, strengthen Indigenous storytelling and research, and lay the foundation for an Indigenous-governed climate knowledge system.
Our first concrete step is the Indigenous Climate Knowledge Fellowship.
What HCWN focuses on
HCWN advances five core actions:
- Document Indigenous ecological knowledge and climate experience
- Support community storytellers and researchers across the Himalayas
- Develop ethical, participatory climate data methods
- Connect Indigenous communities regionally through shared learning
- Build the foundation for an Indigenous-governed climate data platform
Our first step: the fellowship
Indigenous Climate
Knowledge Fellowship
The fellowship is not the final goal.
It is the starting point for building trust, shared methods, 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 one of the world's most critical climate regions, sustaining major river systems, biodiversity, and millions of lives. Rapid glacial retreat, unstable seasons, water stress, and landslides are already reshaping the region.
Indigenous Himalayan communities feel these shifts first and understand these landscapes through generations of lived knowledge. HCWN exists so this knowledge is recognised as climate intelligence, not treated as an afterthought.
Who we serve
Indigenous communities across the Himalayan region
HCWN collaborates with Indigenous communities across the Himalayan region and its diaspora.
Our aim is to strengthen cross-regional and South–South collaboration so communities can learn from one another and act with greater visibility and voice.
Supported by
Developed with early support
HCWN is developed within Mudland Climate Lab, the climate pillar of Mudland.
The pilot phase receives catalytic funding and development support from the BeVisioneers – Mercedes-Benz Fellowship, providing mentorship and early structure as the initiative takes shape.
Walk with us
If you are an Indigenous storyteller, researcher, community leader, media platform, university, funder, or ally connected to this vision, we would be glad to hear from you.
