Why CSFEP is expanding to the Hindu Kush Himalaya region

When an earthquake struck Himachal Pradesh in 1905, the region suffered catastrophic damage. Yet many traditional Kath kuni structures in Kullu survived largely intact. Built from interlocking local stone and timber, the structures could flex during earthquakes without cracking or collapsing. 

Research is now confirming what residents learned in 1905: when paired with good design and locally appropriate materials, traditional building techniques are remarkably disaster resilient. . Even so, today, most buildings in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region use cement and concrete. 

Now architects like Rahul Bhushan are working to show that ancient systems like Kath kuni are highly relevant for contemporary construction. But Bhushan’s efforts are also highlighting the interconnected market gaps that make it difficult to revive traditional building techniques: expensive and hard-to-access timber; few skilled craftspeople; and weak demand from buyers. 

No single actor can solve these challenges and addressing them will require coordinated action across material suppliers, contractors, architects, regulators, financiers, and others. This need for coordination is a key reason Climate Smart Forest Economy Program CSFEP chose the Hindu Kush Himalaya as our next region. 

Why the Hindu Kush Himalaya

The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) sustains nearly 1.65 billion people and is increasingly exposed to climate and disaster risks, writes the SDC Foundation. Glaciers are retreating, weather patterns are changing, and floods and landslides increasingly threaten settlements and infrastructure.

At the same time, our recent study with ICIMOD found a rapidly growing need for housing and infrastructure is being met through greater use of cement, steel, and brick which is poorly suited for the region.

In this research, CSFEP also found several of the key conditions we look for when evaluating a new region: locally available natural resources, existing local businesses in the nature-based building sector, and an active but fragmented ecosystem that could do more to support these businesses. Our research also indicated that the HKH has abundant locally available natural resources such as timber, bamboo, earth and stone – sufficient to support local building needs when managed sustainably by communities. However, existing regulations often make accessing these materials difficult.

We also saw strong local momentum among local actors. At ICIMOD’s 2025 Sustainable and Resilient Mountain Settlements conference in Bhutan, we found governments, researchers, and private-sector actors deeply committed to building with nature-based materials. For us, that level of engagement by the region’s leaders was an important signal that the appetite to act already exists.

Yet we also discovered challenges persisting across the market. Unreliable material supply, declining skills, limited finance, weak standards, and policy barriers still make nature-based construction harder, riskier, and often the more expensive choice for consumers.

What our work in East Africa has taught us

In 2024, CSFEP launched the Biobased Construction East Africa Coalition in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda – after encountering many of the same opportunities and challenges in that region that it currently sees in the Hindu Kush Himalaya. 

Our early work in the region focused on supporting individual businesses – for example, funding  a timber construction prototype in Kenya. Later, our conversations with other businesses showed us that  across the region, dozens of individual small businesses were trying to address the same ecosystem barriers, each on their own. We began to wonder if a key role CSFEP could play would be to support collective action – to bring businesses together to address ecosystem challenges collaboratively. That experience helped shift our focus: now, instead of supporting individual innovators with their business model, we support the field to come together and address  conditions holding back the entire market, whether that is a lack of skilled workers, a lack of appropriate capital, inadequate demand, or something else entirely.

We bring this understanding to the HKH, while recognising that its diverse materials, landscapes and building traditions and institutions will require solutions of their own.

For example, while our East Africa work frames biobased construction mainly as a climate issue, HKH’s case for biobased materials is tied strongly to disaster resilience. While our East Africa work has centred heavily on timber, the HKH presents a broader mix of timber, bamboo, earth, and stone, with different materials making sense in different places. 

Transforming potential into practice for the future of the Himalayas

Our goal in HKH is to make nature-based construction a viable choice wherever it makes sense, not to replace concrete everywhere. We are focussed on ensuring locally-appropriate nature-based construction can meet growing demand while ensuring that it strengthens local livelihoods and enterprises, and conserves local ecosystems.  

As the recent, devastating flooding in Nepal brought into focus, communities in the Hindu-Kush Himalayas are already living with the consequences of changing climate conditions such as declining snow cover and glaciers and recurring floods, landslides, and other hazards. We believe new construction needs to respond to those realities rather than add to the pressures surrounding them. And we worry that without focused intervention, construction may continue to be increasingly dominated by concrete-led systems that are carbon intensive and can also be unsuitable for local climate, terrain and resource conditions. 

Building a market for locally-appropriate nature-based construction will require collective action. We’re excited to begin building a coalition of businesses, practitioners, policymakers, researchers, funders, and communities committed to changing what is possible. 

If you are working to make construction in the HKH more resilient, locally rooted, and sustainable, we would like to hear from you. Please reach out to Rupali Walia at rupali.w@csfep.org.