The wide area of Himalayas is one of the water resources hotspot in Asia. The glaciers, lakes and rivers provide clean water for 1.5 billion people across Asia. At the same time, the Himalayas is incredibly fragile environment and it is threatened by variety of issues, like climate change, forest loss and infrastructure development, as they both effect on river flows and the amount of water streaming down.
“The best and most efficient way to secure the water resources is to protect the forests”, says Anne Tarvainen, the Head of International Development Program in WWF Finland. Forested catchments supply a high proportion of the water for domestic, agricultural, industrial and ecological needs in both upstream and downstream areas.
“Kemira´s donation helps WWF to secure the vital water resources for over a billion people in India, Nepal, Pakistan, China and Bhutan. We will e.g. set up new community forests with local people, promote sustainable forest management practices, promote good forest governance and policies”, says Tarvainen.
Provision of alternative sustainable livelihoods has a crucial role on WWF’s approach. In the past 4 years with WWF Finland support to Nepal and Bhutan more than 200,000 people have benefited by receiving safe drinking water, improved livelihoods and better opportunities to engage sustainable natural resources management.
WWF’s aim is that by 2021, community forests and protected forests are expanded and protected and that hundreds of hectares of degraded forest is under improved management and restoration.
WWF Finland partnership program in Himalayas is partially funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland 2018-2021 and co-funded by Finnish corporations and WWF supporters.
For more information, please contact:
Kemira Oyj
Tero Huovinen, Communications
Tel. +358 10 86 1980
WWF Finland
Anne Tarvainen, Head of International Development Program
Tel. +358 40 756 8326
Kemira is a global chemicals company serving customers in water intensive industries. We provide expertise, application know-how and chemicals that improve our customers’ product quality, process and resource efficiency. Our focus is on pulp & paper, oil & gas and water treatment. In 2017, Kemira had annual revenue of around EUR 2.5 billion and 4,732 employees. Kemira shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd.
WWF Finland is part of international WWF Network. WWF have a presence in over 100 countries across the world. For more than half a century, WWF has been working to protect the world’s species and natural places, pushing for a more sustainable world.