ICIMOD Sends Out SOS to IMI, NGOs and Experts: Wants Ground Report on Local Construction Materials in the Himalayas
Kathmandu/Shimla, June 3:
In a move to reconnect mountain homes with mountain roots, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has issued a clarion call to experts, engineers, NGOs and institutions across the Himalayas—including India’s Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI)—to share real-world insights on the use (or decline) of nature-based building materials like bamboo, timber, slate, hemp and stone.
As part of its Sustainable Mountain Settlements (SMS) initiative, ICIMOD—along with the Climate Smart Forest Economy Program (CSFEP)—is conducting an online survey to understand how traditional and local construction materials are being used, promoted, or ignored in the modern construction sector across the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region.
But the response from Indian Himalayan states like Himachal, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and the Northeast has been worryingly low.
“We’re seeing a serious gap in inputs from India’s hill states,” said Erica Udas, Intervention Manager for the SMS programme. “That’s why we’ve reached out directly to networks like IMI, state departments, NGOs and private contractors to help plug this knowledge gap.”
When Local Isn’t Easy
While the push is for local, nature-based materials, the ground reality is complicated:
In Himachal Pradesh, timber—once widely used in Kath-Kuni homes—has become prohibitively expensive and tightly regulated.
Slate roofs, once a hallmark of hill architecture, have slipped out of fashion, replaced by mass-produced tin sheets.
Tin roofs, while cheap and lightweight, have now become the dominant roofing material even in the fragile cold deserts of Lahaul-Spiti and Ladakh, drastically altering the region’s landscape and thermal balance.
Stone and sand quarrying, essential for traditional construction, faces restrictions in many Himalayan states due to environmental concerns, choking off supply and raising costs.
“We know the materials exist. But availability, affordability, design codes and policy bottlenecks are pushing people toward carbon-heavy construction,” said a senior member of IMI.
“This survey could finally bring those contradictions into sharp focus.”
Who Should Respond?
ICIMOD is urging participation from a wide spectrum of people in the housing and construction chain:
Government departments dealing with rural development, PWD, housing and disaster management
Architects, engineers and masons designing and building in hill regions
NGOs promoting sustainable architecture or local livelihoods
Material suppliers, processors and artisans
They are also encouraging inputs on innovative use of materials like rammed earth, hempcrete, bamboo boards, and any hybrid designs that mix tradition with tech.
Survey Link: https://ee.kobotoolbox.org/x/Ush1CNIz
(Deadline: mid-June 2025)
What Happens Next?
The data will feed into ICIMOD’s planning for policy briefs, pilot projects, and region-specific recommendations to bring nature-based materials back into mainstream housing.
This could help shape eco-sensitive building codes at national and regional levels, and eventually unlock technical or financial support for local solutions.
> “We can’t afford to build the future of the Himalayas with materials that don’t belong here,” said Udas.
“But for any shift to happen, we need the stories, the bottlenecks, and the innovations from the ground.”
In short, this is not just a survey—it’s a Himalayan SOS.
If you’ve built, designed, funded or studied homes in the hills, now’s the time to speak up before local wisdom gets buried under layers of tin and cement.
