Our Team
Carole Fuchs
Co-founder & Programme Lead
Carole Fuchs is Co-founder and Programme Lead of the Third Pole Climate Nexus. She is an international climate and biodiversity policy specialist with a background in law and social anthropology.
Her career spans international diplomacy, climate policy, the energy transition and biodiversity conservation. At the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, based at the British Embassy in Tokyo, she led climate and biodiversity cooperation with Japan, including work on the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, biodiversity finance, nature-based solutions and the 30 by 30 target. She has also advised governments, financial institutions and businesses on sustainable development and cross-border energy investment.
In 2025–26, Carole travelled 1,400 kilometres across Nepal to document how climate change is reshaping ecosystems and mountain communities. Her work explores traditional knowledge, socio-ecological resilience, and the meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in decisions related to nature.
At the Third Pole Climate Nexus, she develops partnerships and programmes connecting scientific research, community knowledge and public policy to strengthen biodiversity conservation, climate adaptation and resilient mountain livelihoods across the Hindu Kush Himalaya.
Our multidisciplinary approach is strengthened through collaborations with local and international partners, ensuring that our work is grounded in expertise, research, and community engagement.
Contact: carole@thirdpoleclimatenexus.org
Dr. Binaya Raj Shivakoti
Senior Adaptation & Water Specialist
Dr. Binaya Raj Shivakoti brings over 15 years of experience in climate adaptation and water management across Asia. Based at Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) since 2010, he works on community-led adaptation, sustainable water management, disaster risk reduction, and integrating traditional knowledge into climate solutions. He is skilled in hydrological modelling, GIS, and participatory approaches, and actively contributes to regional and international networks advancing climate-resilient water strategies.
Rupak Koirala
Nepal Programme Lead – Sustainable Tourism
Rupak Koirala is an environmental advocate with 10+ years of experience in sustainable tourism, climate adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and renewable energy in Nepal. He has worked with the Ministry of Agricultural Development, the World Bank, the Jane Goodall Institute Nepal, UNDP, and several leading research organisations.
A Global Exchange in Leadership Initiatives (GEILI) Fellow with international training from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), The Climate Reality Project, and others organizations, he currently serves as the Nepal Country Representative for Green Destinations.
We work with mountain communities as partners in research, recognising that meaningful participation involves more than consultation. Local knowledge, values and priorities should help shape the questions being asked, the evidence being gathered and the decisions that follow. Our work therefore seeks to bring community knowledge and scientific research into dialogue, while supporting the agency of local knowledge holders throughout the research process.
Our Work
This pilot programme is being developed in Upper Dolpa, Nepal, to improve how high-altitude rangelands are monitored and managed. It brings Indigenous and local pastoral knowledge together with scientific methods and Earth observation to produce a fuller and more locally meaningful understanding of environmental change.
Working with pastoral communities, the project will co-develop indicators based on pasture and snow conditions, seasonal calendars, herd movements and local decision-making. These observations will be translated into structured, geo-referenced data that can be compared with satellite products and future rangeland models.
The programme will also develop an offline-capable data-collection workflow, an interactive dashboard and training for local observers. Its aim is to strengthen community participation in monitoring, improve the interpretation of Earth observation data and support climate-resilient rangeland governance.
The project is being developed by the Third Pole Climate Nexus in collaboration with research institutes in Kathmandu and NAXA, which provides technical expertise in offline data collection, geospatial systems and Earth observation integration. Local pastoral communities in Upper Dolpa are central knowledge partners and co-designers of the monitoring approach.
Climate Change, Communities and Mountain Systems
Beyond Records is a community-engaged research and documentary initiative examining the social and ecological consequences of climate change across the Nepal Himalaya. Developed through a 1,600-kilometre journey along the Great Himalaya Trail, the project investigates how glacier retreat, water insecurity and ecosystem change are affecting livelihoods, cultural relationships with landscapes and local approaches to adaptation.
The work combines ethnographic field research, semi-structured interviews, participant observation, visual documentation and engagement with scientific experts and local partners. It brings community knowledge and lived experience into dialogue with research on cryosphere change, biodiversity, water systems and climate risk.
A central focus is how mountain communities interpret environmental change, identify priorities and develop locally grounded responses. The project also examines how their knowledge and perspectives can contribute more meaningfully to climate and biodiversity policy, rather than being treated only as evidence collected by outside researchers.
The documentary is one output of this wider programme of research, public engagement and policy communication. It translates field evidence and scientific findings into an accessible narrative for policymakers, researchers and wider audiences. The pilot has been recognised through the United Nations’ 2025 International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation and screened in international policy dialogues.
Status: Ongoing research, community engagement and documentary production.
Co-Producing Himalayan Rangeland Monitoring with Community Knowledge
Partners & Collaborators
The Third Pole Climate Nexus works closely with local and regional organisations and institutions to strengthen our initiatives and maximise impact. We are proud to collaborate with partners such as Trees Nepal, supporting local environmental and community projects, Small Earth Nepal, and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), advancing regional climate research and adaptation strategies.
Through these collaborations, we ensure that our work is grounded in local expertise, informed by scientific knowledge, and aligned with policy and adaptation priorities across the Himalayas.
Offices
France
Saint-Avold, Moselle
Nepal
Kathmandu, Dilibazar, Kathmandu
Japan
Kashiwagi, Hara, Nagano
CONTACT
© 2025 Third Pole Climate Nexus – Non-profit organisation registered under French law (Loi 1901)
General enquiries/partnerships: carole@thirdpoleclimatenexus.org
Join us to support mountain communities.