General Objective: to contribute to social and economic development of the populations of the Hindu Kush - Karakorum - Himalaya mountain complex and to the environmental conservation of the region by consolidating institutional capacity for systemic planning and management of the territory, focusing on:
1. reduction of poverty
2. conservation of biodiversity
Specific Objective A: provide instruments (knowledge of the territory, the populations and the technologies for systemic data management) to facilitate the consistency of various national-level actions in area-based planning and management, within the framework of regional level systemic planning and monitoring.Specific Objective B: establish a process of application of the acquired capacities and Decision Support System (DSS) by individual countries in systemic planning and management of mountain areas at a local/national or transboundary level, within the framework of sustainable mountain development.Individual components of these objectives include:* Create a coordinated system for collection and analysis (monitoring) of natural resource data;* Provide decision makers of competent national and local administrations with an instrument (DSS) for systemic territorial planning and management;* Build local institutional capacity to study, analyze and manage natural resources, favoring local community involvement in these processes.

Governments:
Government of Italy - Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate General for Development Cooperation (DGCS)
Government of Afghanistan
Government of Bangladesh
Government of Bhutan
Government of China
Government of India
Government of Myanmar
Government of Nepal
Government of Pakistan

Major Groups:
CESVI Cooperazione e Sviluppo (Italy)
Inst.Naz. Di Fisica Nucleare/Prog.ARGO YBJ (Italy)
Italian Nat'l Research Council (Italy)
Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Tech (Nepal)
Ev-K2-CNR Committee ()
The Chinese Academy of Science ()

UN System:
FAO (Italy)
UNEP (Thailand)

Other intergovernmental organizations:
IUCN (Switzerland)
ICIMOD ()
IUCN Asia's Himal Programme ()

Other:
University of Brescia (Italy)
University of Milan (Italy)
University of Torino (Italy)
University of Trieste (Italy)
Kathmandu University (Nepal)
Tribhuvan University (Nepal)
University of Peshawar (Pakistan)
University of Punjab (Pakistan)