A five-day international symposium on ‘Transforming Mountain Forestry’ was held in Dehradun, India from 18 to 22 January 2015 to explore options for sustainable forest management practices and policies that address the changing conditions in the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH). The symposium was jointly organized by India’s Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC); the Forest Research Institute (FRI); and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). Over 250 regional and global experts, including law makers, scientists, practitioners, donors, civil servants, the media, market actors, legal experts, and representatives of civil society and the business community, attended the symposium, which sought to address the challenges of conservation and inclusive development while identifying transboundary opportunities to meet climatic challenges. To sustain forest ecosystem services in the context of climate change and other contemporary issues, the symposium sought to move towards a third-generation forest management paradigm, state controlled and participatory paradigms being the first two approaches to forest management in the region.