KATHMANDU, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- The board of governors of the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) approved the new five-year Strategic Framework and Medium Action Plan for 2008-2012, a press release issued in Nepali capital Kathmandu said on Friday.

    "The new strategy foresees three strategic programs -- Integrated Water and Hazard Management, Environmental Change and Ecosystem Services, and Sustainable Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction -- supported by a strong knowledge management group and specialists in gender, equity, governance, and economics, and working together on programs designed to help people adapt to climate change and improve their livelihoods while protecting the environment," the release said.

    Globalization and climate change have been so intensive that coping mechanisms are losing their efficiency. The vast ice reserve of the Himalayas and neighboring mountain chains - the earth's ' third pole' - is in peril, it says, adding, "There is an urgent need to gather reliable information about what is happening and investigate and develop adaptation and coping mechanisms so that people can get the maximum benefit from their environment and minimize the risk of disasters."

    The press release said that ICIMOD's new programs have been designed following consultations with governments and organizations of ICIMOD's regional member countries -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.