The Sinja Valley in northwest Nepal is a breathtaking place with a rich history. Plunging mountainsides and rocky caves hide ruins of grand palaces and temples: remains of the capital city of the influential Western Malla kingdom that ruled the area between the 12th and 14th century.

Nowadays, however, that city grandeur is a distant memory, and farmers in the Sinja Valley are struggling to survive. Isolated and marginalised, like many of the 350 million people that live in mountainous regions in developing countries, they do not have reliable access to food. Their vital ecosystems are threatened by climate change, land degradation and natural disasters, and competition for increasingly scarce resources can lead to conflict or migration.