Hill people work towards consensus on common issues of water, forests and livelihoods

SUSTAINABLE MOUNTAIN DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT BEGINS AT CHINTAN BHAWAN

GANGTOK, 25 May: The 2nd edition of the Sustainable Mountain Development Summit of the Indian Mountain Initiative [IMI] was inaugurated by the Speaker of Sikkim Legislative Assembly, KT Gyaltsen at Chintan Bhawan today.
The two-day event is being co-organized by the Ecotourism and Conservation Society of Sikkim [ECOSS] along with the Central Himalayan Environment Association (CHEA). More than 250 delegates, including Parliamentarians and legislators from Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Manipur are participating in the Summit and will be deliberating on issues of water, mountain livelihoods and communities and forests of the Indian Himalayan region.
IMI is a civil society movement that aims to bring stakeholders from hill states on a common platform to discuss issues related to the development of the mountain and hill regions and communities, evolve consensus on priorities and action plan. This summit is an annual event of the IMI to discuss pre-decided themes that are vital to the development and well being of the region.
The themes for the 2nd Sustainable Mountain Development Summit are Water, Mountain Livelihoods, Communities and Forests and Innovations. Under each of these themes, sub themes have been included and interlinked.
The primary objective of the 2nd Sustainable Mountain Development Summit is to look at policy governing issues around the broad themes proposed and to suggest key interventions in those, based on field experiences along with academic and intellectual inputs. In doing so, the secondary objective of sharing of best practices and experiences amongst the different participants would also be fulfilled. The summit aims to discuss the policy framework around these themes and to suggest interventions to make them more relevant. The Summit recommendations would be taken up with relevant authorities at the State and Union level.
In his inaugural address, the Speaker highlighted that a majority of the world depends on mountains for water, energy and other bio-resources. Hence, issues related to mountains and hill people suffering due to isolation should be taken up at the global level, he stressed.
The Speaker expressed his confidence that deliberations during the two-day summit would lay the foundation for mountain issues, receiving the required attention at national and global levels.
Speaking in the Sikkim context, Mr Gyaltsen underlined the importance of culture in protection of the Hill State’s bio-resources. By the virtue of their culture and religious sentiments, mountains and lakes are revered by the people here as the abode of deities and activities which prevents defiling of such sacred spots, he said.
Adding that the Chief Minister has framed far-sighted policies and programmes on these issues, he mentioned that the Sikkim Government has already taken major steps to address these issues like Organic Sikkim Mission, encouraging tree plantation, prevention of poaching and other issues through strong laws. He stressed that the ultimate goal of the Chief Minister was to increase the happiness index of people by providing quality facilities.
The Speaker also placed his suggestions and points to discuss during the two-day seminar and further expressed hope that this seminar would result in constructive and tangible outcomes. He congratulated the IMI for their initiative to deliberate and discuss on these issues.
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, PD Rai, who is also the Convener of IMI-SMDS 2, expressed that Sikkim was on the forefront in deliberating and addressing these issues. Due to long term initiatives of the Chief Minister of Sikkim, he said that the State has been doing well in the vision and objectives of the IMI. Mr Rai spoke about the ’10 Minutes to Earth’ programme visualised and initiated by the Chief Minister to dedicate 10 minutes to Mother Earth.
Mr Rai mentioned that the response has been encouraging since 90% of the delegates have arrived so far and it is a positive indicator of love towards the hills and mountains and its rich culture and heritage. He expressed his deep gratitude to the Chief Minister of Sikkim and his government, governments of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, different organizations and corporate houses and every individual involved for their support of the seminar.
In his keynote address, Director General of International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development [ICIMOD], Kathmandu, Dr David Molden, stated that mountains offer solutions to the global problem of water scarcity. He recommended reduction in vulnerabilities to floods and droughts, finding solutions in the water-food-energy nexus, clean energy to address black carbon and glacier melt and to improve landscape management. He further recommended that mountains should find place in the global agenda.
In his welcome address, the Chief Secretary, Karma Gyatso appreciated the initiative taken by Sikkim MP, Mr Rai by bringing such important seminar to Sikkim and further congratulated ECOSS for organizing it.
He expressed his hope that the outcome of the seminar would help Sikkim and other mountain states. The Chief Secretary mentioned that sustainable mountain was the vision of the State Government and that the state’s effort in this area has been acknowledged in and outside the country.
The inaugural function concluded with the presentation of vote of thanks by the ECOSS Chairman, Loday Chungyalpa. There are five plenary sessions on the three themes for stakeholders. The second day of the seminar will feature a legislators’ meet on ‘Climate Change and the Need for Legislation’ to evolve consensus on priorities and action plan on issues related to the development of hill regions and communities.
The Summit will conclude on Saturday afternoon with the ‘Sikkim Declaration’ that will highlight key concerns of the discussed themes, policy prescription, and recommendations to be taken up with relevant authorities at State and Union level.