Hill people prep for Sustainable Mountain Development Summit on disaster risk reduction

TSERING TASHI

The Integrated Mountain Initiative - formerly known as the Indian Mountain Initiative - was founded in 2010 to raise the specter of Indian mountain ecosystem from a common platform by involving all Indian Himalaya-specific stakeholders. With the support of its founding members - CHEA of Uttarkhand, ECOSS of Sikkim and SDFN of Nagaland, the Darjeeling Mountain Initiative - and partner organizations ICIMOD, GLOBE and SRTT, the Interactive Mountain Initiative convened a number of theme-based annual Sustainable Mountain Development Summits (SMDS). The first such summit was held in Nainital in May 2011, SMDS–II at Gangtok in May 2012 and the SMDS-III in Kohima in September 2013. The SMDS-IV is slated to be held in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh from 07 to 09 October 2015 and the theme of the summit is “Disaster Risk Reduction in the Mountain Region- Policy, Planning & Implementation”.

Interactive meeting discusses Sustainable Mountain Architecture

GANGTOK, 08 Oct: Lok Sabha MP, PD Rai today pointed out the possibility of the last of the REDRH [Reconstruction of Earthquake Damaged Rural Houses scheme] houses in the State being constructed following sustainable designs using locally available material and involving local architects.
He was speaking at the Sustainable Mountain Architecture event, which was organised at the Forest Conference Hall today in collaboration with three agencies WWF-India, Forest Department along with Arch i [a collective platform for exploring design].
The MP was present as chief guest along with the Gangtok Mayor, KN Tobgay and Deputy Mayor, Shakti Chaudhary.  Arch i was represented by Anne Feenstra who has recently been awarded the Laureate of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture in Paris.
A press release informs that the event traveled for the first time to India from Nepal where it was initiated in December last year at the knowledge park of ICIMOD and earlier this year at the Tribhuvan University, Nepal. It consisted of an exhibition showcasing the work undertaken by Arch i in Afghanistan and in East Sikkim in collaboration with WWF–India, followed by expert presentations and a panel discussion.
The programme was attended by various government departments, personnel from the Sashastra Seema Bal and GREF, NGOs and civil society members, representatives of various associations and Deorali School teachers and students.
The programme started with the inauguration of the Sustainable Mountain Architecture exhibition by the chief guest and interpretation of the posters showcasing Arch i’s work by Master Architect Anne Feenstra.
The second part of the programme consisted of expert presentations which began with a welcome address by Priyadarshinee Shrestha [Coordinator of WWF – India’s Sikkim office]. In her address Ms. Shrestha stressed on the need for sustainable building in Sikkim, in the face of recurring natural disasters.
Presentations were made by RP Gurung [CEO of ECOSS] on the changing face of rural Sikkim and what it means for eco tourism in the state and by Echostream and Sanctum Architecture on conserving heritage through community participation. Lastly, Mr. Feenstra gave a presentation on involvement of local people in the planning and building process, and the difference it makes to the process from his experiences of working in Afghanistan.
The panel discussion that followed was chaired by MP, PD Rai and moderated by Anne Feenstra. The audience got an opportunity to interact with the panel members consisting of the presenters, the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor. Critical questions were raised by participants on the need for conserving vernacular architecture, what vernacular architecture meant for Sikkim, the lack of mountain specific architectural knowledge and how students could learn more about the values of traditional architecture through the normal school curriculum. Students were also keen to participate and get more involved in these dialogues and the processes of conservation that followed.
Mr. Rai in his address to sum up the event talked about maintaining continuity of programmes like these, and linking the dialogue initiated on sustainable architecture to the ongoing Indian Mountain Initiative. He also stressed on the need for and possibility of having a planning and architecture school in the recent future in Sikkim.

Gangtok Declaration underlines right of hill people to improved livelihoods in harmony with environment

SUSTAINABLE MOUNTAIN DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT CONCLUDES 
GANGTOK, 27 May: The ‘2nd Sustainable Mountain Development Summit’ of Indian Mountain Initiative [IMI] hosted by Sikkim concluded on Saturday with the announcement of ‘Gangtok Declaration’ and a momentum to carry on for the third summit proposed to be held at Kohima, Nagaland next year.
“We resolve that the mountain States in India have not received the attention due to them and we recommend that greater focus and emphasis be given to the Sustainable Mountain Development agenda without delay and continued for the next 20 years,” the ‘Gangtok Declaration’ records.
The ‘Gangtok Declaration’ on sustainable mountain development was presented here at Chintan Bhawan by Summit convener, Lok Sabha MP PD Rai before the delegates after two days of engagements on water, mountain livelihood and communities & forests.
Mr Rai placed the draft of ‘Gangtok Declaration’ with ten mandates for IMI at the valedictory session for approval by the delegates.
The declaration also undertakes to work through long term partnerships with multiple stakeholders at different levels. “The partners and collaborators of IMI may have their own charter which may be broader than the mission of IMI, yet they will adopt policies and plans to build a common yet differentiated agenda in achieving the goals,” the ‘Gangtok Declaration’ underlines.
The IMI is a civil society movement that aims to bring stakeholders of the mountain and hill States on a common platform to come together to discuss issues related to the development of the mountains and hill regions and communities, evolve consensus on priorities and action plan. It had convened its inaugural summit in Nainital, Uttarakhand last year.
“Unique needs and aspirations of each state, mountain region and their people will be taken into account by IMI in an inclusive way with the aim of making fundamental shifts in their understanding and behavior,” the ‘Gangtok Declaration’ reads, highlighting that hill and mountain people are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development and are entitled to improved livelihoods in harmony with the environment.
It was also agreed that the each partner State will cooperate on building awareness and capacity for action on adaptation and transfer technologies and practices for sustainable development. The role of women of mountain areas in livelihood generation and protection of environment has also been recognized by the ‘Gangtok Declaration’ with youths given a role to sustain the IMI initiative.
The declaration further seeks developing appropriate institutionalization mechanisms to build movement and momentum towards achieving the goals of IMI through an inclusive organization structure, network, systems and process.
The Declaration also recognizes and supports the role of communities and their traditions and commits to enhance their impact on sustainable development. Avoiding individual or bilateral concerns of the stakeholders not core to the IMI agenda has also been included in the ‘Gangtok Declaration’.
Before the ‘Gangtok Declaration’ was placed, delegate Sushil Ramola summed up the outcome of the 2-day summit.
“One of the main outcomes of the summit here is that it has given momentum to the IMI,” said Mr. Ramola. The summit has given continuity to the IMI goals and Nagaland has already taken the initiative to host the third summit, he announced.
There has been a clear commitment from individuals, organizations and elected representatives during the summit and these commitments would definitely take IMI forward, he said, pointing out that preparations for the Sikkim summit have developed processes and systems for the upcoming summits.
Formal and informal interactions took place between the delegates from different States which will go a long way in achieving the IMI goals, he added.
The two-day long summit was organized by Ecotourism and Conservation Society of Sikkim [ECOSS] and co-organised by Central Himalayan Environment Association [CHEA]. Over 250 delegates from eleven Himalayan States and Darjeeling hills participated in the summit along with parliamentarians and legislators.

Sikkim takes the lead, joins Global Legislators’ Organisation for Balanced Environment

GANGTOK, 27 May: Convener of the 2nd Sustainable Mountain Development Summit of the Indian Mountain Initiative, Lok Sabha MP, PD Rai, expressed “deep satisfaction” with the deliberations and outcome of the two-day summit.
Speaking to media-persons after the valedictory session on Saturday, Mr Rai underlined that the summit had been “very powerful and inspirational” and that Sikkim has taken a major lead in facilitating the reaching of hill-specific issues to the national agenda in the run up to the Rio +20 Summit. The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development [UNCSD], also known Rio +20, is scheduled to be held in Rio Di Janerio from June 22 this year.
“Recommendations and deliberations on vital issues of mountain States will be presented at the Rio +20 summit through organizations like ICIMOD and if any of us from the mountains go to Rio, then we will certainly visit the Mountain Pavilion and participate in some interactions there,” he said.
He mentioned that Sikkim has become the first State to set up a State Chapter of Global Legislators’ Organisation for Balanced Environment [GLOBE] allowing legislators and parliamentarians from the state to work towards tackling major global environment challenges. Globe-Sikkim which has become the first chapter of GLOBE-India was formally announced under the chairmanship of Sikkim Legislative Assembly Speaker, KT Gyaltsen. At present, GLOBE-International has more than 30 countries as members.
Mr Rai mentioned that the setting up of GLOBE-Sikkim chapter was an important outcome of the two-day summit.
Speaking on other outcomes of the summit, he said that Sikkim has emerged as one of the leading entities within the IMI.
“Now, we will be able to connect with all the other mountain states, stakeholders have been identified, people have committed from all the States to do something about the IMI agenda. IMI as an institution will be developing and the next summit will be held in Kohima, and that is also a great outcome”, he shared.
He highlighted that issues related with water, mountain livelihoods and communities & forests were flagged at the summit, and the deliberations will now be processed and in the overall document which will be presented to the PM’s Office and the Ministry of Environment & Forests, the National Planning Commission and to the CMs of all the 12 mountains states.
“For the first time, there was interaction at the level of the legislators, so we discussed the issue of legislation for climate change which is still awaited in India. We have found from our deliberations today that there is a need and I think that Sikkim might just take the lead and legislate at the State level in this regard,” Mr Rai commented.

Indian Mountain Initiative wins strong endorsement of stakeholders

GANGTOK, 27 May: Meghalaya MP Thomas A Sangma committed to campaign for Indian Mountain Initiative (IMI) along with fellow Parliamentarian from Sikkim PD Rai at the national level. The Rajya Sabha member from Meghalaya was speaking on the concluding day of the ‘2nd Sustainable Mountain Development Summit’ of IMI here on Saturday.
“I have been raising issues of Meghalaya in the Parliament and speaking for promotion of tourism in the Northeastern region. I will now join PD Rai to convince our fellow Parliamentarians to join the IMI,” Mr. Sangma said.
He committed to take IMI forward in his State and sensitize the people there towards adopting an environment friendly lifestyle. He also informed the gathering about environmental issues affecting Meghalaya.
“Meghalaya is a tourism destination but there has been such extensive environmental damage that I hesitate to invite tourists to my place,” admitted the MP, adding that “unscientific and unregulated coal mining in different parts of our State are taking a huge toll on the environment”.
Mr Sangma pointed out that two types of migration are happening in Meghalaya. “Our youth are migrating to metros for education and livelihood. Environmental refugees from Bangladesh with which we share a 500 km long border are migrating into our hill districts,” he said.
On the occasion, delegates also pledged to introduce IMI to their respective areas and to collectively work towards making IMI an influential body among the policy makers at the Centre. IMI is an idea whose time has come and there is a need for a body like IMI that will promote the interests of the Himalayan States in the Centre, they said.
“We will have to work together to protect the resources of Himalayan region, have sustainable development and network to meet challenges of water security, receding glaciers and mountain livelihood,” the delegates said.
“A message should go to the country that the needs of the Himalayan region should be seen from a mountain-perspective and policies should be tailor-made for hill issues. Our people should be given a chance to raise their problems at the Centre. IMI is the model platform for this,” the delegates said.
IMI is a civil society movement that aims to bring stakeholders of the mountain and hill States on a common platform to come together to discuss issues related to the development of the mountains and hill regions and communities, evolve consensus on priorities and action plan.

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.