Sustainable mountain communities essential

The Indian Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Mr Bhupender Yadav recently attended the inaugural session of the Sustainable Mountain Development Summit-XI, (SMDS-XI) held at Leh, Ladakh, from 10 to 12 October 2022.

The Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) is a flagship annual event of the Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI), a civil society-led forum working across the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) that comprises 10 mountain states, two union territories and four hill districts. It functions as a platform to integrate the knowledge and experiences of multiple stakeholders working across the IHR, and uses this to inform and influence policy at the national and state level.

The theme for SMDS-XI is ‘Harnessing tourism for sustainable mountain development’. The main focus of the summit is to reduce the negative impacts of tourism while harnessing its positive contributions to building climate and socio-ecological resilience and sustainability. In addition to the central event, two integral components of the SMDS include the Mountain Legislators’ Meet (MLM) and the Indian Himalayan Youth Summit.

In his address, the Minister highlighted the establishment of the G B Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment (GBPNIHE) and its one Regional Centre at Leh, under the Ministry, which is particularly mandated for research and development activities on the sustainability of the Himalayan environment. He emphasised that various unique landscapes of the country like the Himalayas, Western Ghats and Thar Desert need special attention from the scientific community.

The summit brought together mountain people of the IHR. The SMDS is hosted in a different mountain states each year with the first one being held in Nainital, Uttarakhand in 2011. It gets a diverse group of stakeholders together to discuss relevant themes warranting immediate attention of the mountains.

Each summit has had 200 to 300 participants, representing a diverse mix of policymakers, eminent scientists, researchers, academics, research and educational institutions, government representatives, legislators, business and industry representatives, international, national and grassroots level NGOs, field practitioners, consultants, experts, eminent citizens and media. Every year three to five salient themes engaging the immediate attention of and relevant to the mountains and hills are taken up for threadbare discussion and debate. Conclusions and recommendations emerging from this exercise are pursued by the IMI subsequently for actionable outputs.

Pointing out that the government is promoting mindful use of resources rather than mindless use of the same, the Minister said that ideas for such practices are already available in our culture and traditions. He added that people living in harsh Himalayan conditions have all these values and the region is not only popular for tourism but also for cultural harmony.

The Minister emphasised that tourism should be expanded for various aspects keeping in mind environmental fragility, sports, peace etc. The recent World Forest Conference in the US passed a declaration that forests are not only for enjoyment but are an important source of peace and Himalayan forests have been promoting peace for centuries, he said. Adding that tourism in the Himalayas should be promoted for nature seekers, pilgrims, and spiritual seekers, the Minister said that like Ladakh, other Himalayan states also have unique aspects which should be integrated into tourism. Not only environment friendly but responsible tourism is also the need of the hour. Involvement of local communities in the tourism is most important for integrating such initiatives. All activities should be round the year and educational institutions should have formats aligned with it. He suggested that for conserving the cultural and local heritage and for protecting Ladakh’s resources, it is very important to identify and resolve all pending issues.

As the website of the last year’s SMDS-X summit states, the wellbeing of mountain people is inextricably linked to biodiversity, which is known to be the foundation of human health. Mountain communities are particularly vulnerable to climate change, which impacts vulnerable populations dependent on natural resources and services like water, energy, food and associated livelihoods. The far-flung mountain populations are underserved with low access to health and social facilities, and thus more vulnerable to the impacts of pandemics brought about by loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services and aggravated by climate change.

Against this backdrop, last year’s concept of One Health, that binds together the health of humans, animals, and the environment has gained greater relevance particularly due to the COVID19 pandemic. One Health is an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to recognise the interconnectedness of the components, interactions and relationships, both tangible and intangible, within landscapes for optimal health and environmental outcomes.