Darjeeling: 3-day 'Sustainable Mountain Development Summit' commences
Darjeeling: The 10th edition of the Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) was flagged off in Darjeeling. The three-day event is being hosted this year by the Darjeeling-Kalimpong Chapter of IMI -The Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative.
SMDS is the annual flagship event of the Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI.)
Integrated Mountain Initiative is a civil society-led network platform with the mission to mainstream concerns of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) and its people in the development dialogue of India.
SMDSs identify specific themes relevant to the mountains and hills for discussion and debate by a diverse group of stakeholders and subject experts.
Recommendations emerging from these summits are pursued by IMI subsequently for actionable outputs that include the meet of the mountain states with key policy makers.
The theme for this year's SMDS is "One Health Making our Mountains Resilient." "Mountain communities are particularly vulnerable to climate change. The far-flung mountain populations are deprived 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," added Rai.
One Health binds together the health of humans, animals, and the environment that has gained greater relevance
particularly with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. "The harmonious way in which mountain people lived with nature has been threatened," stated Dr. Soumya Swaminathan (Chief Scientist, WHO, Geneva) in her keynote address on Thursday.
She advocated the need for investing in preparedness and primary health care to combat future pandemics.
Along with this the need of the hour is rapid surveillance; developing human resources and sharing of technology along with a multidisciplinary approach.
The main event of SMDSX shall discuss these 4 sub themes that are highly relevant for the mountains including One Health response to zoonosis; Sustainable Food systems;
Biodiversity and Ecosystems for human health and Governance that promotes One Health.
A Mountain Legislators' Meet is also held on the sidelines that bring together elected representatives of the IHR states to discuss relevant issues.
This SMDSX too shall bring together legislators from the IHR states to discuss on One Health with a key focus around plastic pollution and its impacts thereof to lead to a policy recommendation on plastic waste specifically for the mountains.
