With the growing pressure from tourism and the fragility of ecosystems in the mountain states and union territories (UTs), Ladakh is hosting a three-day summit in October on “Sustainable Mountain Development” that would discuss the environmental concerns and suggest remedial measures. The summit will also deliberate on the issue of mountain states achieving carbon neutrality.

Rigzin Spalbar, a member of the governing council of Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI), told The Statesman from Leh that the summit will be held from 10 to 12 October and representatives from ten Himalayan states and UTs will participate. The UTs of Ladakh, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim, Mizoram, and Meghalaya are among those expected to participate in the summit.

This year, the theme for Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS-XI) is ‘Harnessing tourism for sustainable mountain development’ that includes discussions on pressing topics such as the contextual development model: The question of plantations in the mountains, tourism products for the mountains – good practices and pitfalls, sustainable society, inclusive society, and cultural values, environmental sustainability and achieving carbon neutrality and peace and security, Spalbar said.

The summit would have various technical sessions with the key objective to advocate for resilient and sustainable policies and programmes to bring a positive impact on the environment, society, and economy. The focus would be to share knowledge and inform policy and decision-makers about the interconnectedness of the selected themes and the importance of Sustainable Tourism in the Himalayan region.
In light of the upcoming Summit being organised by the Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI) along with Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh, and the Sustainable Development Forum of Ladakh (SDFL), a meeting of the executive members of SDFL was convened on Friday under the chairmanship of Rigzin Spalbar, Convenor of the Organising Committee of SMDS-XI. Jigmet Takpa, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Ladakh and Chairperson of SDFL, was present in the meeting.
The meeting discussed in detail about finalization of SMDS-XI three-tier structure, a delegation of responsibilities in the organising committee and other parallel events like photo exhibition during the summit were discussed in detail. The members were impressed with organizing the event in a sustainable way possible with minimum use of plastic and water wastage. A proposal to engage agencies like EU and other local stakeholders related directly or indirectly in ensuring sustainable tourism as collaborators for SMDS-XI was also discussed.
Earlier in November last year, the Mountain Legislator’s Meet (MLM) at the 10th Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) was held in Darjeeling in which concern was expressed about plastic littered on the mountains and ways to get rid of the environmental pollution.