13th Sustainable Mountain Development Summit begins in Srinagar

GANGTOK,: The 13th edition of the Sustainable Mountain Development Summit began in Srinagar on Monday, with policymakers, community representatives, practitioners and academics deliberating on challenges facing the Himalayan region and the need for sustainable development.

Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah inaugurated the summit, a flagship initiative of the Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI), hosted this year by Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST-K) at its Shalimar campus.

Addressing the inaugural session, Abdullah said people were increasingly becoming insensitive to the mountains and their ecological needs.

“Pahad ko khayal nahirakhtey,” he said, stressing the need for collective responsibility in protecting the fragile Himalayan ecosystem.

Referring to the recent disaster in Nepal, the Chief Minister said climate change was a global issue requiring international negotiations, while its adverse impacts were being experienced directly by mountain communities.

He cited changing snowfall and rainfall patterns in Jammu & Kashmir, which had contributed to drought conditions in some areas and heavy rainfall-related disasters in others.

Abdullah also questioned road construction practices involving extensive slope cutting, saying they contributed to landslides. On tourism, he said the tendency to blame tourists alone for littering and unsustainable practices needed to be reconsidered, as local residents also had a responsibility to adopt environmentally conscious behaviour.

He expressed hope that the summit would produce actionable roadmaps to address key challenges facing the mountains.

IMI councillor Dr. R.Kotru outlined the objectives of the summit, saying it sought to bring together scientific knowledge, policymaking, grassroots experience and practitioners to develop informed and innovative responses to emerging mountain challenges.

Sharing the vision of IMI, former IMI president P.D. Rai said theorganisation worked towards making India proud of its mountains, mentioning that the IMI’s mission was to inform policy that were mountain sensitive. IMI focused on creating a platform for all stakeholders, integrating knowledge and experience, and generating action on ground, he stated.

Rai, the former Lok Sabha MP from Sikkim, added that previous editions of the summit had addressed a wide range of mountain-related issues and that their outcomes had helped inform policies and decision-makers.

IMI president Dr. S.T.S. Lepcha presented the objectives and themes of the 13th edition, which include ecological security and climate resilience, ecological carrying capacity, responsible tourism and the mountain economy, mountain communities, livelihoods and natural capital, and science, governance and policy.

He said the outcomes would be taken forward through IMI's state chapters across the Indian Himalayan Region.

SKUAST-K vice-chancellor N.A.Ganai questioned the prevailing development trajectory of Himalayan states and called for an overarching sustainable mountain policy.

He said a policy for Jammu & Kashmir, aligned with global climate concerns, biodiversity priorities and disaster-related protocols and agreements, was being drafted.

The proposed document covers tourism, infrastructure, water, waste management, forests, livelihoods and knowledge, and could serve as a model for other states in the Indian Himalayan Region, he said.

Mandeep Kaur, secretary of Jammu & Kashmir Urban Development department, stressed the need for communities to develop sustainable urban habitats in the Himalayas amid rapid urbanisation.

Rural Development minister Javed Ahmed Dhar drew attention to the increasing frequency of disasters across the Himalayan region, noting that many incidents, particularly in remote areas with limited media and communication access, remained underreported.

During the inaugural session, Abdullah released the report of the 12th Sustainable Mountain Development Summit, held in Dehradun in 2025, along with other reports published by SKUAST-K.