The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MOEF&CC), GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development (GBPIHED), and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) organised the India-ICIMOD Week – Partnership for Sustainable Mountain Development 11-15 December at the MoEF&CC’s new Indira Paryavaran Bhawan building in New Delhi, India.

Coinciding with International Mountain Day 2015 — this year’s theme was Promoting Mountain Products for Better Livelihoods — the week-long programme included several activities showcasing ICIMOD’s engagement in India through partnerships, displayed a diversity of mountain products from the mountain states of India, and gave attendees the opportunity to network with a range of stakeholders, including private sector and policy makers.

The programme also saw the soft launch of Climate+Change Indian Himalayan Region: Our Mountains, Our Future, an innovative and open-ended initiative to foster climate-smart communities throughout the Indian Himalayan region and beyond.

The guests of honour, Hem Pande, Special Secretary of the MoEF&CC, and Dr SS Negi, Director General of Forests and Special Secretary, MoEF&CC, highlighted the need for learning from best practices in the mountains and action towards climate change.

During the opening session, Prof. Jayant Bandyopadhyay, Jawaharlal Nehru University, delivered a keynote address, ‘Our Mountains, Our Future’, underscoring the significance of mountains, particularly the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR), in development discourse.

Sessions held over the five-day programme highlighted the need to establish a learning mechanism at the national level on transboundary landscape initiatives; to assess incentive-based mechanisms across the IHR for policy uptake; to standardise packages and practices and promote domestic certification; to promote customised technologies; and to monitor natural resource governance.

The week-long event was attended by participants from government agencies, academic and research institutions, international development organisations, local NGO partners, diplomats, the private sector, and the media.

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