The Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Nepal, will organise a symposium geared towards transforming mountain forestry for the welfare of people, forests and the environment in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region. The first ever symposium, to specifically focus on mountain forestry in KHK region, will be held at the FRI in Dehradun from January 18 and January 22.
The event is supported by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change of India through the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), DEIF-UK Aid and the Austrian Development Agency, said FRI director Dr PP Bhojvaid while interacting with media persons on Saturday in the presence of Dr Rajan Kotru, regional programme manager, ICIMOD, Kunal Satyarthi, IFS, head Silviculture division, FRI and Nira Gurung, senior communications officer, ICIMOD. The symposium aims at outlining options for sustainable forest management practices and policies that address the changing conditions in the HKH while identifying trans-boundary opportunities that meet climatic and contemporary challenges, thus simultaneously addressing conservation and inclusive development.
Bhojvaid said that forests cover about 25 per cent of the Hindu Kush Himalayas and provide vital ecosystem services. They provide timber and non-timber resources that help sustain local livelihood, ensure the provision of food, water and energy and protect the environment by sequestering carbon. The 2007 UN Climate Change Conference in Bali and the 2008 World Forestry Congress drew the world’s attention to the role of forests in supporting climate change adaptation and mitigation, particularly in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region.
The Mountain Forestry Symposium will provide a forum for over 200 regional and global experts to identify sustainable forest management practices and policies that can address the changing conditions in the Hindu Kush Himalayas and propose a way to address conservation and inclusive development simultaneously.
All eight countries of the Hindu Kush Himalayas, as well as key global mountain forestry centres, will be represented at the symposium. Participants will include policy makers, scientists, practitioners, donors, civil servants, media, market actors and legal experts. High level representatives from all the mountain states of India as well as from the ministry of environment, forests and climate change and other key ministries of the government of India, will also be among the participants.
The five- day symposium has a number of specific objectives. It seeks to establish a common understanding of forest ecosystem dynamics and the management of mountain forest ecosystems in the Hindu Kush Himalayas to set research and development agenda on a trans-boundary scale. Participants will also identify policy deficits and propose priority actions for ensuring inclusive adaptation and good forest governance on a trans-boundary scale so as to address climate change and globalisation processes. Another key objective of this gathering is to promote global, regional and national partnerships and networks for collaborative research, development and policy advocacy.
One of the event’s highlights will be the law- makers and ministers’ session. Parliamentarians and forest ministers from Indian mountain states together with forest ministers from SAARC would participate. It will broadly cover five themes- institutions and governance, forest dynamics and management, incentive- based mechanisms, opportunities for regional market and knowledge- sharing and regional cooperation.