NEW DELHI: The tenth edition of the Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) started on Friday and will continue till 20th November.
Organised by the Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI), the three day summit is being hosted this year by the Darjeeling-Kalimpong Chapter of IMI and will focus on COVID-19 pandemic, inter-linkages between biodiversity, ecosystem, human health, migration, climate resilience and disaster risk reduction in the Indian Himalayas.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic and the protocols, the tenth SMDS session this year is being held online. The theme for this year's SMDS is "One Health Making our Mountains Resilient".
"The wellbeing of mountain people is inextricably linked to biodiversity. With the COVID-19 pandemic, inter-linkages between biodiversity, ecosystem, and human health have become starkly apparent. The pandemic also showed us that outbreaks and spread of diseases are not just a health risk, but regress human civilization by disrupting social life, economy, education, livelihoods, and rob people of basic dignity and wellbeing," said the Integrated Mountain Initiative, a non profit organisation.
The main objectives for SMDS tenth series is to focus on to advocate for resilient and sustainable policies and programmes in the IHR in averting future impacts of climate change, disasters and pandemics, share knowledge and inform policy and decision makers about the interconnectedness of the selected themes and the importance of One Health approaches in all aspects of development in the IHR.