Sustainable Mountain Development Summit VIII
SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, during the Sustainable Mountain Development Summit VIII held at North Eastern Council Auditorium (NEC) Auditorium, Nongrim Hills on Monday, said that the government will, in the next few months, make the Meghalaya Secretariat ‘Net Zero Waste’ area.
The Sustainable Mountain Development Summit VIII (SDMS-VIII) is being held from November 4 to 6.
Conrad expressed gratitude towards the Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI), Integrated Mountain Development Initiative (MIMDI), Shillong and the other partners for organising the summit in the state and said that there is a need to convert the thought processes and policies into actions.
“The world scenario is going to change in the next ten to fifteen years in two major areas i.e. Technology — where everything will revolve around artificial intelligence (AI) — and Climate Change,” he said.
The Chief Minister emphasised the need to be ready for these changes and take advantage of it.
“It is platforms like these that enable us to take stock of the alarming changes and take measures for sustainable development and convert policy aspects into sustainable economic opportunities for entrepreneurs,” he said. He also said that the entrepreneurs need recognition and appreciation and urged the entrepreneurs to be solution providers and not merely product providers.
The SMDS-VIII builds on the outcomes of previous seven summits which focussed on issues such as climate change, forests, mountain agriculture and other livelihoods, water, disasters, sustainable cities and drivers of change which threaten the region’s ecological, social and economical well-being.
The theme of SDMS VIII is ‘Sustainable Mountain Initiatives for Livelihoods and Entrepreneurship for Youth (SMILEY) with sub themes on sustainable agriculture to identify approaches and strategies including policy options for new age farming practices in view of climate and socio-economic changes, sustainable energy to promote specific renewable energy generations and energy efficiency enhancement through youth entrepreneurship, sustainable agri-business to encourage mountain youth to take up food processing and allied agri-business as sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainable tourism to promote tourism in the Indo-Himalayan region focussing on youth employment retaining socio-environmental-cultural heritage.
A special side event of SMDS-VIII is Zero Waste which is a call for action for Sustainable Waste Management in the mountains. Zero Waste strives to reduce waste at source through rethinking and redesigning products so that nothing is sent to the landfill in the long run.