SHILLONG: Meghalaya will host the eighth edition of Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS-VIII), which will be held in Shillong from November 4 to 6 to deliberate on the issues and concerns of the Indian Himalayan Region.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma will be the Chief Guest and will inaugurate the summit at the NEC Auditorium on Monday. Prof. BK Dutta, Member of the North Eastern Council (NEC), will be the Guest of Honour.
Dr. Eklabya Sharma, Dy. Director General of the Kathmandu-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), will deliver the keynote address on the central theme of the summit: SMILEY (Sustainable Mountain Initiatives for Livelihood and Entrepreneurship for Youth).
One of the special features of the SMDS is that the open, civil society deliberations in the summit will be followed by a legislative conclave of the mountain states where the key outcomes will be discussed by the lawmakers representing the Himalayan region, thereby providing vital linkages between the people’s aspirations and legislative processes for policy-making for the upland regions.
The Legislators Meet will be chaired by Vincent Pala, MP (Shillong) and convened by Agatha Sangma, MP (Tura). It will also include Ferlin Sangma, MLA and Chairperson, Meghalaya State Council for Climate Change and Sustainable Development (MSCCC&SD) and HM Shangpliang as member of the organising committee.
The SMDS has been mooted under the aegis of the Integrated Mountain Initiative, a civil society movement and policy think tank that works across the Himalayan region for recognising the value of mountain regions and their special development needs.
Since its inception in 2011, the IMI, through its annual SMDS, has been articulating a mountain-specific development model to ensure the region’s ecological, social and economic well being.
This year’s summit takes up the pressing issues of sustainable livelihood and entrepreneurship for the youth in the upland region. The deliberations will follow four interconnected sub-themes – Sustainable Agriculture, Renewable Energy, Entrepreneurship Ecosystem and Tourism.
