Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Bhupender Yadav......
Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Bhupender Yadav addresses the Inaugural session of Sustainable Mountain Development Summit-XI. Ease of living is as important as Ease of doing business: Shri Yadav. Union Minister highlights PM's vision that the world shall go towards Mission Lifestyle for Environment. Involvement of local communities is most important for environment friendly and responsible tourism. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to extend all support to the Ladakh administration for awareness and training of local stakeholders.
The theme for SMDS-XI is 'Harnessing tourism for sustainable mountain development'. The main focus of the summit is to reduce the negative impacts of tourism while harnessing its positive contributions to building climate and socio-ecological resilience and sustainability. Integration of science and policy is to be the core activity of IMI, in light of this, he suggested integration of uniqueness of cultures and environments to become essential part of such summits.
During the event, capacity building of youth was another important aspect that was mentioned so that it does not focus only on literacy for employment but also on preservation of local culture, environment protection and developing scientific integrity among youth. Government has schemes like Skill India and various portals like National Career Service Portal, e-Shram Portal, Udyami and ASEEM portals etc. During COP-26 at Glasgow, the Prime Minister highlighted that the world should go towards Mission Lifestyle for Environment.
People living in harsh Himalayan conditions have all these values and the region is not only popular for tourism but also for cultural harmony. Tourism in the Himalayas should be promoted for nature seekers, pilgrims, and spiritual seekers. Not only environment friendly but responsible tourism is also the need of the hour. Involvement of local communities in tourism is most important for integrating such initiatives. The Minister also informed that the work on connecting remote landscapes by building tunnels like Atal Tunnel and ongoing Zoji La Tunnel will reduce carbon emission in the mountain environment.