STH Activity : Seminar on 'Development paradigm in the Mountains : a case study of Darjeeling and Kalimopng districts' (09Jan2018)

Referring our earlier blog
Some of the key take-aways from the seminar are :-

• Small towns and hamlets in the districts are urbanizing at a phenomenal rate, often in an unplanned manner.
• As they do so, the industries viz educational vocations, tourism, construction which are replacing traditional means of livelihood (main agro-based work) are more vulnerable to disaster.
• The study clearly showed the huge growth of human settlements and expansion of the developmental activities (such as road construction) along steep slopes or in the vicinity of landslide areas which results in a net increase of disaster risk in these regions.
• There is a need for landslide hazard zonation maps where available to be made public and easily accessible so as to incorporate this into the planning process.
• In the final analysis, there is an urgent need to better manage development activities in the mountains to reduce disaster risk.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong District,
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

STH activities (11Dec2017) : As a part of DHI (Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative), in a program on International Mountain Day at Darjeeling.

As a follow up to what was written here, Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative (of which STH is a member) conducted a one day discussion on the theme : 'Mountains under Pressure'

Praful Rao
Kalimpong District
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya

Event's of Note : International Mountain Day (11Dec2017) events at Darjeeling and Dehradun.

2017's theme for International Mountain Day on 11Dec2017 could not be more apt for the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). It is :-

Mountains under pressure : Climate, Hunger and Migration

Having worked on DRR issues of this region for the past 10yrs I am acutely aware just how much stress is building up in these mountains - rainfall patterns have become oscillations between excessive rain during a few months to almost drought like conditions for the remaining parts of the year; this and huge human interference in the mountains must  surely be at least partly responsible for the immense shortage of water all along the IHR. Consequently,  agriculture is no longer a profitable vocation in the mountains which in turn impacts food production to the extent that many parts of the IHR are today totally dependent on food supply from the plains. This sets into motion the humongous migration of especially the young from rural areas to the urban landscape and from our urban centers to the metropolis and abroad in search of better futures.

As such I am extremely glad to be part of the organization team which is holding a one day talk session at my old college ie St Joseph's College North Point, Darjeeling to exchange views on this most urgent topic.

On 11Dec again, the Sustainable Development Forum of Uttaranchal (SDFU) and the GBPNIHESD are organizing the annual 'Dr RS Tolia Memorial Lecture' on the first anniversary of Dr Tolia's death. This will be held at the Regional Science Centre in Dehradun with Shri Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Padma Bhushan delivering the keynote address
Dr RS Tolia, was of course a visionary and a mountain of a man who was one of the founding fathers of the IMI.
I was fortunate to have known him, being a part of IMI.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong District,
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya