Environment Ministry to seek ‘International Year of Himalayas’

Kavita Upadhyay, TH, DEHRADUN: NOVEMBER 27, 2016 :After a successful session on Himalayas at the Conference of the Parties (CoP 22), the Environment Ministry will now start preparing a proposal to be sent to the U.N. General Assembly requesting it to declare a year as the International Year of Himalayas and to declare a day in a year as the International Himalaya Day.

Acknowledging the under-representation of the Himalayas at global platforms, the Ministry, for the first time, had entrusted an institute — Almora-based G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development — with the task of representing the 12 Himalayan States of the country at CoP 22. A session on which was held at Marrakesh, Morocco on November 17.

P.P. Dhyani, director of the G.B. Pant Institute told The Hindu, “During our session on Himalayas, we had proposed the idea of ‘International Year of Himalayas’ and an ‘International Himalaya Day.’ Now, a resolution will be prepared which will be endorsed by various countries. It will then be sent to the U.N..”

The Environment Ministry has asked the institute to organise each year sessions focussing on the Himalayas, which provide water to 1.3 billion people in Asia, and the impact of global warming on the 12 Himalayan States, Dr. Dhyani said.