DELHI, 6 Dec: Delegates from three Himalayan countries – India, Nepal and Bhutan – took part in Parvat Manthan, a platform of dialogue for enhanced service delivery in water, used water and waste management for hill cities, which was held at the India Habitat Centre here from 3 to 4 December.
The dialogue was hosted by the National Institute of Urban Affairs, the Integrated Mountain Initiative, the ICIMOD and the BORDA, and focused on enabling equitable sanitation services and implementing decentralised liquid waste management technologies, which are critical for promoting health and wellbeing in the often-remote and ecologically sensitive areas of the Himalayas. The conference also presented solid and legacy waste management in the important and fragile socio-ecology of the Himalayas, as well as from a climate perspective.
PD Rai from the Integrated Mountain Initiative highlighted the growing challenges of water security in the fast-growing cities of the Himalayas – with special focus on Gangtok – due to climate change. Rai called for “an urgent policy and political action to redress it.”
World Bank representative Anup Karanth showcased the use of GIS for planning for water-based disasters, as well as the need for real-time information-sharing, which is crucial for responding to disasters.
Pragya Pradhan from UN-Habitat Nepal stressed the need to “bring global perspectives into local sustainability action,” and advocated “appropriate and just global resources to combat the challenges that the Himalayas are facing.”
Shimla Mayor Surendra Chawhan shared the water woes and the financial crisis in redressing it in his city. He also spoke about the burden on resources with the tourist inflow, and emphasised the need for acknowledging the Himalayas for the wellbeing of the nation.
Nepal-based Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee’s Tshering Sherpa explained how a community-based NGO has been providing solid waste management services in the Everest region for the trekkers, mountaineers and communities. The “carry me back” initiative calls on trekkers to bring back waste to the MRF, which is then sent to Kathmandu, in collaboration with airlines.
The committee has been using drones to pick up waste from the upper base camps of the Everest and other mountains. The committee also provides ‘poo bags’ for climbers that contain chemicals and powders that solidify human excrement and make it largely odourless to bring it back with them.
Jigme Gembo from Bhutan’s environment & climate change department shared “the zero waste Bhutanvision and roadmap.”
Representing the Integrated Mountain Initiative, Roshan Rai informed that “the Himalayan Cleanup-2024 results were 90%, plus items picked was plastic waste, of which 75% plus was non-recyclable, which busts the myth that we can recycle ourselves of the plastic pollution crisis.”
He added that “84.2 percent of all plastics collected came from food packaging and most (71%) of these plastics are non-recyclable, which shows how food and waste intersect.”
He said that there is mounting evidence that points to the link between non-communicable disease, mental health issues and ultra processed food consumption.
He expressed the need to “design plastic waste out of the system and in the intermediary implement the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Rules with mountain targets and not geographical neutrality.”
The need for mountain sensitive technologies to manage liquid waste was the final session of the Parvat Manthan.
The session advocated the need for science, policy and practice to intersect.
Integrated Mountain Initiative president Ramesh Negi reiterated the importance of the Himalayas, the services rendered and the need for the nation to pay the Himalayas her dues. He also shared the need for policymakers and practitioners to engage with mountain universities and colleges whose knowledge is contextually relevant to the landscape.