Global Summit on Disaster Management… Food For Thought on the First Day
By Ratnajyoti Dutta
DEHRADUN, 30 Nov: Food for thought came up at the inaugural session of the first of the sixth edition of the World Congress on Disaster Management (WCDM).
Not many people gathered at the event knew that the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand has 72% of its land area under forest cover.
The state is ecologically rich but faces challenges in economic development.
The issues of economic development often come in conflict with the topic of sustainable development upholding ecological balance.
Not many are aware that the large forest coverage of the state help retards the issues related to global warming.
It has often been found that Uttarakhand is upholding ecological considerations over its economic developmental goals.
“There is a huge cost of maintaining 72% forest cover for the state,” said Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Uttarakhand’s chief secretary, on November 28, the first day of WCDM.
Sandhu said the state should be rewarded for promoting ecological balance at the cost of economic development.
“Will somebody compensate the cost that Uttarakhand pays for maintaining its forest cover,” asked the chief secretary to the audience at the Silver Jubilee Convention Hall of Graphic Era University where the inaugural session of WCDM took place.
The mega programme on disaster management got into a flying start with Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami inaugurating the programme in the presence of a host of dignitaries including Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi, the Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and renowned environmentalist Anil Prakash Joshi.
Dhami urged the global disaster experts to develop a comprehensive disaster management mechanism to face better natural calamities like cloudbursts, landslides and earthquakes in the coming days.
Dhami said the comprehensive disaster management approach has to be based on Sanatan Dharma’s basic principle of treating the Earth as the mother so that the mindless exploitation of natural resources at society’s disposal can be avoided.
Dhami said the natural resources should be utilised for economic development but in a sustainable manner so that the ecological balance is maintained.
The Sixth Edition of WCMD witnessed the participation of more than sixty countries in more than 50 technical sessions.
Dhami said the enriching deliberations at the global conference would help develop an economic growth approach for the state based on ecological balance.
Admiral Joshi floated the idea of natural disaster insurance and automated disaster warning alerts in natural calamity-prone areas.
Renowned environmentalist Anil Prakash Joshi said economic development and maintaining ecological balance have to be rural-centric to achieve long-term sustainable development goals.
[Source: First published at Garhwal Post on Nov 29, 2023]
[The writer is a Delhi-based senior journalist.]
