A five-day international symposium on ‘Transforming Mountain Forestry’ was held in Dehradun, India from 18 to 22 January 2015 to explore options for sustainable forest management practices and policies that address the changing conditions in the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH). The symposium was jointly organized by India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC); the Forest Research Institute (FRI); and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). Over 250 regional and global experts, including law makers, scientists, practitioners, donors, civil servants, the media, market actors, legal experts, and representatives of civil society and the business community, attended the symposium, which sought to address the challenges of conservation and inclusive development while identifying transboundary opportunities to meet climatic challenges.
Forests cover about 25% of the HKH and interface with numerous ecosystems, providing an invaluable range of ecosystem services. The goods and services from forests sustain mountain agriculture, which is an integral part of ensuring food, water, and energy security in the context of the transboundary socio-economic, environmental, and cultural linkages of the region. The health and vitality of many forest ecosystems have been affected by climatic and land use changes; it is possible that the impact of the latter may outweigh that of the former.
To sustain forest ecosystem services in the context of climate change and other contemporary issues, the symposium sought to move towards a third-generation forest management paradigm, state controlled and participatory paradigms being the first two approaches to forest management in the region. The symposium recognized the role of mountain forests as carbon pools and recommended that regional member countries in the HKH develop policies that promote people-centric sustainable management practices backed by relevant research to ensure that forests continue to play this role in neutralizing the impacts of global warming. The need to link science with policy and practice was stressed and innovative ways to exchange knowledge to bridge information gaps were suggested, including the creation of horizontal and vertical links among stakeholders. Specific recommendations were made by the participants on the five symposium themes for consideration by the governments of the countries in the region.
This document also gives some details on discussion held during various plenary, parallel, and brainstorming sessions held during the symposium. It starts with the overall introduction of the symposium, the need for the symposium, and various themes and sub-themes discussed during the symposium. After the introduction, a detailed report of various sessions are presented which helped the symposium come up with recommendations in all five specific themes as mentioned below.