National Missions
Himalayas assume great significance to the people of India- socially, culturally and economically. The Himalayan eco-system possesses nearly 51 million people who practice hill agriculture. Most of the India's river systems in the North originate from glaciers in the Himalayan region. The Himalayas are therefore major source of fresh water for the perennial rivers such as the Indus, the Ganga, and the Brahmaputra. Glacial melt may impact their long-term lean-season flows, with adverse impacts on the economy in terms of water availability and hydropower generation. For centuries, Himalayan ecosystem has remained delicately balanced, and has been responsible for the tremendous biodiversity of the region. The ecosystem has become increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of changes due to natural causes, anthropogenic emission related causes and also due to developmental paradigms of the modern society. The National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem has been launched with the goal of addressing all such issues holistically and in coordinated manner by involving all possible stakeholders.
The most crucial and primary objective of the mission is to develop a sustainable National capacity to continuously assess the health status of the Himalayan Ecosystem and enable policy bodies in their policy-formulation functions and assist States in the Indian Himalayan Region with their implementation of actions selected for sustainable development. Accordingly, the following objectives have been identified for the Mission.
1. Building human and institutional capacities in the different existing / new Institutions in the Himalayan region
2. Identification of national knowledge institutions and development of a self sustaining knowledge network
3. Development and adoption of new methods for assessing the health of the Himalayan eco system including those of glaciers and create a data base of the same
4. Assessment and quantification of the changes in the Himalayan eco system attributable to the climate change as a result of global emissions and human activities in the region and model for future projections
5. Exploration of linking of traditional and formal knowledge systems through strategic mechanism of formalization for mutual benefit and value for the sustainability of the Himalayan ecosystem
6. Identification of most-desirable Adaptation Policies to Improve Regional Sustainability