National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem

On June 30, 2008, India’s first National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) was released which outlined existing and future policies and programs to address climate mitigation and adaptation. Emphasizing the overriding priority of maintaining high economic growth rates to raise living standards, the plan identifies measures that promote development objectives while yielding co-benefits for effectively addressing climate change.

The plan identifies eight core “national missions” running through 2017, which form the core of the National Action Plan. These represent multi-pronged, long-term, and integrated strategies for achieving key goals in the context of climate change.

NMSHE: National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem

The National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) is one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

NMSHE is a multi-pronged, cross-cutting mission across various sectors. It contributes to the country’s sustainable development by enhancing the understanding of climate change, its likely impacts, and adaptation actions required for the Himalayas- a region on which a significant proportion of India’s population depends for sustenance.

NMSHE seeks to facilitate the formulation of appropriate policy measures and time-bound action programs to sustain ecological resilience and ensure the continued provisions of key ecosystem services in the Himalayas. NMSHE intends to evolve suitable management and policy measures for sustaining and safeguarding the Himalayan ecosystem along with developing capacities at the national level to continuously assess its health status.

Recognizing the importance of scientific and technological inputs required for sustaining the fragile Himalayan Ecosystem, the Ministry of Science and Technology has been given the nodal responsibility of coordinating this mission. However, the mission involves valuable cooperation of the Indian Himalayan States, the Planning Commission, and the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change to achieve its goals.

Primary Objective of NMSHE

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, enable policy bodies in their policy-formulation functions and assist states in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) with their implementation of actions selected for sustainable development. This integrated objective would require
a. Scientific assessment of the vulnerability of the Himalayan ecosystem to short and long-term variability in the weather and climate in all its dimensions of physical, biological, and socio-cultural aspects.
b. Research for framing evidence-based policy measures to protect the fragile ecosystem and
c. Time-bound action programs at the state level in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) in order to sustain ecological resilience and ensure the continued provision of key ecosystem services.

Secondary Objectives

The secondary objectives of the National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem(NMSHE)identified within the overall primary objective are:

• Networking of knowledge institutions engaged in studies on the Himalayan Ecosystem and development of a coherent database on the geological, hydrological, biological, and socio-cultural dimensions including traditional knowledge systems on the preservation and conservation of the ecosystem
• Detection and decoupling of natural and anthropogenic induced signals of global environmental changes in mountain ecosystems and prediction of future trends on potential impacts of climate change on the Himalayan ecosystem with a sound S&T backup
• Assessment of the socio-economic and ecological consequences of global environmental change and design of appropriate strategies for growth in the economy of the mountain regions and the lowland systems dependent on mountain resources in the region
• Studying traditional knowledge systems for community participation in adaptation, mitigation, and coping mechanisms inclusive of farming and traditional health care systems
• Evaluation of policy alternatives for regional development plans towards sustainable tourism development, water, and other natural resource management for mountain ecosystems in the region
• Creation of awareness amongst stakeholders in the region for including them in the design and implementation of the program
• Assisting the states in the Indian Himalayan Region with informed actions required for sustaining the Himalayan ecosystem