New Delhi, Sept 28 : With the central theme of “Strengthening Economies –Collaboration! Financing! Resilience”, the 5 th Edition of SDG Summit was held on Sept 27 and 28 th at New Delhi. Among the changemakers and policymakers associated with climate changethe environment, Minister in charge of Health Family Welfare Department,Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare department, Information and Public Relations department,Law Department Dr Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh highlighted significant initiatives designed toaddress the pressing challenges of climate change and promote sustainable development, for a resilient future, by the Government of Meghalaya.
The fifth addition of the Global Sustainability Alliance commenced on Wednesday with a ministerialaddress by Lyonpo Namgay Tshering, Minister of Finance, Royal Govt. of Bhutan. Otherdignitaries present were National Head Enterprise Business & Group Captive, Tata PowerRenewable Energy Limited Shweta Mathur, Executive Director of Climate Group, DivyaSharma, Ambassador, Kingdom of Netherlands to India Marisa Gerards, besides other intellectuals.
In her keynote address, Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh introduced the theme of her talk, “Responsible Endeavours for a Resilient Future.” She said, “Meghalaya is blessed with 76% forest cover and morethan 50,000 springs. However, the perils of climate change threaten the delicate equilibrium of ourecosystems and could have serious impact on farming patterns and on the lives of agrariancommunities. To mitigate these risks, the Government has initiated several afforestation programs and the country’s largest Payment for Ecosystem Services program, called Green Meghalaya.Communities are paid an annual grant of up to INR 15,000 per hectare for conserving the forest cover.So far 1,500 communities have been supported for preserving almost 27,000 hectares of natural forest cover”, said the Minister.
The Minister also informed that in January 2023, the Meghalaya State Organic and Natural Farmingpolicy was introduced, aiming to promote organic farming as a sustainable income source for farmers.The policy emphasizes capacity building, technology development, and income augmentation through training, value addition, and market linkages while preserving the fragile ecology of Meghalaya.Supportive infrastructure such as cold storage, warehouses, and processing units has been developed,integrated with the Chief Minister's Solar Mission to reduce carbon footprints.
The two-day SDG Summit was held at – ITC Maurya and Dr Ambedkar International Centre, NewDelhi in Day-1 and Day-2 respectively, with leaders, across the globe discussing on the sharedimportance to achieve a green, resilient and sustainable growth ecosystem.
On the other hand, the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas honourable Minister HardeepSingh Puri presented the Green Ribbon Champions award for outstanding environmental committedto the government of Meghalaya which was received by the Minister from Meghalaya , Dr .Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh.
