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October 31, 2022 | Gangtok: The delegation from Germany represented by 19 members of the Committee for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection of the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) headed by the Hon’ble Member of Parliament Mr Harald Ebner met with the Hon’ble Minister, Forest and Environment Department, Mr Karma Loday Bhutia, ACS-cum-PCCF Mr M L Srivastava and senior officers of the department at Barbet Board Room, Forest Secretariat, Deorali today forenoon. The meeting was held with the objective to intensify Indo-German Partnership on green and sustainable development including biodiversity and forest protection. The meeting shared current best environmental practices and future challenges through discussions, presentations and Q&A sessions. The German delegation mentioned that Sikkim has been a role model in environmental front. The delegation also had a brief meeting earlier on with the Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri P S Tamang and expressed their gratitude to the Government of Sikkim. The delegation of German Federal Parliament intends to flag climate change issue through their Government for G20 precedency in India for intensified Indo-German cooperation.
The Hon’ble Forest Minister in his address to the delegation mentioned that the Indo-German cooperation initiated in May 2020 has had fruitful outcomes especially the springshed development. He mentioned that Sikkim being a highly ecologically fragile state needs global attention to address climate change issues such as restoring the degrading oak and conifer forests, promoting nature based tourism for meeting international standards for which he sought for intensified collaboration. The ACS-cum-PCCF addressed several queries of the delegation in matters relating to interstate stakeholder contribution, promoting the use of sustainable building materials, organic farming, intervention of renewable energy and so on.
During the meeting, presentations were made on potential areas for Indo-German partnership such as restoring climate-sensitive oak and conifer forests, conserving the cold desert biodiversity, smart environment monitoring, conservation of Khangchendzonga landscape and so on by APCCF(Wildlife) Dr. Sandeep Tambe, JD(SPCB) Kusum Gurung and SECURE Himalayan Project Manager Rajasri Chakroboty.
The delegation of the German Federal Parliament also accompanied by officers of the German Embassy, GIZ project officials who on their visit to Sikkim also took stock of the previously completed projects such as spring-shed development at Tendong Hills. The meeting ended with the vote of thanks by CF(T) Mr Karma D. Legshey.