Chairing the third meeting with MPs from the Himalayan region last evening, Dave also underlined the need for having an interface on the real problems of the Himalayan region to help proper planning to mitigate them.

“Man, wild animals and forests have been living in harmonious co-existence. No Scheduled Tribe has ever posed a threat to the forests.

“Himalayas must be seen as a single whole and not in different parts. Himalayan range is one of the areas that has been suffering the ill-effects of pollution the most,” Dave said.

Some of the issues discussed at the meeting included the possibility of disaster risk reduction, climate change impact, retreat of Himalayan glaciers, forest fires and the need to reduce out migration.

The government has underlined the need for an interface on the real problems of the Himalayan region, as it will help in proper planning, an official statement said.

The MPs who took part in the meeting include Ajay Tamta, Shanta Kumar, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Ramesh PokhriyalNishank and Neiphu Rio.

Two such meetings have been held earlier. The first meeting was held in September last year in Almora in Uttarakhand.

The meeting discussed the need to bring in a ‘Mountain Perspective’ in national policies and plans and also emphasised the need to find long-term, research based solutions to the issues specific to the region.

The second meeting was held in December last year and it had underlined the need for bringing mountain states to the forefront of Sustainable Development Agenda in the country.