Zubair Qureshi
More than 50 students will take part in the opening event of the 11th edition of the Pakistan Mountain Festival.
Margalla Hills Trail-3 cleanup, mountain culture show,live painting competition, exhibition and a daylong activity are also part of the annual activity.
According to a press release issued Saturday, the event aims at celebrating the United Nations International Mountain Day (IMD).
Exhibition of the paintings will be organized on December 7 in collaboration at the Rawalpindi Art Gallery of the Punjab Arts Council.
The Margalla Hills Trail-3 cleanup will be organized on Sunday December 5 coupled with a briefing on the Margalla Hills National Park by the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB).
Third Pakistan Mountain Youth Parliament also plans to launch the second batch of Pakistan Mountain Ambassadors is scheduled for December 9, the statement further said.
A grand daylong event will be organized on Saturday December 11 on the International Mountain Day.
It will include a conference Pakistan Mountains by 2030 including panel discussions on mountaineering and tourism in the changing climate, Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) and Disaster Risk Management (DRR), invasion on culture and heritage, and youth and women development.
A mountain culture show, exhibition of paintings, showcase stalls of organizations, arts and crafts will also enrich the daylong events.
Pakistan Mountains Pride Awards were launched in 2019 after the names of five living legends including Agostino Da Polenza Mountain Conservation Award, Shoaib Sultan Khan Mountain Community Development Award, Nazir Sabir Mountaineering Award, Ashraf Aman Sustainable Mountain Tourism Award, and Ustad Jan Ali Mountain Music Award.
The eleventh edition of the Pakistan Mountain Festival will be concluded with the second edition of awards.
Speaking to this scribe, Executive Director Devcom-Pakistan and founder and director of Pakistan Mountain Festival Munir Ahmed said: International Mountain Day (December 11) is dedicated to raising awareness about opportunities and challenges facing mountain regions, as well as building alliances that will bring positive change to mountain peoples and places around the world.
Devcom-Pakistan has been organizing different events to mark IMD engaging mountain communities and stakeholders in the mountain regions and downstream with the collaboration of different partners from government, national and international nongovernment and UN organizations, and academia since 2005. It was branded as Pakistan Mountain Festival in 2009.
Munir Ahme said: Pakistan’s mountains are the most vulnerable to deforestation and ecosystem degradation that have accelerated the pace of glaciers melting.
Pakistan is ranked fifth on the World Vulnerability Index just because of the degradation of mountains.
We need to address the challenges confronting our mountains that play a significant role in providing water and food supply to millions of people.
