Mountain Festival kicks off
Zubair Qureshi
While expressing their commitment at the launch of first batch of 11 young and dynamic professionals and activists from the up and downstream the Mountain Ambassadors pledged to take up mountains hardcore issues to work on jointly for their resolution.
The launching of the Mountain Ambassadors was the kick of event of the 9th edition of the Pakistan Mountain Festival held Saturday. It is the annual flagship event of the Devcom-Pakistan (Development Communications Network), to mark the International Mountains Day that falls on December 11.
The first of 11 mountain ambassadors include a well-known playwright and poet Irfan Ahmed Urfi, PT award winning actress and model Sadia Amman Rathore, actress and model Nosheen Agha, policy advocacy and human development specialist Afshan Tahseen Bajwa, educationist and environmentalist Dr Anjum Rasheed from the Comsats University, governance and policy specialist Ujala Sadiq from the National Defense University, visual and performing artist Ahmed Habib, well-known singer and song producer Daulat Wali Baig, product and community development expert Wazir Amaan, cultural performer from Kalash Shakira Bibi, sportswoman and trainer Misbah Hina Ali.
Speaking about the concept behind the mountain ambassadors’ initiative, the Executive Director Devcom-Pakistan and founder of Pakistan Mountain Festival Munir Ahmed said, “Our mountains are the frontlines of the climate change impact. The challenge is to reduce the pace of degradation happening on the mountains and affecting the glaciers, biological diversity, ecosystems, life and livelihood of communities. The loss is hampering the GDP of the resources for the people living downstream. That is why we need to bridge the knowledge and action gap between the up and downstream communities and stakeholders, and to create different mechanisms to educate and inform each other.”
Munir Ahmed said the Mountain Ambassadors would bridge the information and action gap between the up and downstream stakeholders. Devcom-Pakistan has thought of a network of the Mountain Ambassadors to consistently talk about the challenges confronting the mountains, and the need of environment and sustainable development; plan and manage some voluntary on ground action activities by engaging peer groups.
