Stakeholders’ Consultation for U’khand held at ICAR-IISWC

my uttarakhand news Bureau
Dehradun, 19 Jan: A high-level Stakeholders’ Consultation for the state of Uttarakhand was organised today at the ICAR–Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (ICAR-IISWC), Dehradun, under the UNEP–TEEB AgriFood funded project, titled “True Value Accounting: Making the Economic Case for Food Systems Transformation in India and Kenya”. The event was jointly convened by ICAR–Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research (IIFSR), Modipuram, in collaboration with GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment (GBPNIHE), Almora; ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun; and ICAR-Vivekananda Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan (VPKAS), Almora. The consultation attracted over 100 delegates from more than 20 national and international institutions and departments, bringing together experts, officials, and practitioners to deliberate on strategies for integrating the values of ecosystem services emanating from sustainable agri-food systems.
The primary objective of the consultation was to develop scenarios, indicators, and methodologies for assessing and valuing Natural, Produced, Human, and Social Capitals in line with the TEEB framework, with a special focus on the districts of Almora, Pauri Garhwal, and Haridwar in Uttarakhand. Present were senior government officials, including R Meenakshi Sundaram, Principal Secretary–Planning, Government of Uttarakhand, as the Chief Guest; Dr K Ravichandran, Director, Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, as the Guest of Honour; and Dr Bhanu Pingale, CASFOS, as the Special Guest. The inaugural welcome was delivered by Dr Sunil Kumar, Director, ICAR–IIFSR, followed by session remarks from Dr M Madhu (Director, ICAR–IISWC), Dr Lakshmi Kant (ICAR–VPKAS), Dr K Ravichandran (Director, IIFM, Bhopal), and Reuben Gergan (Project Manager, UNEP TEEB AgriFood).
The consultation was structured into three thematic sessions: (i) Inaugural Session on “True Value Accounting – A Tool for Bringing Nature’s Values into Economic Decisions and Policy,” (ii) Introductory and Scenario Setting Session focusing on the TEEB framework, capital-based valuation, and indicator selection for Uttarakhand, and (iii) Review Session on draft methodologies for capital estimation and integration. Each session concluded with interactive group discussions, encouraging feedback, and collaborative refinement of proposed methods. The technical deliberations were facilitated and moderated by Dr Meraj Alam Ansari (ICAR–IIFSR), Er Himanshu Joshi (GBPNIHE), Dr Raman Jeet Singh (ICAR–IISWC), and Dr Prakash Chandra Ghasal (ICAR–VPKAS), along with their team members.
The day-long event concluded with a Valedictory Session, which captured key reflections and outlined the way forward for the pilot implementation of the TVA framework in Uttarakhand’s Mountain agricultural context. The consultation marks a significant milestone in mainstreaming ecosystem service valuation into regional agricultural planning and policy formulation.