MUZAFFARABAD: Around 300 national and international scholars from different varsities and research institutions addressed an international conference on management of indigenous resources, either in person or through Skype calls, on Sunday.

The colloquium titled ‘First International Conference on Indigenous Resource Management, Challenges and Opportunities 2016’ was organised by the University of Management Sciences and Information Technology (UMSIT), a public-sector university situated in the town of Kotli in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Conference secretary Prof Khawaja Rehman told Dawn that the international scholars, who were unable to make it to Kotli due to security clearance related issues, presented their research findings through Skype sessions, with Dr Peter Hook, Professor Emeritus of Michigan University, USA, being the keynote speaker.

Dr Tariq Rahman, HEC Distinguished National Professor Emeritus; Dr Ishtiaq Khaliq of TAARC, UK; Dr Mohammad Khan of National Defence University, Dr Sonia and Dr Daniele Montaiene of Basque University, Spain; Krishna Kumar of Tribhuvan University, Nepal, and Brandon Baughn of SIL International, USA, UMSIT vice chancellor Dr Ghulam Ghouse and Prof Dr Sabahat Akram spoke in the first plenary session.

Mohammad Akram Sohail, a former bureaucrat, spoke at length about AJK’s indigenous hydro and mineral resources and their management issues, while underscoring the need of revisiting national policies in this regard.

In all, over 300 national and international scholars presented their research findings in seven parallel technical sessions as the conference had seven sub-themes, Dr Rehman said.

The delegates demanded that the governments, private organisations, and individuals must work together to confront the threats to the indigenous resources and explore opportunities to utilise them, he said.

The conference, he added, unanimously recommended that all indigenous resources including natural and cultural resources should be explored, protected and utilised for the wellbeing of the local population.

Terming the cultural, linguistic and biological diversities as strength rather than a liability, the conference called for their preservation, promotion and protection for the sustainable development, leading to a prosperous, peaceful and pluralistic society.

Similarly, he said, the speakers also underlined the need of promotion and protection of local languages through implementation of mother tongue based multilingual education, formulation of tourism legislation and regulations, community participation for pollution control and waste management system, education of sustainable tourism at school and college level as well as training in tourism and production of skilled manpower for a sustainable tourism industry.

The conference stressed for provision of basic infrastructure, communication and uninterrupted power supply and alternative means of fuel to the people of remote hilly areas, such as Neelum valley, to bring the marginalised populations at par with the rest of the region.

Among other recommendations were initiation of cross Line of Control (LoC) and cross Himalayan religious and cultural tourism, cross LoC academic linkages through faculty and student exchange programmes, use of information technology to enhance the efficiency of researchers, universities and other institutions, promotion of industry-academia linkage to develop the knowledge based enterprise sector.

Dr Rehman told that the delegates were also taken to Tattapani, a resort famous for its hot springs on the outskirts of Kotli, on a sightseeing tour on Saturday, on the last day of the conference.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2016