The National Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (National CAMPA), under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has launched Harit-SANKALP (System for Accreditation, Nursery Knowledge for Afforestation Linkage Platform). The platform aims to strengthen transparency and traceability in forest nursery management and the supply of quality planting material across India.Harit-SANKALP has been developed as a centralized digital solution and represents a significant step towards modernising nursery operations and strengthening accountability across the forestry and afforestation ecosystem. It is designed as a comprehensive, role-based digital workflow supporting advanced planning, inventory management, traceability, and monitoring—from seed source and nursery raising to the final dispatch of planting material. The portal enables forest departments across States to standardise processes, enhance coordination, and make informed, data-driven decisions.A key feature of the platform is the generation of system-defined unique identification codes for every registered entity, including Seed Production Areas, Seed Orchards, Seed Processing Units, Seed Storage Units, and Nurseries. This uniform identification system eliminates duplication, ensures consistency across States and Divisions, and establishes a single, reliable source of nursery-related data. The portal also has a facility for booking for the procurement of plants by anyone in advance.The portal also auto-generates QR codes for nurseries and planting material batches. These QR codes provide instant access to detailed information through scanning, enabling efficient field-level verification, monitoring, and quality assurance. To begin with, all existing forest department nurseries across the States, which will be providing plantlets for the afforestation programme with CAMPA funds, are being mapped onto the platform and converted into a standardized digital format, with each nursery assigned a unique code and QR identity. Subsequently, it may be expanded to all the nurseries of the forest department.Harit-SANKALP enables end-to-end traceability of planting material, tracking each stage from seed sourcing and processing to nursery raising and dispatch. This strengthens quality control mechanisms and enhances accountability, particularly for CAMPA-supported afforestation and restoration activities.To improve visibility and decision-making, the platform offers customised, role-based dashboards presenting real-time summaries of nursery capacity, planting material availability, bookings, and dispatch status across administrative levels. An online advance booking facility further supports improved production planning and demand forecasting by allowing field units and implementing agencies to book planting material in advance, aligned with plantation schedules.The system incorporates multi-level, role-based login and access control, aligned with the forest department hierarchy at National, State, Circle, Division, and Range levels. This ensures decentralised data entry, controlled approvals, and secure access across administrative tiers.FAO has supported the Ministry in building this unique online seed system platform under the FAO Technical Cooperation Project with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare titled, “Support to developing protocols for quality planting material and certification of nurseries for timber and non-timber agroforestry species.” By institutionalising certification standards and quality protocols, the initiative addresses critical gaps identified in the National Agroforestry Policy 2014 and will help in ensuring availability of reliable, certified planting material to farmers and all other stakeholders engaged in afforestation and tree planting activities.Through close collaboration with the Government of India, FAO continues to bridge technical gaps, strengthen forestry and agroforestry investments, and promote sustainable practices. Harit-SANKALP contributes directly to India’s afforestation initiatives/ programmes, agroforestry, and climate resilience goals by fostering transparency, efficiency, and sustainability across the forestry value chain.

India’s peacekeepers play a vital role in maintaining international peace and security, the top United Nations official in India said, as officers prepared for deployment to UN peacekeeping missions abroad.Speaking at the UN Pre Deployment Course at the Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping in New Delhi, Stefan Priesner, United Nations Resident Coordinator in India, highlighted India’s long standing and exceptional contribution to UN peacekeeping operations.“For more than seven decades, UN peacekeeping has helped save lives, reduce violence, and support countries emerging from conflict,” Mr Priesner said. 
India has been among the largest and most consistent troop contributing countries to UN peacekeeping, with more than 275,000 Indian personnel having served under the UN flag since 1948.Mr Priesner paid tribute to Indian peacekeepers who lost their lives in the pursuit of peace, describing their service as an enduring source of inspiration for the United Nations.He said contemporary peacekeeping operations face increasingly complex challenges, including armed groups, criminal networks, geopolitical divisions, and the growing impact of misinformation and disinformation.Despite these challenges, UN peacekeepers continue to protect civilians, facilitate humanitarian assistance, support political processes, and help restore state authority in conflict affected countries, he said.Mr Priesner stressed that modern peacekeeping extends beyond monitoring ceasefires and rests on the understanding that peace, development, and human rights are inseparable.He also highlighted the importance of women’s participation in peacekeeping, noting that gender diverse contingents strengthen mission effectiveness and community trust.The event was attended by senior Indian military leadership, including Lieutenant General Vipul Singhal and Lieutenant General M P Singh, and brought together 35 Indian officers preparing for deployment to UN peacekeeping missions.

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In the quiet valleys of Uttarakhand, in northern India, the sound of the wind is replacing the sound of children’s laughter. The hills are not just losing people; they are losing their songs.In fact, the hills of Uttarakhand are emptying. Across valleys once alive with terraced fields, festivals and village schools, families are leaving for towns and plains – not out of choice but because they must. The causes are multiple and intertwined: reduced climate resilience, fragile livelihoods, weak educational infrastructure, limited local jobs, and political decisions that prize visible infrastructure over people-centred development. Unless these drivers are understood and addressed together, the exodus will deepen – along with the social and ecological costs for the region and the nation. Climate vulnerability: the slow unravelling of mountain lifeThe Himalayan landscape that supports the agriculture of Uttarakhand, as well as its water resources and its village, is undergoing rapid changes. Both state and national reports highlight the retreat of glaciers, the growth of hazardous glacial lakes, and an uptick in extreme weather events that lead to landslides, flash floods and erosion. These risks hit hardest those living on steep slopes with small landholdings. The Uttarakhand State Climate Change Cell (SCCC) and the State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) are keeping track of these developments, and caution that unchecked infrastructure development and tourism could worsen exposure to such hazards.These environmental shifts are translating into economic challenges. Crop patterns are changing, yields are declining and seasonal job opportunities are dwindling. When fields can no longer provide for basic needs, migration often becomes a necessity. Recent discussions with stakeholders have highlighted significant drops in glacier reserves and the urgent need for comprehensive action plans in the Himalayas, and stress the fact that the impacts of climate change are already driving migration in the western Himalaya.Education gaps: future-readiness is missingEducation can both protect people and open to them a world of opportunities – provided it is accessible, of good quality and connected to local economies. The educational situation in many Uttarakhand hamlets – and no doubt in other mountain regions around the world – is characterized by a lack of infrastructural development, the absence of teachers, limited digital access and few vocational training opportunities. Analyses conducted by the government and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) show that a large number of rural schools in India lack Internet connectivity and basic educational materials – a disadvantage that was highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. When kids and young people do not see practical ways to get good jobs through the nearby schools, families think of moving to cities either for their children’s education or to find them jobs. Studies on child migration have shown that education (or its absence) is one of the primary factors leading to families moving. Children who are thus dislocated face greater vulnerabilities unless systems are in place to include migrants in learning programmes. For Uttarakhand, this implies that education policy should be climate-aware, mobile population-inclusive and connected to the local economy, rather than provide credentials that are suitable only for the urban environment.Jobs and livelihoods: why roads and hotels aren’t enoughThe main development model in many hill districts focuses on building roads, creating tourism infrastructure and developing real estate. This model shows some growth in gross domestic product but leads to seasonal and uncertain jobs. Often, these jobs benefit outside investors more than local residents. Agriculture, pastoralism and small-scale crafts, which have historically supported mountain livelihoods, have been weakened by climate change, land degradation and lack of interest from younger generations. Studies tracking migration from Uttarakhand reveal that many villages have been partially or completely abandoned. The populations that remain are often older and poorer.To achieve sustainable local jobs, we need to invest in climate-resilient agriculture, improve value chains through processing local produce, support decentralized renewable energy, promote mountain-friendly tourism models run by local cooperatives and provide the digital skills required for remote work. If we do not implement these focused strategies, the jobs created will continue to be temporary, offer low pay and prove inadequate as a means to stop people from leaving.Political neglect and misguided indicators of progressDevelopment decisions are influenced by political motivations. Compared to slower, less visible investments in teacher training, community health, watershed rehabilitation or risk-sensitive village relocation, large, visible projects like highways, hotel complexes and urban-focused tourism receive political credit more quickly. As a result, the measurement of "progress" is skewed and more easily counts kilometres of roads than the years that children spend in school or the disaster resilience that households help develop.Furthermore, policy responses frequently lack integration: livelihood programmes, education policies and climate planning are all created independently with little input from the community. Because of this disconnect, interventions are less effective and local priorities, such as protecting agro-biodiversity or re-establishing traditional water systems, receive insufficient funding. What a people-centred, mountain-appropriate response looks likeReversing or stabilizing migration from Uttarakhand requires a multi-pronged, place-sensitive strategy:Climate-sensitive planning and risk reduction. Glacial lake monitoring, early warning systems, community-based disaster preparedness and hazard-informed land use rules should be scaled up so that people are not forced to leave due to recurrent disasters.Education that prepares for locality. Village learning centres and vocational streams linked to mountain economies (e.g., horticulture, value-added processing, eco-tourism operated by locals) should be strengthened and ensure digital access for blended learning. UNESCO literacy and learning initiatives and evidence on school access suggest models that can be adapted to hill contexts.Livelihood diversification rooted in local resources. Cooperatives, micro-enterprises and climate-resilient agricultural practices should be supported along with investment in decentralized energy access and connectivity to open remote income streams without uprooting communities.Policy coherence and participatory governance. Climate, education and employment policies should be aligned under district-level mountain plans with strong local representation; and progress should be evaluated using social and ecological indicators (learning outcomes, youth employment rates and household resilience) rather than only numbers of infrastructure projects.Targeted incentives to retain youth. Scholarships for local vocational colleges and development support for young entrepreneurs should be established, and public employment schemes should be tuned for terrain constraints to keep skilled youth engaged locally.Many of these measures could be applied to other mountain regions, which are facing similar challenges.A call for integrated careThe migration crisis in Uttarakhand is a result of a combination of ecological pressures and policy decisions that have eroded village life over time. In order to address the problem, one must be humble enough to listen to mountain communities, value their knowledge and support investments in less glamorous but stronger community building blocks: good schools, resilient livelihoods, risk-informed planning and responsible local governance. Progress isn't progress at all if it leaves the mountains empty. Rethinking development for the Himalaya entails putting people and the environment first, making mountain living a respectable and feasible option rather than a forced sacrifice.. About the author: Himani Usha Tripathi is a writer, mentor and performing artist whose work spans education, sustainability, Sustainable Development Goal advocacy and cultural exploration.This story was first published in UN Chronicle. The UN Chronicle is not an official record. It is privileged to host senior United Nations officials as well as distinguished contributors from outside the United Nations system whose views are not necessarily those of the United Nations. Similarly, the boundaries and names shown, and the designations used, in maps or articles do not necessarily imply endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
 

With global tensions rising and “reckless actions” triggering dangerous consequences, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday called for renewed efforts on peace, justice and sustainable development as he outlined his priorities for 2026 – the final year of his tenure. 2026 “is already shaping up to be a year of constant surprises and chaos,” he told journalists in New York.Mr. Guterres – who trained as a physicist before entering public life – said that during times of profound flux, he returns to fixed principles that explain how forces act.Generating ‘positive reactions’Among them is Newton’s Third Law of Motion which states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.“As we begin this year, we are determined to choose actions that generate concrete and positive reactions,” he said.“Reactions of peace, of justice, of responsibility, and of progress in our troubled times.”Chain reactionToday, impunity is driving conflicts – fueling escalation, widening mistrust, and allowing powerful spoilers to enter from every direction.“Meanwhile, the slashing of humanitarian aid is generating its own chain reactions of despair, displacement, and death,” as inequalities deepen.He highlighted climate change – “the most literal and devastating illustration of Newton’s principle” – as actions that heat the planet trigger storms, wildfires, hurricanes, drought and rising seas.Power shiftThe world is also witnessing “perhaps the greatest transfer of power of our times”, namely from governments to private tech companies.“When technologies that shape behaviour, elections, markets, and even conflicts operate without guardrails, the reaction is not innovation, it is instability,” he warned.Hegemony is not the answerThese challenges are happening as systems for global problem-solving continue to reflect economic and power structures of 80 years ago and this must change.“Our structures and institutions must reflect the complexity – and the opportunity – of these new times and realities,” he said.“Global problems will not be solved by one power calling the shots. Nor will they be solved by two powers carving the world into rival spheres of influence.”He stressed the importance of accelerating multipolarity – “one that is networked, inclusive by design, and capable of creating balance through partnerships” – but it alone does not guarantee stability or peace.“For multipolarity to generate equilibrium, prosperity and peace, we need strong multilateral institutions where legitimacy is rooted in shared responsibility and shared values,” he said.Shared valuesAdditionally, in the pursuit of reform, “structures may be out of date – but values are not,” he said.In this regard, the people who wrote the UN Charter “understood that the values enshrined in our founding documents were not lofty abstractions or idealistic hopes” but “the sine qua non of lasting peace and enduring justice.”He said that “despite all the hurdles, the United Nations is acting to give life to our shared values” and will not give up.Peace, reform and development“We are pushing for peace – just and sustainable peace rooted in international law. Peace that addresses root causes. Peace that endures beyond the signing of an agreement.”The UN is also pressing to reform and strengthen the Security Council – “the one and only body with the Charter-mandated authority to act on peace and security on behalf of every country.”Stating that there is no lasting peace without development, he highlighted action to speed up progress to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and reform the global financial architecture,“That includes ending the crushing cycle of debt, tripling the lending capacity of multilateral development banks, and ensuring developing countries just participation and real influence in global financial institutions,” he said.Climate supportOn climate action, he stressed the need for deep emissions cuts this decade along with a just and equitable transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.“We are demanding far greater support for countries already confronting climate catastrophe, expanded early warning systems, opportunities for nations rich in critical minerals to climb global value chains,” he said.The UN is also working urgently towards a framework for technology governance, including through global dialogue, capacity support for developing countries and the new International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence (AI).The names of 40 proposed panel members will be submitted to the General Assembly soon.AI for the developing worldMr. Guterres has also called for the creation of a Global Fund on AI Capacity Development for developing countries, with a target of $3 billion.“As we begin this year, we are determined to choose actions that generate concrete and positive reactions,” he said.“Reactions of peace, of justice, of responsibility, and of progress in our troubled times.”                                                                ***