Campaign to save Navi Mumbai hills on International Mountain Day

Navi Mumbai: Celebrating the UN-driven International Mountain Day, a group of nature lovers have come together to organise a two-day event focusing on the need to conserve the hills in Navi Mumbai.

The Parsik Hill is one of the biggest hill ranges in the Navi Mumbai-Thane belt of the Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR) and faces multiple threats.

Globally, the Mountain Day is observed on December 11 and this year’s theme is: “Mountain solutions for a sustainable future – innovation, adaptation and youth.”

With this in mind, Kharghar Wetlands and Hills forum, Anubhuti Endeavours Pvt Ltd., and NatConnect Foundation will organise a cycle rally and a hill trail on December 7 and 8. 

The events are being supported by Snake Awareness Association and the Forest Department, Panvel.

Mountains and hills play an important role in our ecosystem acting as a sponge for our water resources, and as natural treasure of herbs, vegetation, trees and home to different creatures they are getting fragmented and lost in race of development, said Jyoti Nadkarni, convenor of Kharghar Wetlands and Hills Forum.

“Our motto is to remind people more than the administration to save this nature's entity for our future generation in the heart of the city,” she said.

Navi Mumbai is blessed with Kharghar hills with the iconic and scenic Pandavkada Waterfalls adding to the beauty and these must be preserved, she said.

Sudeep Athavale, Director - Anubhuti Endeavour Pvt. Ltd, said, “let us recognize the vital role that mountains play in supporting life on Earth”. Cycling is also beneficial not just as a mode of transportation but also as a way to connect with nature and promote sustainability. “By combining our love for mountains and cycling, we can create a more environmentally conscious and sustainable future for all,” Athavale said.

NatConnect director B N Kumar regretted that the toxic combination of general apathy among the people and neglect by the authorities is ruining nature and that includes the hills.

“All of us study the subject of environment in our primary schools and forget about it when we grow up,” Kumar, who along with Shri Ekvira Aai Pratishtan director Nandakumar Pawar, masterminded the #SaveParsikHills campaign.

The events such as the International Mountain Day will hopefully arouse public conscience and make the authorities accountable, NatConnect said, taking a vow to launch a nationwide campaign.

With the destruction of hills in the name of development, we are attacking wildlife, said Raghunath Jadhav of Snake Awareness Association. “This is exactly why  we constantly see wildlife entering urban settlements,” he pointed out.

As the UN said, mountains are natural jewels we should treasure. They are home to 15 per cent of the world's population and host about half of the world's biodiversity hotspots. They provide freshwater for everyday life to half of humanity, helping to sustain agriculture and supply clean energy and medicines.