Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) is the Integrated Mountain Initiative’s flagship annual conclave. Every year 3-5 salient themes engaging the immediate attention of and relevant to the mountains and hills are taken up for threadbare discussion and debate. Conclusions and recommendations emerging from this exercise are pursued by IMI subsequently for actionable output.
The thematic focus of previous SMDSs are as below:
| SMDS | THEMATIC FOCUS |
| SMDS-I (2011), Nainital | Hydropower, Adaptation measures under Climate Change, Rural Tourism, Community forestry |
| SMDS-II (2012), Gangtok | Water, Forests & Communities, Mountain Livelihoods |
| SMDS-III (2013), Kohima | Forests, Water: Rivers, streams & springs, Mountain agriculture |
| SMDS-IV (2015) , Itanagar | Disaster Risk Reduction, Mountain Agriculture, Forests |
| SMDS-V (2016), Leh | Water Security, Skills for development in the mountains |
| SMDS-VI (2017), Aizawl | Climate Change & Sustainable Mountain Cities |
| SMDS-VII (2018), Solan | Well-being of Next Generation of Farmers in the Indian Himalayan Region |
| SMDS-VIII (2019), Shillong | Livelihood & Entrepreneurship for Youth |
Each of these summits have been characterized by diverse discussions, debates and exchanges. They have also produced specific policy briefings and recommendations, which are helping change the dialogue on development practices and policies for the mountain states. Each summit had 200-300 participants, representing a diverse mix of policymakers, eminent scientists, researchers, academics, research and educational institutions, government representatives, legislators, business and industry representatives, international, national and grassroots level NGOs, field practitioners, consultants, experts, eminent citizens and media.
Visit www.mountaininitiative.in for reports of earlier summits.