Speakers at a discussion yesterday called for raising awareness among people about the risks of unplanned development and overpopulation in the hills of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) area, the most economically marginalised area in the country'.

The discussion was organised on International Mountain Day (IMD) observed for the first time in the country yesterday.

The speakers urged the government to stop migration of people from plain lands, as it will increase the vulnerabilities of the hills. The biodiversity of the hills are already threatened, while more and more people are moving to the CHT introducing cultivation of plain lands, which will make the region even more vulnerable, they said.

Extraction of resources from the hills for the wellbeing of the plain land people has been going on since the British era without considering its ecological balance, the speakers said.

Naba Bikram Kishore Tripura, secretary to the CHT affairs ministry, chaired the session in the capital's Cirdap auditorium while Joint Secretary Basudeb Achariya delivered the welcome speech.

It was discussed that Bangladesh is collaborating with seven other countries of the Himalayan and Hindukush regions, both affected by climate change, under a programme of International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) focusing on adaptation.

The ICIMOD has taken up the five-year sustainable development programme to be implemented in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan through sharing of mountain knowledge and data.

New job opportunities, especially non-farm activi-ties, will be encouraged among the poor locals, especially the women under the project, the speakers said.

Ziaul Haq, a senior assistant secretary to the CHT ministry, presented the keynote paper titled "Moun-tains-Key to a Sustainable Future", the theme of the day this year.

Dr Ranjit Kumar Biswas, secretary to the social welfare ministry; Mike Robson, country representative of FAO; Prof Syed Manzurul Islam and Prof Mesbah

Kamal of Dhaka University; anthropologist Prof Prashanta Tripura; and Pranendu Bikash Chakma of Rangamati University for Engineering and Technology also spoke.

The CHT affairs ministry organised it with support from FAO, ILO, UNDP, ICIMOD and Bangladesh Adventure Club while The Daily Star and Channel i were the media partners.

A colourful procession and an exhibition on life and culture in mountains were also held.