Kathmandu, Mar 15 :The South Asia Regional Conference on ‘Physical mobility and development in the mountains’ organised with an objective of making an exchange of experiences on the potentials and hindrances of the mountain development in South Asian countries began here today.

At the conference participated in by 80 participants from South Asian countries, the United Kingdom and Norway, discussions will be held on social, economic and cultural diversity as well as preservation of the heritages for the sustainable development of mountain environment, environmental tourism and utilisation of natural resources, migration, etc.

Inaugurating the three day conference, T.U. guest professor Dr. Mangal Raj Joshi stressed the need to preserve the Himalayan ranges as they are the identity of the nation and they are necessary for the bio-diversity and human ecology.

At the conference organised jointly by the T. U. Department of Geography, and the East Anglia University of U.K., various speakers including dean of the T. U. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Dr. Triratna Manandhar, Head of the Department of Geography Prof. Vidyabir Singh Kansakar, Director of the British Council Ms. Barbara Wickham and a host of speakers shed light on the importance of mountain environment and development.