A Himalayan state just put a price tag on its forests, rivers, and biodiversity — and invited India's top scientist to help make it stick. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami chaired a high-level meeting at the Chief Minister's residence in Dehradun on Saturday, 26 September 2026, launching the Uttarakhand Science, Technology and Innovation Policy-2026 and releasing two consecutive annual technical reports on the state's Gross Environment Product (GEP) — covering 2023-24 and 2024-25.

PMO's Principal Scientific Adviser in the Room

The meeting carried unmistakable national weight. Prof. Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister's Office, sat alongside experts from multiple scientific and technical institutions. Together, they deliberated on the scientific foundations of GEP, methods for compiling and analysing environmental resource data, and the specific opportunities this framework holds for a Himalayan state like Uttarakhand. The presence of the PMO's top science voice signals that Uttarakhand's environmental accounting experiment is no longer a state curiosity — it is being watched at the national level.

What GEP Actually Does — and Why Uttarakhand Built It First

Uttarakhand became the first Indian state to formally adopt the Gross Environment Product metric in 2021, designing it to sit alongside conventional GDP as a complementary measure of ecological wealth. GEP puts a scientific and economic value on services that forests, rivers, soil, and biodiversity silently perform — carbon absorption, water regulation, biodiversity support, and more. The GEP technical reports for 2023-24 and 2024-25, released at Saturday's meeting, carry forward that valuation exercise across two fiscal years.

CM Dhami made the purpose explicit: 'GEP ke madhyam se rajya ki prakritik evam paryavaraniya sampada ke yogdan ka vaigyanik evam aarthik aakalan kiya ja sakta hai' — through GEP, the scientific and economic contribution of the state's natural and environmental wealth can be assessed. That assessment, he argued, must then flow directly into development plans and state policy, not sit in a technical report gathering dust.

Carbon Credits, Water Harvesting — the Directions Dhami Issued

The CM did not leave the meeting at the level of philosophy. He issued two concrete directions: first, that carbon credits must be integrated into the Uttarakhand STI Policy-2026, creating a formal framework to monetise the state's carbon absorption, forest conservation, and natural resource preservation efforts through verified credit mechanisms. Second, that water harvesting systems must be simplified so ordinary citizens — not just institutions — can actually use them.

On carbon credits, Dhami was pointed: efforts related to carbon sequestration, forest protection, and environmental services need a 'scientific and technical foundation,' and the potential of this sector deserves special attention. The instruction to embed carbon credits in a state STI policy — rather than a standalone environment scheme — is a structural choice, signalling that Uttarakhand wants innovation infrastructure and green finance to grow from the same root.

A Himalayan State Demanding Himalayan Solutions

Dhami's overarching argument at the launch was geographic. Uttarakhand's terrain, ecology, and socio-economic conditions are distinct, he said, and demand solutions that generic national templates cannot deliver. The STI Policy-2026 is designed to promote sector-specific scientific research, identify emerging areas of science and technology relevant to the state, and strengthen research and development at the local level so that results actually reach communities and improve livelihoods.

He stressed that development planning must account for the carrying capacity of natural resources, ecological sensitivity, and local conditions — and that local communities must be partners in conservation, not bystanders. Linking resource protection to livelihood opportunities for hill populations, he said, is itself an effective strategy for conservation.

With India's Himalayan states facing accelerating climate pressures and the national government deepening its focus on green growth, Uttarakhand's bet is that environmental accounting and innovation policy, fused together, can make conservation economically self-sustaining — not just a cost the state bears for the rest of the country.