Posted April 2001
Mountains have served as vast reserves of valuable resources - water, energy and biological diversity - for millennia. However, these resources and the communities that depend on them are under continual threat from the effects of globalization, urbanization and mass tourism. Indeed, mountain areas around the world are facing increasing marginalization, economic decline and environmental degradation.
The United Nations has declared 2002 the International Year of the Mountains (IYM) to raise global awareness of the importance of global mountain ecosystems and to reinforce the implementation of Chapter 13 of Agenda 21 (Earth Summit, Rio di Janeiro, 1992):'Managing fragile ecosystems: sustainable mountain development'. In particular, IYM aims to ensure the well-being of mountain and lowland communities. As Mr. Doug McGuire, Head of the IYM Coordination Unit and senior officer with FAO's Forest Conservation, Research and Education Service explains, 'The IYM's success will largely be measured by whether it can bring long-term benefits to impoverished mountain communities'.
As task manager for Chapter 13, FAO has been assigned the lead agency for the IYM. FAO will work closely with UN and other organizations to make sure the broadest possible range of expertise is focused on reaching the goals of sustainable mountain development. But what is meant by sustainable mountain development? What are the issues? How can we achieve it? The recently launched IYM website aims to answer these questions by providing a framework for the collection, storage and dissemination of information on the world's mountains.
The site features three main sections: themes contains information on 15 different aspects of mountain development, from forests to watershed management, conflicts, education, tourism and agriculture and food security; ranges includes features on the world's mountain ranges and highland areas, and profiles countries on those ranges; and action looks at how different national organizations are observing and coordinating IYM events and activities.
One way of ensuring the effective coordination of the IYM events and activities is through the establishment of IYM national committees. Importantly, it is envisaged that these national committees will work towards ensuring that sustainable mountain development remains high on their country's development agenda after the IYM has come to a close.
As of March 2001, Italy, Kyrgystan, Madagascar and Peru have set up national committees or similar mechanisms to organize IYM events. Reports on the status and activities of these national mechanisms are to be posted on the action section of the IYM website, which will also serve as an interactive forum for the exchange of experiences and best practices in sustainable mountain development.
It is hoped that many of national ACC Network Thematic Groups whose countries have mountain ranges and highland areas will be able to support IYM events and activities. We hope to post news of these partnerships on subsequent updates of the ACC Network and the IYM websites.
Comments and suggestions for input to the IYM website should be sent to: info@mountains2002.org