Governance and Sustainable Mountain Development

The term "globalization" polarizes very much, for some it is an evolution of the market for others it is perceived as a threat. What is needed is a sustainable globalization that aims at capitalizing on the nature-based goods and services. The current system fails to capture the earth assets that the livelihood, in particular, the poor people depend on. In order to manage globalization and the environment together, effective governance structures are needed. Globalization as well as the environment are shaped by decision-making processes and policy action. Therefore, governance is the key issue to overcome the challenges of the 21st century.

What may be needed in terms of governance is a change of the current architecture that exists. Many institutions have emerged in the past years dealing with various issues. What is important is to define cross-cutting issues and foster synergies between the activities undertaken by the various institutions. It further goes without saying that by changing the governance structure, sustainable development has to be defined and implemented as a common vision.