Mountains: Key player for global sustainable development

Mountains also embody key global issues such as migration and urbanisation, food security, land degradation, conflicts, water supply, energy production, transport and waste management, biodiversity conservation and protected areas, extreme weather events (floods, droughts), and natural hazards. However, their physical remoteness does not mean that mountain people and their environments should be overlooked by the rest of humankind. On the contrary, without better mutual understanding and cooperation regarding mountains, the challenge of global sustainable development will not be achievable.

This is why the Swiss Government, through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), is funding the preparation of regional reports and a global synthesis on achievements and experiences in Sustainable Mountain Development (SMD) since Rio 1992. These reports will also identify gaps, upcoming issues, challenges, and opportunities for SMD. Drafts of the reports will be presented and discussed at the ‘Lucerne World Mountain Conference’ initiated by SDC, to be held in Lucerne, Switzerland on 11 and 12 October 2011. This event will provide inputs to Rio 2012 and to the next CSD biennium, where mountains will be one of the five key topics.

These initiatives are a collaborative effort undertaken in the framework of the Mountain Partnership (MP) Initiative. They are being carried out by a number of MP members including (in alphabetical order) the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), the Centre for Mountain Studies (CMS), the Consorcio para el Desarrollo Sostenible de la Ecorregión Andina (CONDESAN), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI), the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), the University of Central Asia (UCA), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Zoï Network. This group is open to other interested parties.