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Issue 31 - September 2008
MembershipWe wish to welcome a new member who has recently joined the Mountain Partnership: ETE, Ecological Tourism in Europe (ETE) was founded in 1991 in Bonn, Germany, and supports the development of sustainable tourism in both Germany and Europe. Alone or in cooperation with partner organizations, ETE plans and implements model projects, which focus on regional development through environmentally and socially responsible tourism - often in protected areas and mountainous regions. As of September 2008, there are 153 members of the Mountain Partnership, 48 countries, 16 IGOs and 89 major group organizations (e.g. civil society, NGOs and the private sector). For information on their activities and contact details, visit the members section of the Mountain Partnership Web site www.mountainpartnership.org Update on Partnership activities
IPROMO course launched in Northern Italy The first course of IPROMO - the International Programme on Research and Training on Sustainable Management of Mountain Areas – took place from 23 July to 6 August 2008 in Northern Italy and was attended by over 25 students. The course focused on “Mountain Environment and Global Change” and provided the participants with series of lectures covering environmental issues, hazard, climatology, impact of changes on vegetation and forests, glaciology. The participants came from countries such as India, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, Angola, Iran, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Greece, Portugal and Italy and were selected from the over 200 applications received. IPROMO, which was conceived and organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat and by the Torino University, targets mainly countries and institutional members of the Mountain Partnership and is financially supported by the Piedmont Region and by a number of local authorities and private groups mainly from that area. The participants and the instructors have agreed to build an IPROMO Alumni network as an “agent of change” to continue the dialogue and cooperation on these themes. The Mountain Partnership Secretariat plans to organize soon a meeting with the other key partners to define the topic of the next IPROMO course to be held in summer 2009. The Mountain Partnership website will soon publish the results of the 2008 course. Food Crisis: Challenges and Opportunities in the Andes
Food prices in particular for grains and cereals have increased 83 percent worldwide in the last three years, says Oxfam International. As food prices soar, the nutritional level of the population, especially that of women and children who are the most vulnerable, decreases. A number of conference participants agreed that one of the steps to address regional nutritional deficits, especially among the poorest sector of the population, is to stimulate a greater consumption of native crops. The conference highlighted that Andean crops such as potato, mashua, oca, ulluco, maca, yacòn and quinoa could be proposed as alternatives to food imports and, if produced and exported in large quantities, as a source of revenue. For example, quinoa has a high percentage of protein and has been traditionally used within Inca culture as a substitute for animal protein. Economic and political mechanisms that favour production of native crops and the development of local, as well as external markets, and more effective social programmes that focus on the most vulnerable sector of the population are also essential. To read the summary in Spanish, please visit: http://www.infoandina.org/infonota-ampliado.shtml?x=24658&cmd[58]=i-58-77e85ed9c6b8c1b5678a7a99d49b9598 International Mountain Day 2008
Conference addresses growth pressure in mountain towns
Amenity migration is frequently defined as the migration of people for non-economic reasons. When a person buys property in a beautiful mountain town, but makes an income elsewhere, this is amenity migration. The conference attracted about 80 participants, primarily from Canada, who studied four main topics: 1) the definition of amenity migration encompassing second homes, settled tourists, economic migrants, urbanisation and more; 2) global and local drivers of amenity migration; 3) the biophysical and societal impacts of amenity migration; and 4) tools, strategies, and policies that can be used to manage amenity migration and plan for it. Popular speakers included Headwaters Economics’, Ray Rasker, who gave sixteen different examples of what communities can do to take charge of their futures. Dennis Glick of the Sonoran Institute’s Northern Rockies office emphasized the importance of having a community vision, a strategy for protecting important assets, and a plan for growth and development. Also well-received was Laurence A.G. Moss who revealed the complexities of amenity migration and how it impacts different places in different ways. Kim Sorvig of Santa Fe, New Mexico described how some vegetation thinning may actually be increasing fire risk on the edges of growing mountain communities. Rachel Bland of Devon, England described what planning authorities are doing there to provide affordable housing. ALMMR was co-presented with the International Amenity Migration Centre (IAMC) of Spokane, Washington. Conference proceedings will be published in early 2009 and full conference details, including the conference programme and speaker biographies, are available online. Workshop on Mountain TourismAs part of an action-oriented approach, the Mountain Partnership Secretariat and Ecological Tourism in Europe (ETE) – a new Mountain Partnership member - will be organizing an informal workshop in late November to explore the potential for better cooperation and collaboration in mountain tourism in the context of the Mountain Partnership. The workshop will bring together key stakeholders to develop ideas for concrete activities that could be carried out at the regional level in the area of mountain tourism. A full account of the results of the discussions will be made available to Mountain Partnership members, aiming at increasing involvement of interested members in this important topic.: mri.scnatweb.ch/index.php WebsiteThe Mountain Partnership website has just launched a page on the HKKH Partnership workshop held on 1 July 2008 at FAO headquarters on Innovative tools and experiences in mountain ecosystems management. The HKKH Partnership Project is a three year regional initiative implemented by IUCN, ICIMOD, Ev-K2-CNR and CESVI aimed at development of methods and tools to support the management of mountain ecosystems in the Hindu Kush-Karakorum-Himalaya region (HKKH). The project is active at regional, national and local levels with a special focus on three protected areas: Sagarmatha (Everest) National Park (SNP) in Nepal, Central Karakorum (K2) National Park (CKNP) in Pakistan and Qomolangma (Everest) Nature Preserve (QNP) in Tibet Autonomous Region of China. To download the presentations of the workshop visit: http://www.mountainpartnership.org/events/workshop/hkkh.html News highlights from around the worldToolbox for Planning Mountain Communities
2009 Alpine Town of the Year award for Bolzano
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South Tyrol’s Italian provincial capital Bolzano has been proclaimed "Alpine Town of the Year 2009". The title of "Alpine Town of the Year“ is awarded to a town in the Alps which has shown a particular commitment towards implementing the Alpine Convention. The competing towns are assessed by an international jury on the measures taken for the protection of the Alpine region in terms of sustainable, future-oriented development with regard to nature and culture, ecology and economy. For further information please visit:
More than 8,000 of the world’s leading decision makers in sustainable development: from governments, NGOs, business, the UN and academia will come together in one place for 10 days to debate, share, network, learn, commit, vote and decide ideas, action and solutions for a diverse and sustainable world.The Congress will include a workshop organized by Italy’s Legambiente on “Building Alliances to Safeguard Mediterranean Mountains”. The event will include the launch of a book published by IUCN entitled “Mediterranean mountains in a changing world: guidelines for developing action plans”, which is the result of a workshop held in Malaga, Spain in December 2007 in the context of the Mountain Partnership. The workshop will include discussion on future steps and priorities for collaboration for the conservation of mountains in the Mediterranean region.
The ICIMOD Photo Exhibition ‘Himalaya - Changing Landscapes’ will be in Barcelona, Spain from 5 to 14 October 2008, before travelling back to Kathmandu, Nepal, in time for ICIMOD’s 25th Anniversary celebration in December and then back to Madrid, Spain in January 2009. The exhibition features a unique collection of panoramas of mountains, valleys, and glaciers in the Khumbu region of Nepal taken in the 1950s, and reshot in the exact same locations in 2007. The exhibition includes photographs of scientific teams conducting research in the 1950s, and portraits of mountain people in the Himalayan region. The photographs illustrate how climate change and glacial melting are affecting the Himalayas, and the changes that have taken place in the climatic, cultural, and physical landscape of the Khumbu region over the last half century. The exhibition continues ICIMOD’s efforts to draw global attention to the impacts of climate change in the high mountain regions of the Himalaya. The exhibition was first unveiled at Everest Base Camp on 18 April 2008 under the title: ‘50 Years of Change – Glaciers, Landscapes, People and Resilience in the Mount Everest Region, Nepal’. For further information visit: 