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Issue 30 - July 2008
MembershipWe wish to welcome a new member who has recently joined the Mountain Partnership: The Carpathian Convention. www.carpathianconvention.org. As of July 2008, there are 152 members of the Mountain Partnership, 48 countries, 16 IGOs and 88 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 activitiesThe FAO Mountain Products Programme (operated in the context of the Mountain Partnership) has obtained funding from the FAO Technical Cooperation Programme Facility to carry out a formulation mission in July 2008 to design a project on promotion of niche products from mountain regions in Lebanon, based on the pilot case of the 'Labneh" cheese. The mission will be carried out by an FAO expert on Animal Production, in collaboration with officers from the Animal Resources Directorate of the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture. The mission will analyse the constraints and opportunities of the Labneh value chain and develop a document for a two year project, which will be funded by the FAO Technical Cooperation Programme. For further information please contact Alexia Baldascini, Mountain Products Programme Manager at: alexia.baldascini@fao.org Funding databaseThe Mountain Partnership website has updated its funding database. The service intends to facilitate members who need information about existing grants and fellowships. All entries and information were updated last December. The International Mountain Parks Twinning Programme
Climate Change Adaptation Programme
Celebrating 25 Years of ICIMOD for Mountains and People: Focusing on Climate Change and Adaptation in the Himalayas
MRI - Mountain Research Initiative - Europe expands its membershipMRI Europe, the network of researchers working on global change in European mountains has reached 900 members in only 1 and a half years. At the Global Change Research Network for European Mountains meeting in February 2007 in Zurich, Switzerland, 90 scientists from 21 countries expressed their expectations and defined tools for the emerging science network. MRI Europe was defined as an interdisciplinary and purpose-driven network aiming at the implementation of the Global Change and Mountain Regions (GLOCHAMORE) Research Strategy in European mountains. It will aim to capitalize on the research capacity and resources in Europe, for instance, by linking scientists, projects and initiatives. On 27-28 May 2008 MRI organized a Networking Meeting in conjunction with the new Science for the Carpathians (S4C) Initiative. The group of scientists that launched this initiative received the mandate of the Interim Secretariat for the Carpathian Convention (ISCC) hosted at UNEP, Vienna, to coordinate and strengthen science in the Carpathians. For further information, visit: mri.scnatweb.ch/content Experts database: mri.scnatweb.ch/index.php News highlights from around the worldEnhanced nature conservation in the Alps and Carpathians
Mountain caribou in British Columbia still imperiled
Past EventsCSD Partnerships Fair
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Mountain Products in Lebanon
Mountain Partner Soluciones Prácticas- ITDG has recently announced the results of the Climate Change Adaptation Programme. The Programme was funded by the European Commission and was composed of seven projects in seven regions of Peru, focusing on agricultural technologies, information systems and conflict management. The target was the generation and improvement of knowledge and technologies for climate change adaptation, in order to reduce the impact on vulnerable populations.
The project was implemented in tropical Andean mountainous ecosystems, especially in three subsystems: western slopes (North Andes: Piura and Lambayeque), Inter Andean valleys (Cajamarca, Ancash, Apurímac and Cusco) and eastern slopes (San Martín), all areas which have been undergoing a steady process of desertification since the 1970s. For further information please visit: 
2008 marks ICIMOD’s 25th anniversary of working for mountains and people in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region – the Centre was established in December 1983. ICIMOD is celebrating the occasion with a year-long series of events aiming at raising awareness of the impacts of climate change; the need to enhance the adaptation and resilience of mountain communities; and ICIMOD’s way forward. 
Germany, France, Ukraine, the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the Secretaries-General of the Alpine and Carpathian Conventions have agreed to strengthen cooperation in nature conservation and signed a corresponding Memorandum of Understanding. "This cooperation is aimed at establishing an ecological network in the sensitive Alpine and Carpathian mountain regions," said Matthias Machnig, State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry. Ukraine's Environment Minister Heorhiy Filipchuk stressed that such a cooperation between Europe's two largest mountain regions can make a major contribution towards the creation of a global network of protected areas. 
Wildlife biologists and watchdogs in Canada say the provincial government of British Columbia in Canada is failing to protect the endangered mountain caribou – in spite of a new mountain caribou recovery plan announced in October 2007. Little progress has been seen on the ground in the first eight months of the critical program. Environmental groups feel the process has been stalled by complex land use negotiations. Twenty years ago, approximately 5,000 mountain caribou roamed the old growth forests of southern British Columbia. Today fewer than 1,900 mountain caribou remain spread across southern B.C. in 11 separate herds. The species relies on old growth forest rather than younger stands. But old growth forest is also lucrative to B.C. forest companies – comprising one of the largest industries in the province. While habitat loss is the biggest threat to mountain caribou the elusive animals are also sensitive to disruption by human use, such as heli-skiing and snowmobiling. The B.C. mountain caribou recovery plan sets aside some 2.2 million hectares of land for specially managed caribou range, large tracts of which fall in commercial forest lands. The plan specifies that it should not harm the commercial forest industry, but setting aside land without paring back the commercial forest base is proving more difficult than imagined. For further information please visit: 
The CSD Partnerships Fair was held during the 16th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development at UN headquarters in New York. The Mountain Partnership opened the official partnership presentation session on 6 May with an event that focussed on its recent activities. Following a brief history of the partnership by Mountain Partnership Secretariat Coordinator Douglas McGuire, MPS Programme Officer Rosalaura Romeo presented the Mountain Products Programme and the contributions it has made to livelihood improvement and biodiversity protection in mountain areas, as well as recent activities related to decentralized cooperation, such as the IPROMO training course on mountain issues at the University of Torino. The event also included presentations by Pier Carlo Sandei of UNEP who described the Carpathian and Alpine conventions and their contributions to regional cooperation on mountain issues, and Carlos Cattaneo of the Committee for the Sustainable Development of the Mountain Regions of the Argentine Republic, who presented the Mountain Partnership’s Andean Initiative. 
The Summit, convened by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), concluded with the adoption by acclamation of a declaration calling on the international community to increase assistance for developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and those that are most negatively affected by high food prices. “There is an urgent need to help developing countries and countries in transition expand agriculture and food production, and to increase investment in agriculture, agribusiness and rural development, from both public and private sources,” according to the declaration.
High-level representatives and over 150 participants from Parties and Observers to the Carpathian Convention convened in Bucharest for a successful Second Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Carpathian Convention (COP2). The Carpathian COP2 concluded with the adoption of the Biodiversity Protocol as a new legally-binding regional instrument; a multi-sector work programme, consisting of 16 operational decisions, including the development of Protocols on Forestry, Transport and Tourism, and environmental education activities with the support of the private sector, and the approval of an increase in the budget of the interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention. It also invited UNEP to prepare a proposal for making the Carpathian Convention a UNEP administered Convention. Furthermore, the COP2 of the Carpathian Convention has agreed to join to the Mountain Partnership. The fact that both the existing conventions for the protection of mountain ranges – the Alpine Convention and the Carpathian Convention - have decided to join and work in the context of the Mountain Partnership represents an excellent opportunity to strengthen cooperation not only between these two parties, but also for sharing their respective experiences with other mountain regions in the world. For further information, please visit: 
A line-up of passionate and dedicated world-wide adventurers will inspire and entertain audiences at this year’s New Zealand Mountain Film Festival in July. Real life experiences of conquering the highest, travelling the furthest, to tales of outlandish adventures will be shared by international and New Zealand speakers during the five days of the festival. Festival Director Mark Sedon said he was delighted a diverse and talented group of adventurers will recount their stories for festival goers, “It is a great opportunity for armchair and budding adventurers to hear real life experiences and gain an insight in to the hardships and sense of achievement when the challenges and dreams are turned in to reality,” he said. The speaker platforms are just one component of this year’s New Zealand Mountain Film Festival. The festival also includes over 40 screenings of adventure lifestyle films, photographic exhibitions and a gear trade show. For more information on the programme of speakers and festival, visit: 
CIPRA, the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps, is awarding prizes worth a total of €100,000 for exemplary response measures which contribute to climate protection or to adapting to the consequences of climate change. The projects submitted will be posted on the internet after the closing date for the competition. The winning projects will be announced separately to the general public in autumn 2008. Private individuals, businesses, associations, local authorities and all other organizations which implement response measures aimed at mitigating climate change or adapting to the consequences of climate change (at both valley and mountain levels) are all eligible to take part. For further information, visit: 