June 2010

 'Peak to Peak' is an opportunity to keep you up-to-date with the latest news, activities and events related to the Mountain Partnership. This newsletter, prepared by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, is sent by e-mail to all members and other interested partners and can be read on-line at www.mountainpartnership.org

Membership

We wish to welcome a new member who has recently joined the Mountain Partnership: The National Association for  the Rural Development  of Romania Mountains (Romontana), a non-profit, non-governmental national association established in 2000, member of Euromontana and World Rural Forum, which supports the sustainable development of the mountain rural areas of Romania. To learn more about Romontana visit: www.romontana.org (available only in Romanian).

As of June 2010 there are 168 members of the Mountain Partnership, 50 countries, 16 intergovernmental organizations and 102 major groups organizations (i.e. civil society, NGOs and the private sector). For more information on their activities and contact details visit the members section of the Mountain Partnership web site.

Update on Partnership activities

Mountain Partnership and Italian Ministry for the Environment
CSD - 18 Side Event
(12 May, New York)

The Side Event “Sustainable Mobility in Mountain Areas” was held at the CSD 18th session in New York on 12th May 2010. The panelists, Mattia Poretti (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation), Margrete Sagevik (International Union of Railways), Filippo Dal Fiore (MIT Senseable Cities Lab), Pier Carlo Sandei (UNEP), and Luca Cetara (SWOMM Scientific Secretariat) were welcomed by Paola Lucarelli, Deputy Head of the Private Office, Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea. The meeting was facilitated by Douglas McGuire, Coordinator, Mountain Partnership Secretariat - FAO.

The speakers addressed the issue of sustainable mobility in developed and developing mountain areas, stressing the impact of infrastructure and transport on ecosystems and remote communities as well as the key role played by mobility in the promotion of access to markets, education, health services, promoting social and human advancement of mountain areas of developing countries. Practical lessons learned from projects implemented in Nepal, the Alps and in the Carpathian region were also shared.

The speakers pointed out some possible interventions that could assist sustainable development, such as improving freight and passenger’s railway displacements. An integrated policies approach was encouraged, gathering together different levels of governance and conceiving the mobility as part of a systematic territorial planning exercise, which also involves energy, business and public services.

The side event, while promoting the sharing of initiatives and innovative best practices, was also an occasion for institutions from different mountain regions to network and create future partnerships. For the presentations of the participants please visit: http://www.mountainpartnership.org/eventspage/COP18.html   

International Mountain Day 2010

The theme for International Mountain Day 2010 is “Mountain minorities and indigenous peoples”. It aims to raise awareness about indigenous peoples and minorities who live in mountain environments and the relevance of their cultural heritage, traditions and customs.

This year’s International Mountain Day provides an apt occasion to reflect on how important it is to empower indigenous communities and help them promote and preserve traditional knowledge, including sciences, agricultural practices, responses to global change, medicines and health practices, fauna and flora, oral traditions, crafts and arts.

Although Mountain minorities and indigenous peoples is the suggested theme for 2010, countries or communities are welcome to celebrate International Mountain Day through the choice of a different theme that might be more relevant to them.

Every year FAO develops a series of multi-lingual information and communication materials to help partners celebrate International Mountain Day, including a poster, information note and a website page. If you have any information relevant to this year’s theme that could help with the production of these communication materials please send them by 30 July  to the IMD Coordinator, Sara Manuelli: sara.manuelli@fao.org.

Please note that all past products are available for downloading at the special International Mountain Day Web site: http://www.fao.org/mnts/intl_mountain_day_en.asp. The 2010 materials will be available on-line on 30/09/10.

27th FAO Regional Conference for Europe, 36th session of the European Commission on Agriculture – Side event
(11 - 14 May, Yerevan, Armenia)

Upon invitation from the Government of Armenia and the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture, UNEP took part at the side event on “Food security – a challenge for agriculture, biodiversity and the environment. Challenges and opportunities for managing grasslands towards sustainability in Europe and Central Asia” organized at the FAO Regional Conference for Europe.

In the presentation, UNEP Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (ISCC) briefed the participants on its activities towards the protection of biodiversity and an adequate sustainable management of mountain areas under the Carpathian Convention, such as the Biodiversity Protocol and the Carpathian Network on Protected Areas (CNPA). The experiences of the Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development in Mountains project (SARD-M) in the Carpathians were also highlighted. Since 2005, FAO in conjunction with UNEP ISCC, has carried out a SARD-M process within the Carpathian Area for identifying sub-regional priority areas that would need to be addressed by future relevant protocols. Common regional policy issues were determined followed by adequate recommendations and proposals for follow-up activities.

Meetings of the Biodiversity Working Group of the Carpathian Convention and the Carpathian Network on Protected Areas (CNPA) Steering Committee
(18-19 May, Poiana Brasov, Romania)

The Working Group of the Carpathian Convention on conservation and sustainable use of biological and landscape diversity and the Carpathian Network of Protected Areas (CNPA) Steering Committee met in Poiana Brasov in Romania. Within these meetings they worked on the CNPA Medium Term Strategy as well as on the further development of the Strategic Action Plan of the Biodiversity Protocol. The participants agreed on the concrete list of priorities to include in the Biodiversity Protocol Programme of Work for the upcoming years.

Workshop on global change research in mountain regions
(7 May, Vienna, Austria)

On 7 May 2010, the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) hosted a workshop on ”Global Change Research in Mountain Regions” in Vienna, Austria. The event was co-organized by the MRI, the UNEP Vienna/ Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention and the Institute for Mountain Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IGF-ÖAW). This one-day free workshop brought together a high number of researchers from all around the globe that are active in the field of global change in mountain regions.

The workshop enabled greater information exchange between academics, practitioners, actors and participants in mountain regions, in order to foster innovation in practical application and experiential learning. A special focus was given to the interdisciplinary approach of global change research in mountain regions. For further information, please contact: Ms. Astrid Björnsen Gurung astrid.bjoernsen@uibk.ac.at

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International Conference for the Creation of ecological corridors
(1 June 2010, Kiev, Ukraine)

To prevent the increasing habitat fragmentation and facilitate the migration and genetic exchange between wildlife, connections between protected areas should be developed. A pilot exercise which establishes ecological corridors among selected protected areas in Ukraine, Romania and Poland was developed by several partners at national and local level with a fundamental support of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Ukraine. At the conference in Kiev, the project "Realizing trans-boundary ecological connectivity in the Ukrainian Carpathians" (BBI-Matra project) was presented. UNEP ISCC supports the further development of such ecological corridors in the Carpathian areas. In its presentation it gave an insight into the important links to the Carpathian Convention and its Biodiversity protocol.

Towards the Second World Landslide Forum

The World Landslide Forum (WLF) is a triennial conference under the umbrella of the International Consortium on landslides (ICL) aimed at gathering scientists, practitioners, policy makers and industry dealing with the management of landslide risk. The first edition of the WLF was organized in 2008 by ICL, UNESCO, WMO, FAO, UNISDR, UNU, UNEP, UNDP, ICSU and other international partners at the United Nations University in Tokyo and concluded with the adoption of the 2008 Tokyo Declaration “Strengthening the International Programme on Landslides with UNISDR”. Since then, many disasters due to landslides have shown that there is an urgent need to translate science into practical applications for the benefit of local communities, governments and disaster relief organizations.

The objective of the Second World Landslide Forum, which will be hosted by FAO Headquarters in Rome from 3 to 7 October 2011, is to further develop the outcomes of the first Forum in Tokyo by providing a global cross cutting information and cooperation platform for all types of organizations representing academia, UN Organizations, governments, private enterprises and individuals that contribute to landslide research, practice, education and decision making. The inaugural meeting of the organizing committee for the 2nd WLF took place in May 2010 in Rome and resulted in a proposed structure of the main topics to be covered by the Forum. The overarching theme of the Forum will be “Putting science into practice” with special attention given to actual implementation of technology and research in everyday applications and procedures. The deadline for the pre-registration and the submission of abstracts is 20 December 2010. For more information about the 2nd World Landslide Forum please contact Thomas.hofer@fao.org

European Union Strategy for the Danube Region (ESDR) – Conference on transport, energy and environmental issues.
(19-21 April 2010 Vienna/Bratislava)

In the framework of the preparations of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, a conference on transport, energy and environmental issues took place in Vienna and Bratislava. The conference’s audience included representatives of authorities at a EU, national and regional level, as well as a wide range of key actors from the Danube Region. The aim was to try and identify macro-regional projects, to establish the areas of agreement and disagreement between parties (and the possible ways forward) as well as to note participant views by the European Commission.

Within the workshop on “Biodiversity – economic pressures, ecological aspirations” Mr. Harald Egerer, Head of UNEP Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (UNEP-ISCC) and Mountain Partnership Focal point for the Environment, highlighted the importance of an integrated approach to the ESDR as well as the strategic relevance of the Carpathian Mountains and their ecosystems for the whole Danube region and promoted the establishment of a Carpathian Space within the ESDR. The contributions of the Environmental Reference Centre – Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention to the ESDR are available at www.carpathianconvention.org

E-Conference on climate change in the Andean Region

Experts from the Andean Region discussed the vulnerability of the Andean region to climate change during a three week-long electronic forum in May that evaluated the current state-of-action in response to climate change. Issues raised included the impacts of climate change and how to implement activities at local level that can contribute to improve the capacity of adaptation of the more vulnerable communities, as well as the main difficulties of this process.

This e-forum was organized by CONDESAN, the Andean Community and Intercooperation, with the contribution of the InfoAndina Programme of CONDESAN. The results of the forum will be an input for the regional synthesis process of the Panorama Andino Programme of CONDESAN, which this year investigates vulnerability, adaptation and mitigation of the effects of climate change in the Tropical Andes. 

News highlights from around the world

Mountain Protection Label

On the occasion of World Environment Day (June 5), the UIAA highlighted its commitment by announcing plans for a Mountain Protection label.The UIAA wants to make it easier for mountaineers to minimise their impact on the environment. For this reason the international federation plans to launch a certification scheme. It foresees a label being awarded to tour operators and mountain recreation organisations which commit themselves to acting according to high mountain protection standards.

As the basis for certification, the UIAA intends to use the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) guidelines “Mountains and Tourism A Practical Guide to Managing the Environmental and Social Impacts of Mountain Tours” and the accompanying Check List: http://www.unep.org/publications/search/pub_details_s.asp?ID=3948

"Because they harbour so much of the world’s biodiversity, mountain regions are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of tourism, climate change, and global warming," says Linda McMillan, UIAA Mountain Protection Commission president and Deputy Vice-Chairman, IUCN-WCPA Mountains Biome. "The Mountain Protection Label is designed to be an easy to use high-value tool that enables tour operators and their clients to minimise impacts on our precious mountain landscapes."

The first-time Carpathian Parks Day

On the 23rd of May the Carpathian Parks Day was celebrated for the first time by several national and natural parks across the Carpathian Mountains. Almost thirty parks from five Carpathian countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine) took part to this event. The programme which varied from country to country and from park to park, included activities such as guided tours, school type activities, and trail clean ups. The day's main goal was to raise awareness of the importance of protected areas in biodiversity conservation, sustainable socio- economic development and tourism increase, contributing also to the financial stability in the region.

Launch of the Indigenous Partnership for Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty

Encouraged by the growing awareness that the well-being of future generations can be sustained and enhanced by nurturing the traditional biological and cultural knowledge systems of indigenous and local communities, the Christensen Fund (TCF) is supporting the establishment of an Indigenous Partnership for Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty with the active collaboration of three indigenous organizations (Tebtebba Foundation, ANDES and the Vanuatu Cultural Centre), the Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research (PAR), Rome, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), London and Slow Food International, Bra, Italy. The Partnership aims to foster a proactive alliance between indigenous peoples and local communities and the global institutions of research on agrobiodiversity, policy research on sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty and advocacy of local food systems. The Partnership is expected to facilitate the co-creation of a research and advocacy agenda in support of agrobiodiversity and the regeneration of diverse local food systems and landscapes within the broader framework of food sovereignty.  A scoping workshop was held on 3-5 May in Cusco, Peru, to discuss the main framework, structure and governance system of the Partnership.

Future events

Third Global Meeting of Mountainous Peoples
Mountain peoples answers to the contemporary cultural and economic crisis.
(25 Sept - 3 October, Oloron Sainte Marie, France)

The World Mountain Peoples Association (WMPA) is organizing the Third Global Meeting of Mountainous Peoples with the aim of promoting the cause of the mountain communities and environments. There will be visits to the Pyrenees and its communities and discussions on the management of mountain environments. In particular the programme will focus on: legacy and passing on, production, know-how and exchange and restoring fair representation. For more information on the meeting please download the PDF, or contact Claudine Stanislas c.stanisla@apmm-wmpa.org

Regional Workshop “Vulnerability and Adaptation to the Effects of Climate Change in Tropical Andes”
(22-24 June, Lima, Peru)

A regional workshop to discuss and exchange knowledge and information about vulnerability and adaptation regarding climate change effects in the Tropical Andes will be organized by the General Secretariat of Andean Community along with CONDESAN and Intercooperation. This event will identify the synergies, lack of information and recommendations on these issues which could determine the actions and policies on climate change in the region.

Participants will include environmental authorities of the countries members of the Andean Community, representatives of organizations, researchers and scientists that carry out initiatives related to these topics. For more information please contact Gabriela Maldonado from CONDESAN at gabriela.maldonado@condesan.org

Course on Applied Glaciology
(19-22 July, Cusco, Peru)

The course is aimed at strengthening the capacities of key actors from the public and the private sector in Peru that are dealing with the issues of hydric resources. Experts and course participants will have the opportunity to visit the Vilcanota mountain range and its retreating tropical glacier, and acquire knowledge in management and monitoring of glaciers, taking into account climate change scenarios. This course will also contribute to propose better policies and programmes to deal with these topics.

The course is organized by the Climate Change Adaptation Programme (PACC-Peru), led in its facilitation by Intercooperation. Experts from the Peruvian authority on hydric resources, the Regional Andean Programme on Impacts of Glacier Retreats of the Andean Community (PRAA), the Research Institute for Development and the University of Zurich, Switzerland will be leading the course. For more information please contact pacc@intercooperation.org.pe

International Symposium on Integrated Sustainable Livelihood Development in Mountain Forest Areas
(22-25 September, Lin'an, Zhejiang Province, China)

In China, hills and mountains cover 69 percent of the country’s surface and of the 592 counties that are classified as poor, 490 are located in mountainous areas. There is a pressing need to increase the capacity of hill and mountain peoples to adopt and promote measures for economic and environmental development, and to explore an integrated sustainable developing model. The workshop will discuss several themes such as an exploration and evaluation of the integrated sustainable livelihood development in Lin'an; protection and reconstruction of ecosystems and sustainable forest management in mountain forest areas; new rural communities construction and industrial development for community livelihoods; use, industrialization and commercialization of non-timber forest products.  For more information contact : International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR). Coordinator: Zhu Zhaohua, Jin WeiTel: 86-10-64706161 ext. 301, 310. Fax: 86-10-64703166 Email: zhzhu@inbar.intFor applications Please download form from the following link: http://www.inbar.int/Admin/ewebeditor6/uploadfile/20100504114550866.doc

Publications

The routes of the Bicentenary in Argentina

An alternative view on the use of natural resources in Argentina, that goes beyond the conflicts that have been part of the country’s history over the past 200 years is the theme of the publication “Los caminos del Bicentenario” (The routes of the Bicentenary). These routes illustrate the diversity of environments and cultures, as well as the productive systems that sustain that diversity. The publication advocates for a new social contract where production and environment become the sides of the same coin. The publication has been recently published by Mountain Partnership member ProYungas, an Argentinean organization that works in the conservation and development of mountainous sub tropical forests. To download the publication: http://www.infoandina.org/node/29958