Mountain Partnership

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Mountain Partnership

Welcome to the Mountain Partnership

The Mountain Partnership is a voluntary alliance of partners dedicated to improving the lives of mountain people and protecting mountain environments around the world. Launched at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in 2002, the Mountain Partnership taps the wealth and diversity of resources, information, knowledge, and expertise of its members to support positive change in mountain areas. Presently, 50 countries, 16 intergovernmental organizations and 101 major groups (e.g. civil society, NGOs and the private sector) are members.

About the Mountain Partnership 

The Mountain Partnership is a mechanism for networking, communication and information-sharing and functions as a clearing house for members. It complements, supports and strengthens on-going initiatives in sustainable mountain development. The Mountain Partnership also functions as a broker for joint initiatives; facilitating contact between countries and institutions in view of joint activities and creating conditions for cooperation and resource mobilization at the national, regional and global level. The dynamic core of the Mountain Partnership is action and initiatives on the ground. These initiatives are guided by the recommendations of the World Summit for Sustainable Development (2002). They cover specific themes - like policy and law, sustainable livelihoods, watershed management, research, gender, education, sustainable agriculture and rural development in mountains (SARD-M) - and different geographic areas such as the Andes, Central America and the Caribbean, Central Asia, East Africa, Europe and the Hindu Kush Himalaya.

Why a Mountain Partnership?

Mountains cover about 25 percent of the earth's surface and are home to 12 percent of the world's population.

As many as 270 million rural mountain people in developing and transition countries are at risk of, or experiencing hunger.

Mountains are the source of the world's great rivers - at least 50 percent of the planet's fresh surface water comes from mountains.

Mountain ecosystems are extremely vulnerable to the impact of global warming and are early indicators of climate change.

Mountains are home to some of the world's most important and threatened biodiversity. Read more about mountain issues.

Mountain Partnership Secretariat 

The Mountain Partnership Secretariat supports and serves its members. The Secretariat helps to link existing activities in mountain development, foster synergies to promote closer collaboration, avoid duplication, achieve greater coherence and better results in terms of sustainable development. The Secretariat is supported financially by the governments of Italy and Switzerland. It operates in a decentralized manner in order to more effectively provide services and support to Mountain Partnership members. The Secretariat structure consists of central and decentralized hubs hosted respectively by FAO in Rome (Central Hub), The Consortium for the Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion - CONDESAN in Peru (Latin America Hub), the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development - ICIMOD in Nepal (Asia/Pacific Hub), as well as the Environmental Reference Centre hosted by UNEP in Vienna. The Secretariat also works closely with the Mountain Forum to provide key information and services to members.

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