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Declaration of the Andes
Second Global Meeting of the Mountain Partnership
Cusco, Peru, 29 October 2004
The members of the Mountain Partnership gathered in the city of Cusco, Peru, on 28-29 October, 2004. In the course of their exchange of views, the participants recalled:
- The fundamental importance of Chapter 13 of Agenda 21 “Managing Fragile Ecosystems – Sustainable Mountain Development”, adopted by the Earth Summit (Rio de Janeiro, 1992);
- The UNGA resolutions relevant to the International Year of Mountains 2002, i.e. 53/24 of 10 November, 1998, 55/189 of 20 December, 2000 and 57/245 of 30 January, 2003;
- The Bishkek Global Mountain Platform of 1 November, 2002;
- The Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, South Africa, September 2002), and in particular its Paragraph 42 addressing sustainable mountain development;
- The Basic Concept Document of the Mountain Partnership (‘Bali Document', Bali, Indonesia, June 2002), which defines the International Partnership for Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions;
- The decision of the 11th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-11), in particular paragraphs 22-24 on partnerships;
- The Report of the United Nations Secretary General prepared for the 58th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, describing achievements made at the national, regional and international level within the framework of the International Year of Mountains 2002;
- The Conclusions of the First Global Meeting of the Mountain Partnership held in Merano, Italy, in October 2003;
- The Workplan on Mountain Biodiversity adopted by the Seventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-7), held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in February 2004;
- The results from the International Workshop on Mountain Ecosystems: “A Vision for the Future”, held in Cusco, Peru in April 2001;
- The results of the World Meeting on Mountain Ecosystems: “Mountain to 2020: Water, Life and Production” held in Huaraz, Peru in June 2002;
- The Declaration of the Adelboden Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Mountain Regions (SARD-M), held in Switzerland, in June 2002; and
- The Thimpu Declaration of the Celebrating Mountain Women Conference, held in Thimpu, Bhutan, in October 2002.
WE DECLARE:
We re-affirm solemnly our commitment to fulfill the goals of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), as well as other universally agreed multilateral instruments relevant to sustainable mountain development;
We underline the strategic importance of the conservation of genetic resources, both wild and domesticated, because of their present and potential value;
We reaffirm that states have sovereign rights over their biological resources as stated in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as well as the duties towards the conservation of biological diversity and proper use of biological resources in order to safeguard mountain ecosystems;
We share a common vision of sustainable mountain development with social equity, which includes a commitment to improve the livelihoods of mountain populations and respecting their cultural heritages as well as to conserve and manage mountain ecosystems;
We also recognize the importance of indigenous and traditional knowledge and cosmogony for sustainable development of mountain areas. We consider that a special intellectual property protection should be granted to indigenous and traditional knowledge, products and processes.
We fully recognize the essential contributions of indigenous peoples, women, youth and civil society in all mountain regions. In this context, we underline the need for full consideration of indigenous peoples and gender perspectives in all issues of sustainable mountain development.
We recognize the importance of information exchange at regional and inter-regional level, as well as networking, in order to improve synergies among all members of the Mountain Partnership;
We stress that the implementation of the objectives of the Mountain Partnership is a direct contribution to poverty alleviation and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals;
We recognize that watershed management is a priority and, taking into account the close relationship between mountain ecosystems and water catchments, we recognize the importance of the protection, maintenance and restoration of water sources;
Mountain ecosystems are most vulnerable to the extreme events associated with climate change. We, therefore, commit ourselves to achieve the best possible preparedness in view of these events, and to strengthen all necessary capacities in this regard. We note in this context the opportunities offered by the upcoming Tenth Session of the Conference of Parties (COP-10) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in December 2004;
We encourage all Mountain Partnership members to develop Partnership Initiatives and, in this context, we urge them to implement the Cusco Framework for Action.
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