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Mountain Partnership
Andes
Members of the Andes initiative
Building an Andean Agenda in the Mountain Partnership
Millions of people—rural and urban—depend on the Andes. Scores of cities, villages and rural homesteads in the Andes are home to a mix of ethnic groups peoples – primarily indigenous, black, white, and mixed-heritage, especially mestizo. While these Andean populations are concentrated mainly in the lush lowlands and central altiplanos, people have also settled in remote and virtually barren areas. Even far removed from the Andes, few communities of the Andean countries are entirely independent of them.
The Andes provide national income from export goods, in addition to being a critical source of drinking water, hydroelectric power and staple foods such as potatoes, cassava, wheat and maize. Major cash crops include tobacco, cotton, coca and coffee, and some major extractive industries include copper, silver, tin, iron, bauxite and gold, with petroleum significant and on the rise. An important, burgeoning industry is tourism. Although the Andes are a source of indispensable economic benefits all the way up to the international level, the clear majority of inhabitants in the Andes are poor, dependent on subsistence farming and low-wage manual labour to survive.
Prior to the Second Global Meeting of the Mountain Partnership, or ‘Cusco Conference’ (Peru, 28-29 October), leading members of the Andes Initiative held a workshop as a first step to identify key issues and actions for the Initiative. The output of the workshop was further refined during the breakaway session dedicated to the Initiative at the Cusco Conference. Report: Cusco Conference Breakaway Session (2004)
Building an Andean Agenda in the Mountain Partnership
A preparatory meeting of leading members of the Andes Initiative of the Mountain Partnership took place at the International Potato Center (CIP) (Lima, Peru, 27-28 June), thanks to the commitment of the Peruvian authorities and CONDESAN-InfoAndina. The participants, representing countries and NGOs, agreed to organize the first global meeting of the members of this Initiative during 2007 and started drafting a preliminary agenda. Argentina kindly offered to host such an event. Next steps include concrete discussions and pre-identification of priority areas for action, in order to be able to move into the operational phase immediately after the meeting in 2007. For further information, contact Miguel Saravia, InfoAndina Coordinator at: infoandina@mtnforum.org.
Andean Initiative Meeting (Lima, Peru, June 2006) – a summary of follow-up activities (in Spanish)
topMountain sustainable tourism
A member, the Argentinean NGO ADESO, has requested the collaboration of the Mountain Partnership to initiate an area of work within the Andean Initiative dedicated to mountain sustainable tourism. ADESO is currently implementing an EU funded project in the Andean borders of three countries – Argentina, Bolivia and Peru - to increase the tourism attractiveness of these mountain areas and to include as beneficiaries the local Aymaras and Quechua communities. Adeso is willing to share the lessons learned and progress made with other members. Contact Héctor Navarro at: navarro@adeso.org.ar to learn more
Agenda
Flyer
First Subregional Meeting of the Andes Initiative (Tucumán, Argentina, 5-7 September 2007)
Tucumán Declaration(in Spanish)
Plan of Action for Sustainable Development of the Andes (in Spanish)
