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Partnership initiatives
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Sharing information…
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Working together
The growing demand for water, the consequences of global climate change, the growth in tourism, the pressures of industry and agriculture in a world of increased globalization, the lack of mountain-specific policies and laws ... these are just some of the challenges facing the sustainable development of mountain regions.
Members of the Mountain Partnership are addressing the challenges of sustainable mountain development by linking and working together: tapping the wealth and diversity of expertise, information, knowledge and skills from and between one another, to stimulate concrete action that will bring meaningful change to the world’s mountain people and environments.
It is through the Partnership Initiatives that members are focussing these collaboratve efforts. Initiatives are identified and undertaken by members themselves, based on their common interests, needs and priorities. To date, members are actively engaged in developing seven thematic Initiatives (on education, gender, policy and law, research, sustainable agriculture and rural development or SARD-M, sustainable livelihoods, and watershed management), as well as six geographic Initiatives (on the Andes, Central America and the Caribbean, Central Asia, East Africa, Europe, and the Hindu Kush Himalaya). Other Partnership initiatives will be identified as the Mountain Partnership evolves and networking and information exchange allow new areas of collaboration and focus to develop.
The Mountain Partnership Secretariat, hosted by FAO, is helping members build and develop Initiatives and provides ready assistance when and if requested. The Secretariat connects members by organizing face-to-face meetings, by disseminating information and research results through e-mail distribution lists, a monthly newsletter and this Web site, and by maintaining a database on funding sources.
Click/follow on the links below to learn about the Partnership Initiatives, as well as to exchange information on on-going activities and access useful links and resources.
Partnership Initiatives on thematic areas
- education
- gender
- policy and law
- research
- sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD-M)
- sustainable livelihoods
- watershed management
and geographic areas
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Facts about Partnership Initiatives
Partnership Initiatives—the dynamic core of the Mountain Partnership—are areas of collaborative action undertaken by members within the framework of the Mountain Partnership.
A Mountain Partnership member can volunteer to be a regular member of a selected Initiative and bring their relevant expertise, knowledge, skills and activities (completed, on-going and planned) to collaborative work.
A Mountain Partnership member can volunteer to be a leading member of a selected Initiative. A leading member will have the task of building, developing and moving the Partnership initiative forward.
A leading member can coordinate communications and networking within a given Initiative, propose work plans, identify activities, assign tasks, represent members at meetings with other Partnership Initiatives and act as a liaison with the Mountain Partnership Secretariat. Ideally, a maximum of three leading members could serve each Partnership initiative.
Members can propose new activities within an existing Partnership Initiative or propose a new Partnership Initiative anytime.
Many Partnership Initiatives are not intrinsically ‘new’. Rather, they build on events, processes and concrete activities that took place or were started during the International Year of Mountains (2002):
- the SARD-M Initiative is driven by the outcomes of the global conference held in Adelboden, Switzerland (16-20 June 2002).
- the Gender Initiative is inspired by the findings of the Global Meeting “Celebrating Mountain Women”, held in Thimpu, Bhutan (1-4 October 2002).
- the Watershed Management Initiative has emerged from an extended watershed management review process, carried out between 2002 and 2003 by FAO, in collaboration with various partners worldwide.
- the Research Initiative takes its lead from the various global research programmes related to sustainable mountain development were begun or strengthened during the International Year of Mountains, including the IGBP-IHDP-GTOS Mountain Research Initiative and the UNU/CDE programme on sustainable mountain development.
The Mountain Partnership Secretariat does not fund the activities of members. The main responsibility for accessing funds (e.g. preparing and presenting funding proposals) and fund raising lies with members.
The Secretariat provides members with information about the availability of funds for mountain activities from all possible sources on an on-going basis, particularly through the on-line database of funding sources.
