Altitude

The top 20 countries with the highest percentage of mountainous areas are: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Bhutan, Lesotho, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland, Macedonia, Lebanon, Rwanda, Armenia, Nepal, Georgia, Bosnia Herzegovenia, Laos PDR, Swaziland, Turkey, Austria, Albania, Slovenia.

Cartographic compilation shows that 48 percent of the world’s total terrestrial surface lies above 500 m; 27 percent above 1 000 m; 11 percent above 2 000 m; 5 percent above 3 000 m; and 2 percent above 4 000 m. These statistics provide an approximation for describing mountain areas.

Geography

Mountains cover about 25 per cent of the world’s land surface.

Only 20 km separate the deepest ocean trench from the highest point above sea level, the summit of Mount Everest.

All of the world’s mountains above 7 000 m are in Asia, and all 14 peaks above 8 000 are situated in the Greater Himalaya range extending along the southern rim of the Tibet Plateau.

The continent of Africa covers about 20 per cent of the Earth’s land surface. Around 50 per cent of the countries in Africa contain mountains or have steep land problems, and about 10 per cent (3 million Km2 ) of Africa’s surface area is classified as highland, mountain or steep sloping land.

The Andes are 7 250 km in length.

Climate

Mountain environments include the wettest place on earth (Charrapunji, India, with 12 m of rain per year) and the driest, the Atacama Desert in Chile, where no rain has fallen for the last 27 years.

Although there is an inverse relationship between temperature and altitude, there is no constant value for the temperature decline per unit elevation (lapse rate). In the Alps each 1000 m of elevation produces a 4.0 degrees C drop in temperature during January, whereas in July a 1 000 m rise gives a lapse rate of 6.25 degrees C. Within the equatorial zone of the Peruvian altiplano, temperature gradients are very steep, at 10,5 degrees C per 1 000 m during the cooler season and 12.5 degrees C per 1 000 m during the warmer season.

Water

Up to 80 per cent of the planet’s fresh surface water comes from mountains.

Biodiversity

Around 20 plants supply 80 percent of humanity’s food. Six of them, maize, potatoes, barley, sorghum, apples and tomatoes, originated in mountain areas. Seven others, wheat, rice, beans, oats, grapes, oranges and rye found new homes in the mountains and evolve into many different varieties.

Nepal has more than 2,000 indigenous varieties of rice, including many of the famous aromatic basmati type.

Andean farmers may plant up to 50 different varieties of potatoes (200 varieties are in existence).

People

In 2000, FAO estimated the total number of mountain people at 718 million. Of these, 625 live in developing and transition countries.

About 12 per cent of the world’s population lives in the mountains, but over 50 per cent are directly or indirectly dependent on mountain resources.

Tourism

Mountain tourism is a major source of income in many mountain areas of the world, although not without an environmental cost. It constitutes between 15 to 20% of worldwide tourism (US$ 70–90 billion per year), and it plays a significant role in national economies.

Nepal was opened to foreign visitors only in 1950 and the first explorers and climbers of Mt Everest began to arrive soon afterward. The area attracted alot of international attention after Hillary and Tenzing scaled Mt Everest in 1953. Nevertheless, foreign visitor numbers in 1960 amounted to only 20 people. In 1964, a small airstrip was built in the area which opened the way for tourism. Since then visitor numbers have risen rapidly and it is reported that some 25 000 tourists now arrive in the Mt Everest area every year.

Poverty

Some 80% of mountain people live below the poverty line.

Hunger

As many as 245 million rural mountain people in developing and transition countries may be at risk of, or actually experiencing, hunger.

Conflict

In 1999, 23 of the 27 major armed conflicts in the world were being fought in mountain regions.

In the year 2000, 52 of the 81 countries receiving emergency assistance from the World Food Programme (WFP) were mountain countries.