Mountain Partnership

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Switzerland

One quarter of the surface area of Switzerland is made up of mountain areas. This alpine zone includes a wide diversity of ecosystems, most of which are fragile and vulnerable to environmental change.

Sustainable mountain development has a long tradition and special significance in Switzerland. The country's response to natural disasters, overuse and raw exploitation, and its ability to achieve a high degree of stability in natural and cultural landscapes have meant that Switzerland has a great deal of mountain experience, and many instruments that can be applied to mountain regions elsewhere in the world. Indeed, the country has been at the forefront in promoting and implementing sustainable mountain development internationally.

Since the Rio 'Earth Summit' in 1992, Switzerland has played a very active role in addressing issues related to sustainable mountain development at global level. It has achieved this principally through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC: Switzerland's international cooperation agency within the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs). Indeed, for many of the initiatives and activities relating to the implementation of Chapter 13, the SDC has been a leading institution, providing funding, support and guidance at technical, institutional and policy level.

Over the last 20 years SDC has established substantial development cooperation programmes with about 20 priority countries, many of which are entirely or partly mountainous, such as Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, India, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. In addition, related initiatives, networks, partnerships and international centres such as the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) have been established and supported at regional level.

One example of an SDC regional mountain initiative is the recently launched Central Asian Mountain Partnership Programme (CAMP), currently being implemented in Kyryzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan and to a lesser extent in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

Switzerland supported and enthusiastically welcomed the designation of 2002 as International Year of Mountains. SDC pledged to expand its existing engagements in international mountain development in order to make a major contribution to International Year of Mountains, both nationally and at international level.

The Mountain Partnership is supported by a Secretariat, which is hosted by the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and financed through contributions from the governments of Italy and Switzerland. top