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National Committee
Switzerland was one of the first countries to form a National Committee in preparation for International Year of Mountains. The SDC and the Federal Office for Spatial Development provided support for a Swiss national campaign for the Year. A homepage for the Year was created at: www.berge2002.ch (German with a section in English), www.montagnes2002.ch (French) and www.montagna2002.ch (Italian). The Committee's Focal Point was Mr. Stefan Frey.
Preparatory activities for the International Year of Mountains
A World Mountain Symposium, 'Mountains of the World: Community Development between Subsidy, Subsidiarity and Sustainability' was held in Interlaken between September and October 2001 in preparation for the International Year of Mountains. This event was a chance for countries worldwide - particularly developing and transition countries - to exchange experiences, assess strategies and policies of local communities and at higher levels, and to come up with concrete proposals for the sustainable development of mountain regions that can be used by local, national and international decision-makers.
Activities and achievements of the International Year of Mountains (IYM)
International:
In addition to offering their support to FAO in their role as coordinators of the International Year of Mountains, Switzerland also engaged in awareness raising at the international level. For example, a brochure for CSD 2002 focussed on a forthcoming workshop on mountain communities and was widely disseminated. The country also offered support to special international activities, such as the IYM2002 Task Force project in the Canton of Valais which concentrated, inter alia, on water management in mountain areas.
An International Conference on 'Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Mountain Regions (SARD-M)' was held in Adelboden between 16-20 June 2002, in preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg in September of that year. The Adelboden Conference, sponsored by the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture and organized in collaboration with FAO, brought together stakeholders from around the world to explore ways of enhancing cooperation in achieving the objectives of two chapters of Agenda 21, chapter 13 on sustainable mountain development and chapter 14 on sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD). Conference participants issued the Adelboden Declaration.
The canton of Valais and the kingdom of Bhutan were officially twinned, and an exchange initiative was launched for students seeking practical apprenticeships.
An international political event for parliamentarians in October was entitled, 'Mountain Issues as Political Agendas', and aimed at conveying a general picture of problems faced by mountain areas.
Educational activities:
Information and education campaigns were launched in schools, including the dissemination of an IYM calendar for primary and secondary schools.
A competition was held in schools in Valais aimed at informing young people about sustainable mountain development.
Promotional activities:
Special information and media activities were launched alongside support for cultural events with a mountain theme. A CD of mountain music was also produced.
Research activities:
The Swiss University Conference initiated a training course on Alpine Ecology, 'Alpine ecology: a scientific basis for sustainability in mountain regions'. This integrated introductory course on alpine ecology brings together for the first time all the multidisciplinary courses previously offered in different Swiss universities. The course will be run in future with on-site field courses but will also be taught through the Internet, thus making it accessible world-wide and far beyond the University framework. The intention is to make the course available to Swiss-sponsored institutions such as ICIMOD in Nepal, EULA in Chile and partners of DEZA in developing countries.
A scientific seminar, 'Mountains: Sources of Water, Sources of Knowledge', aimed at encouraging an exchange between natural scientists and human scientists, and was held at the Kurt Bösch University Institute in October 2002.
Mountain Partnership
The Government of Switzerland initiated the International Partnership for Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions (or 'Mountain Partnership'), in collaboration with FAO and UNEP, to enable more effective implementation of Chapter 13.
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