Issue 22
October/November 2006
The Mountain Partnership Newsletter
'Peak to Peak' is an opportunity to keep you up-to-date with the latest news, activities and events related to the Mountain Partnership. This monthly newsletter, prepared by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, is sent by e-mail to all members and other interested partners and can be read on-line at www.mountainpartnership.org. Help us share news, information and features with members by sending a message to: info@mountainpartnership.org.
Membership
We wish to welcome four new members to the ‘Major Group’ category of the Mountain Partnership: the Foundation for Environment and Development (FEDEV), the Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus (REC Caucasus), Swat Youth Front (SYF) Swat, and the Utah Valley State College and Utah-Russia Institute. The Foundation for Environment and Development (FEDEV) in Cameroon focusses on the promotion of sustainable development, environmental protection, and respect for human rights via legal and policy instruments. (Contact: Nchunu Justice Sama, Executive Director. E-mail: fedevlaw@yahoo.co.uk, No Web site). The Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus (REC Caucasus), based in Georgia, assists the Caucasus states in solving environmental problems and supports the building of civil society through the promotion of public participation in the decision-making process, the development of the free exchange of information and the encouragement of cooperation at all levels. (Contact: Nina Shatberashvili, Regional Coordinator, ‘Sustainable Development of Mountain Regions of the Caucasus - Local Agenda 21’. E-mail, Web site. Swat Youth Front (SYF) Swat is a youth organization that promotes socio-economic empowerment of the underprivileged, fosters gender awareness and sensitivity, narrows gender gaps in health, education and economic participation and promotes volunteerism in youth in the Swat valley and district of Pakistan. (Contact: Badar Zaman, President. E-mail: syf@syfswat.org, Web site: www.syfswat.org). Utah Valley State College (UVSC) and Utah-Russia Institute in the USA promote educational, cultural and technological projects to further understanding and cooperation between the mountainous state of Utah and the countries of Central Asia. UVSC and the Institute are currently organizing the international conference ‘Women of the Mountains’ in Utah in 2007. (Contact: Dr. R.E. Butler, Director, Utah-Russia Institute. E-mail: butlerro@uvsc.edu, Web Site: www.uvsc.edu/russia.)
As of December 2006, there are 142 members of the Mountain Partnership: 47 countries, 15 IGOs and 80 major group organizations.
Update on Partnership Activities
Decentralized cooperation
The potential of decentralized cooperation and the role of local authorities in promoting sustainable mountain development around the globe was the theme of a workshop on 18 October, jointly organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, in association with the Project for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Mountain Regions (SARD-M Project), FAO Decentralized Cooperation Programme, the European Association of Elected Representatives from Mountain Areas (AEM), Unione Nazionale Comuni Comunità Enti Montani (UNCEM) and EUROMONTANA. The event at FAO Headquarters in Rome attracted some 55 participants, mainly from Italian local authorities, and was chaired by Nicolas Evrard, Director General of AEM. Key issues emerged. Importantly, the Italian regions, provinces and municipalities are engaged in a significant number of cooperation activities and projects in mountain areas of developing countries and countries in transition. However, there is often a lack of communication within administrations, between the officers in charge of mountain issues and those in charge of decentralized cooperation activities: this is a missed opportunity as these activities are not building on and benefitting from the experience and knowledge possessed by the region, province or municipality. Representatives of local administrations at the workshop identified the need for a better information flow both within their own structures and between others, in order to establish linkages and alliances in decentralized cooperation programmes. The means of improving the information flow and exchange was explored by participants: if requested, the Italian Ministry of Regional Affairs stated that it stood ready to offer some facilitation and harmonization mechanism for collaborative activities, while the Mountain Partnership Secretariat could offer a knowledge management area on the Mountain Partnership Web site to store case studies and discuss experiences of on-going projects in decentralized cooperation for mountain development. A summary report of the decentralized cooperation workshop is being finalized and will be shared with Mountain Partnership members in coming weeks. For further information on this activity, please contact Rosalaura Romeo, Programme Officer, Mountain Partnership Secretariat at: rosalaura.romeo@fao.org.
Microfinance
Mountain Partnership member, Soluciones Practicas (ITDG), has finalized its assessment of financial services for small farmers in the coffee and dairy sector in the Cajamarca region in the northern Andes of Peru. This study, made possible by a contribution from a FAO project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), reveals that small mountain producers do not have access to formal financial institutions, not only because the institutions themselves do not or cannot bear the risk of serving marginalized agriculture-dependent communities, but also because the producers are unaware of available financial services, feel intimidated by credit-evaluation procedures and/or do not want to get into debt. Much of ITDG’s financial assessment in Cajamarca also focussed on identifying the real financial needs of the producers, which ranged from having a better capacity to manage their finances, to credit for non-productive purposes (school expenses etc.), cash availability for emergencies, and better management according to harvest periods. The assessment included the results of a participatory workshop, which took place in June 2006 in Jaen and Tongod (Cajamarca), aimed at identifying solutions for these groups of farmers. One suggestion was to educate them about community-based financial schemes, which allow members of a community to create their own savings and credit fund through associative mechanisms. We encourage you to read the complete report of the assessment (in Spanish) on ‘Discussion on Line’ (an executive summary in English will be made available in the coming weeks). The ITDG model for assessing concrete financial needs of mountain producers could be adapted to other mountain communities in other regions, and the Mountain Partnership Secretariat is keen to work with other interested organizations to put together an adapted methodology and search for funding to carry out similar assessments of financial needs of mountain producers. For further information and to participate in the Mountain Partnership microfinance activity, please contact Paola Bellotti, Microfinance Focal Point, Mountain Partnership Secretariat, at paola.bellotti@fao.org.
Mountain Products
The Mountain Products Programme -- implemented by FAO in the context of the Mountain Partnership -- aims to improve the livelihoods of mountain communities through promoting enterprise development in mountain regions that is environmentally and socially responsible and based on local high-quality, high-value products. In coming weeks, FAO and the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) will embark on Phase II of a project within the Programme to develop an Internet-based platform for the exchange of information and experience on high-quality mountain products in the southeast Mediterranean region. This tool aims to assist various actors (producer associations, NGOs, research institutions, governments and the private sector) improve the quality of mountain products originating in the Mediterranean and facilitate access to high-value markets in the EUROMED free trade area that will be created in 2010. In particular, this new Internet platform will serve as a knowledge centre and information network, offering users a wealth of experiences, case studies and data on completed and on-going activities undertaken by a cross-section of partners, with a focus on the agricultural and ecotourism sectors. CIHEAM was selected as an ideal partner for the development of this Internet platform, given the Organization’s focus on the promotion of high-quality mountain products and the possibility of integrating this new tool for the Mountain Products Programme into CIHEAM’S existing Mediterranean Observatory Web site. For further information about this activity, contact Alexia Baldascini, Manager, FAO Mountain Products Programme at: alexia.baldascini@fao.org or visit the Mountain Products Programme Web site.
Biodiversity
As reported in the September issue of ‘Peak to Peak’, representatives of the Gran Paradiso, the oldest national park in Italy, and the Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal met in Italy to explore technical cooperation and the exchange of professional training and scientific knowledge. Both parks are the highest in their respective regions and noted for their outstanding biodiversity. Their recent meeting, entitled the ‘Gran National Park and Sagarmantha National Park Twinning Programme Startup Workshop’ (10-14 October, Cogne, Italy) resulted in the Cogne Declaration which sets out areas of collaboration for partnership activities, including: technical cooperation on implementing a National Park and Buffer Zone land use zoning system; collaboration in long-term monitoring of biodiversity (especially major ungulates and their predators); cooperation on the improvement of local livelihoods through ecological and cultural tourism; development of visitor information and interpretation; and the capacity building of park staff and communities. Importantly, the Cogne Declaration acknowledges that this international sharing of experiences and the mountain park twinning programme contributes not only to the Convention of Biodiversity (CBD), especially the COP-7 decision on mountain biodiversity (2004), but also that it will be developed within the framework of the Mountain Partnership and will contribute to the development of its Biodiversity Initiative which is set to be launched after International Mountain Day on 11 December this year.
The workshop was organized within the context of the Mountain Partnership by members including, the European Academy (EURAC), the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with the support of the Italian Ministry of Environment and EURO COOPERATION. For more information about the workshop and its follow up, contact: PierCarlo Sandei, European Academy (EURAC) at: piercarlo.sandei@eurac.edu.
New on the Mountain Partnership
Web site
Countries.
New profiles on country members, Afghanistan, Georgia and Romania have been posted in the country section. The country section is currently being re-designed and we look forward to input from our 47 country members to make this on-line area a useful tool for information exchange and dialogue in the near future.
News highlights from around the world
Microcredit pioneer wins the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize
Microcredit is a lending approach that gives small loans to people unable to qualify for conventional loans so they can generate income and improve their lives and livelhoods. We congratulate Microcredit pioneer, Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank, which he founded in 1983, for winning the this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Muhammad Yunus has been instrumental in developing and spreading the message that the poor are credit-worthy. From modest beginnings, he and the Grameen Bank have developed microcredit into a powerful instrument in the struggle against poverty and hardship, to the benefit of millions of people -- especially women -- in Bangladesh and around the world. In its citation, the Nobel Committee remarked that, “Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty… Microcredit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights.” On hearing news of the Committee’s decision, Mountain Partnership member PlaNet Finance released a statement: “ Muhammad Yunus would deserve the Nobel Prize in Economics as much as the Nobel Peace Prize. PlaNet Finance, a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of microfinance worldwide, whose committee of Honour Dr. Yunus presides, is very pleased with the decision of the jury of Oslo. This nomination finally gives microfinance, a major tool to fight poverty and ignorance -- major sources of violence -- the global acknowledgement it needs.”
For more information about microcredit and the Grameen Bank, visit the Grameen Bank Web site.
Mountain communities manage natural resources in the Pamir-Alai
Mountain communities in the remote Pamir-Alai region of Central Asia will take primary responsibility for managing local resources under a new project being led by Mountain Partnership member, the United Nations University (UNU). The organization has secured one of its biggest ever project funding commitments from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to undertake the first phase of this project, entitled ‘Sustainable Land Management in the High Pamir and Pamir-Alai Mountains’. The whole project, which will run over eight years at a cost estimated at US$10 million, aims to restore, sustain, and enhance the productive and protective functions of the trans-boundary ecosystems of the High Pamir and Pamir-Alai Mountains of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, while preserving its unique landscape and globally important biodiversity. The immediate development objective is to address the link between poverty, vulnerability and land degradation at the community level, through promoting sustainable land management practices that contribute to improving the livelihoods and economic well-being of inhabitants. The UNU's partners in the project include the governments of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, Mountain Partnership members the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) and The Mountain Institute (TMI), as well as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Hokkaido and Nihon universities, and the Aga Khan Development Network. To find out more, visit the project Web site, or contact Libor Jansky at: jansky@hq.unu.edu.
New centre for Alpine development opens
The expanded and renovated ‘Maison des Parcs et de la Montagne’ (or ‘House of Parks and Mountains’). has officially been inaugurated in the town of Chambéry in the French Alps. The building, dedicated to promoting the development and protection of Alpine environments, gathers under one roof key actors and organizations working towards sustainable mountain development in the European Alps, including: the Réseau Alpin des Espaces Protégés (Network of Alpine Protected Areas (Europe), which is linked to the Alpine Convention, and Mountain Partnership members such as the European Association of Elected Representatives from Mountain Areas (AEM), European Mountain Forum, Syndicat National des Accompagnateurs en Montagne (SNAM), and the European Observatory of Mountain Forests (EOMF). The building’s multimedia facilities and temporary and permanent exhibition areas also allow the public to discover the diversity of Alpine landscapes, flora and fauna and cultural heritage, as well as the activities underway to protect and sustainably use Alpine environments. For further information, visit the ‘Chambéry Promotion’ Web site (in French)
Debt-for-nature swap benefits Jamaica’s mountains
The Government of Jamaica is demonstrating its commitment to preserving the island's mountain forest reserves and national parks by launching a multi-million dollar Forest Conservation Fund. The Fund will target the Cockpit Country Forest Reserve, the Blue and John Crow Mountains Forest Reserve and National Park, the inland portions of the Negril Protected Area, the forested areas of the Dolphin Head Mountains, as well as the Rio Minho, Rio Cobre and Black River Watersheds. The Fund is the result of a 2004 debt-for-nature swap agreement between the Nature Conservancy and the Jamaican and US governments, and will result in the cancelling of some US$16.5 million in Jamaican debt to the United States. For the full story, click here.
Is closing Everest an option?
Tourism is turning Mount Everest into a massive rubbish dump, claim conservationists, who are pressing for the temporary closure of the world’s highest mountain. This year a geological team, sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), found signs that the landscape of Mount Everest has changed significantly since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first conquered the peak in 1953. A primary cause is the warming global climate, but the research party concluded that the growing effect of tourism was also critically taxing the region surrounding the planet's tallest mountain. According to the survey, the glacier that once came close to Hillary and Norgay's first base camp has retreated three miles in the past two decades. Hillary himself has become outspoken on a situation he believes is turning into an ecological scandal. 'I have suggested to the Nepal government that they should stop giving permission and give the mountain a rest for a few years,' he has said. But will the closing of Everest or controls on its tourism not affect the livelihoods of local populations? The sherpas who earn their living from the perilous work of guiding adventurers to the summit vociferously oppose any closing of the mountain or reduction in climbing permits. Ang Dawa, a Sherpa guide in Kathmandu, said: 'For us it is simple. There are tens of thousands of people in the region who solely depend on the trekkers and mountaineers for their income. If they don't come, these people and their families will starve. A sherpa who summits on Everest is looking at making a minimum of £1,600 for 60 days' work. That's a lot of money in Nepal -- it can support an entire village.' Read the full story here.
Opportunities for funding and support
Fellowships in biodiversity conservation
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has announced the opening of its 2007-2008 Kathryn Fuller Fellowship competition. Two post-doctoral fellowships will be awarded for a two-year period to individuals with outstanding research proposals that are of fundamental and immediate importance to global biodiversity conservation. Fuller Fellows can be based at any institution, including at WWF, and will be co-advised by one academic and one WWF mentor, with a stipend of $50,000 per year, as well as a $15,000 annual research allowance. The deadline for applications is 15 November 2006. For more information and application guidelines, contact fuller.fellowship@wwfus.org or visit the WWF Kathryn Fuller Fellowship Web site.
Competition for innovative agricultural education
International development charity, ‘Teach A Man To Fish’, has launched a funding competition offering support for innovative educational work in developing countries. From community education centres making money from honey, to schoolyard chicken-runs laying aside profits to pay for books, the competition aims to encourage agricultural education initiatives that boost organizations’ finances at the same time as teaching business skills to students. Awards will go to the best proposals where teaching business sense and entrepreneurship is used to generate funds to support the costs of wider educational work. Entry is open to all non-profit organizations and educational institutions working in agricultural education in developing countries. The deadline for the first round of applications is 15 November 2006. For full details, visit the Web site: www.teachamantofish.org.uk/competition.
Past Events
2nd International Congress, “Water in Mountains: Integrated management of high watersheds’ (Megève, France, 20-22 September 2006)
The ‘Water in Mountains’ Congress, a follow-up to the first congress organized in Megève in 2002, was organized in three main sessions: the first session focussed on technical issues in the context of the UNESCO-led HELP network (Hydrology for Environment, Life and Policy) of experimental watershed pilot sites in 67 countries; the second featured the General Assembly of the European section of the International Network of Basin Organizations (EURO-INBO); and the third comprised a meeting of elected officials from both the European Association of Elected Officials from Mountain Areas (AEM) (a Mountain Partnership member) and the French national association of mountain elected officials (ANEM). The three-day Congress brought together political leaders, technical experts and researchers to discuss in a common forum water management issues, with a particular focus on Europe. Mountain Partnership member, the European Observatory of Mountain Forests (EOMF), and the Liaison Unit of the Ministerial Conference for the Protection of Forests in Europe, used the opportunity of this Congress in Megève to jointly organize a technical session on forests and water. This event, which was supported by a number of countries and organizations (including FAO and UNESCO), produced a draft text for a resolution to be considered by the next Ministerial Conference for the Protection of Forests in Europe (Warsaw, Poland, November 2007). The draft text promotes greater attention to the important role of forests in the protection and management of water resources in Europe.
Representatives of FAO and the Mountain Partnership Secretariat participated in the ‘Water in Mountains’ Congress, with a view to further building cooperation in the area of watershed and water management within the Mountain Partnership. For further information on the Watershed Management Initiative, contact Douglas McGuire, Coordinator, Mountain Partnership Secretariat, at: douglas.mcguire@fao.org.
5th European Mountain Convention, ‘Cohesion for Growth’ (Chaves, Portugal, 14-15 September 2006)
Over 300 participants from mountain areas in around 16 countries recently gathered in Chaves, Portugal, for the 5th European Mountain Convention, organized by EUROMONTANA, the European Association of Mountain Areas in cooperation with ADRAT and the Municipality of Chaves. The Convention dealt with crucial European and national policies for mountain areas, under the theme ‘Cohesion for Growth - Mountains as Natural Ingredients For Europe's Competitivity ’. Attention focussed on making the case for mountain areas as contributors to the Lisbon Strategy, which sets targets for Europe in the fields of growth, innovation and jobs. The Convention participants subsequently adopted the Chaves Declaration, based on the discussions in the plenaries and the seven working groups, which is addressed to the European institutions and the European states both within and outside the European Union (EU).
The European Mountain Conventions are held every two years as an initiative of EUROMONTANA, but they involve the whole European mountain community and stakeholders including national, regional and local decision-makers and authorities, development agencies, agriculture and environmental organizations, research institutes and mountain associations, as well as international organizations and European institutions involved with mountains. This 5th Convention in September marked the 10th Anniversary of the official founding of EUROMONTANA. Read the presentations made at the Convention and the Chaves Declaration here.
World Food Day (16 October 2006, global)
Investment in agriculture is critical to halve hunger by 2015 -- this was the clear message of this year’s World Food Day, which marks the founding of FAO in 1945 and is observed in over 150 countries. Despite the progress achieved in agriculture and rural development, more than 850 million people still remain hungry with few opportunities for work and increased income. As FAO Director-General, Jacques Diouf, stated, “Our greatest challenge today is to reach the objectives of the World Food Summit and first UN Millennium Development Goal, to halve by 2015 hunger and alleviate poverty worldwide.” On the occasion of World Food Day, FAO and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) produced a cartoon-style story book entitled ‘The Right to Food: A Window on the World’, and a companion ‘Resource and Activity Guide’ which educates young people and motivates them to join in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. The book consists of an introductory section providing an overview of selected right to food issues, and eight individual stories dedicated to illustrating aspects of food security and right to food issues in Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Sierra Leone and Uganda. To download these publications and other materials produced for World Food Day, visit the Web site.
World Food Day was also an occasion for world leaders in agricultural research to sign agreements that guarantee long-term access to some of the world's most important collections of agricultural biodiversity. Eleven centres belonging to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) placed all their ex-situ genebank collections under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, now ratified by 105 countries. A livestock forage genebank maintained by one of these CGIAR centres, the Africa-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), a Mountain Partnership member, conserves more than 18 thousand accessions of forages from over 1 000 species. This is one of the most diverse collections of forage grasses, legumes and fodder tree species held in any genebank in the world and includes the world’s major collection of African grasses and tropical highland forages. Learn more about ILRI here.
Future Events
Ist Intergovernmental Meeting for the Preparation of a Legal Framework for the ‘Protection and sustainable development of mountain regions in South Eastern Europe -“SEE (Balkan) Mountain Convention Process”
(Bolzano, Italy, 3-4 November 2006)
Like most of the world’s mountain regions, the Balkans face many problems such as depopulation, poverty, high unemployment rates, environmental degradation communication and infrastructure constraints and social and economic marginality. The specific features of mountain regions such as the Balkans call for development approaches and legal frameworks that duly take into account environmental, social and cultural values as well as these particular constraints, and that recognize mountains as providers of essential goods and services to national economies.
These issues will be reflected at the first ever Intergovernmental Meeting for the Preparation of a Legal Framework for the ‘Protection and Sustainable Development of Mountain Regions in South Eastern Europe’, which is being organized within the framework of the Mountain Partnership by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in cooperation with the European Academy (EURAC) and the Balkan Foundation for Sustainable Development (BFSD). Meeting participants will consider the draft elements for a Framework Convention, which has been prepared by BFSD. This forthcoming meeting in Bolzano is part of the so-called ‘SEE (Balkan) Mountain Convention process’ that began last year at the workshop, ‘Sharing the experience – Capacity Building on Legal Instruments for the Protection and Sustainable Development of Mountain Regions in South Eastern Europe’ (Bolzano, Italy, 12–13 December 2005) and produced the South Eastern Europe Statement. For further information about the legal process for development in this region, contact Harald Egerer at harald.egerer@unvienna.org.
9th Alpine Conference
(Alpbach, Austria, 6-9 November 2006)
Ministers of Alpine states in Europe will come together with their counterparts from other mountain regions -- the Carpathians, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Atlas -- at the forthcoming 9th Alpine Conference, to exchange experiences and views on the sustainable development of mountain regions in light of the examples of successful implementation of the Alpine Convention. Importantly, sub-regional mountain cooperation in the framework of the Mountain Partnership will be furthered on 8 November when a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Alpine Convention and the Carpathian Convention will be signed by participating Secretariats and Presidencies at an informal ministerial meeting of mountain regions. This Memorandum of Cooperation has permanent validity. It aims to strengthen cooperation in fields of common interest, provide a durable basis of collaboration between the Secretariats of both Conventions in the field of information and exchange of experiences and in developing and implementing common projects. Specific areas of collaboration range from spatial planning and sustainable development to air pollution control, waste management, cultural heritage and traditional knowledge and environmental assessment, monitoring and early warning. The Memorandum of Cooperation underscores that the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention and UNEP Vienna-Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention will intensify their collaboration within the framework of the Mountain Partnership.
For more information on future mountain-related events around the world, browse the Mountain Calendar, managed by the Mountain Forum.
Publications
Mountain Research Initiative (MRI). Newsletter #7.
Mountain Partnership member, Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) conducts a scientific programme that detects signals of global environmental change in mountain environments, defines the consequences of global environmental change for mountain regions as well as lowland systems dependent on mountain resources, and informs sustainable land, water, and resource management for mountain regions at local to regional scales. In 2006, MRI co-sponsored the conference ‘Climate Change: Organizing the Science for the American Cordillera (CONCORD)’. This conference summarized current research and identified scientific gaps and research needs to support adaptation to global change along the American Cordillera, an essentially continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western ‘backbone’ of North America, Central America and South America. Immediately after the conference, MRI sponsored the Cordillera Transect Workshop to design concrete projects to fill these research gaps. You can now read about these events and MRI’s work in promoting global change research in the American Cordillera in the seventh issue of its newsletter, here .
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). ‘Field Guide to the Future’
‘Field Guide to the Future’ is a practical, step-by-step manual describing methods that can help communities think ahead and prepare for changes in their environment and natural resources. The Guide is a collaborative effort between the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the Alternative to Slash-and-Burn Agriculture (ASB) system-wide program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and the Secretariat of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA). The authors have collaborated with local communities in the management of forests, land, and water in many parts of the world, but particularly in tropical forest margins. They share their experiences and lessons learned about methods that can help other communities plan and prepare for the future. To request a copy (in English, French, Spanish), please e-mail Sandra Velarde at: s.velarde@cgiar.org .
World Wildlife Fund (WWF). ‘Living Planet Report 2006’
Humans are stripping nature at an unprecedented rate and will need two planets' worth of natural resources every year by 2050 on current trends, the WWF claim in their two-yearly report, 'Living Planet Report 2006'. WWF’s update on the state of the world’s ecosystems underlines that the populations of many fish to mammal species had fallen by about a third from 1970 to 2003, largely because of human threats such as pollution, clearing of forests and overfishing. The report states that humans' ‘ecological footprint’ -- the demand people place on the natural world -- was 25 percent greater than the planet's annual ability to provide everything from food to energy and recycle all human waste in 2003. In the previous report, the 2001 overshoot was 21 percent. As James Leape, Director General of WWF International states in the foreword, ‘It is time to make some vital choices ... We already have technologies that can lighten our footprint, including many that can significantly reduce climate-threatening carbon dioxide emissions. And some are getting started. WWF is working with leading companies that are taking action to reduce the footprint -- cutting carbon emissions, and promoting sustainability in other sectors, from fisheries to forests. We are also working with governments who are striving to stem biodiversity loss by protecting vital habitats on an unprecedented scale. But we must all do more...’. Read ‘Living Planet 2006’ here.
Web site
World Bank. ‘Pakistan Earthquake, A Year After’
The precariousness of life in many mountain regions of the world was painfully demonstrated when the devastating earthquake hit Pakistan in late 2005. Mountain Partnership member, the World Bank, has launched a special Web site, ‘Pakistan Earthquake a year after’ to report on the progress in recovery and rehabilitation efforts and to highlight the on-going challenges facing the affected communities and their environments. The Web site features statistics, documents and video interviews with survivors, as well as a link to ‘Risepak’-- the prize-winning online portal in which volunteers can post information on damage, access and relief in Pakistani villages to help coordinate assistance. Visit the Web site.
Photo competition
4th Annual International Photoshare Photo Contest for development photos
Photoshare is seeking photos of programmes in action, pictures illustrating the realities of urban and rural life in developing countries, or snapshots from personal travels, volunteer service, or work experience. Winning photos will receive cash and/or a Canon digital camera. Participants may submit one photo per the following categories (8 photos maximum): Family Planning and Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS, Environment, Agricultural & Economic Development, Democracy & Governance, Humanitarian Assistance, Global Health (open subject), Human Interest (open subject). The deadline for entries is 10 November 2006. Click here for more information and to download the electronic entry form. Photoshare is a service of The INFO Project (John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) which helps international, non-profit organizations communicate health and development issues through photography..