An overview of mountains in ten regions

‘Mountains: Our Life, Our Future – Progress and perspectives on sustainable mountain development,’ a publication launched at the Fourth Global Meeting of the Mountain Partnership, examines the environmental and social issues at stake in the world’s mountains over the last twenty years. Based on ten regional reports prepared for the Rio+20 conference, the 89-page global report  explains why mountains matter in the Andes, Meso-America, North America, Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, the Hindu Kush Himalayas, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, central, eastern and southeastern Europe and the Alps.

Mountains supply half of the world’s population with freshwater and provide essential ecosystem goods and services as well as being centres of immense cultural and biological diversity. However diverse, nearly all mountain regions suffer from poverty, widespread land degradation and the adverse impacts of climate change.

The report - written by Clara Ariza, Daniel Maselli and Thomas Kohler and published by the Mountain Partnership, the University of Bern Centre for Development and the Environment and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation - gives an overview of issues such as migration, urbanization, food security,  conflict, water supply, energy production, waste management and natural hazards. The publication also includes a road map with policy principles and recommended actions to help secure the role of mountain environments and their people in preserving globally vital resources and address the challenge of global sustainable development.

Download the publication here.