Synthesis report of Dushanbe Mountain Forum 2015

Wednesday, 9 September, 2015 - 16:03

We are pleased to share with you the synthesis report of the Dushanbe Forum of Mountain Countries 2015: ‘Water and Mountains’, held on 8 June 2015 in Tajikistan – please see attached to this mail. Here are some useful links for you to get an access to the forum materials:

all presentations and documents are available at DROPBOX :https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yp48y7yaiy84ec2/AAB-9ZIQMDZxW8BqC-WueyIIa?dl=0
you can also see and download the photos of the forum at FLICKR:https://www.flickr.com/photos/mountainpartnership/sets/72157654281924071

Please feel free to circulate the publication to your networks.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

More than 120 representatives of organizations from across Central Asia and from around the world whose work is dedicated to the concerns of mountain societies and environments, gathered in Dushanbe for the first ever Forum of Mountain Countries taking place in Central Asia, to share perspectives and best practices on sustainable mountain development. Co-organized by the Mountain Partnership Central Asia Hub in partnership with the State Committee on Environmental Protection, Government of Tajikistan and supported with funding from SDC (Switzerland), a day-long Forum work has been kicked off with the Knowledge Fair launching where Sustainable Development Good Practices by some 20 organizations have been show-cased.

The photo exhibition which attracted much of interest featured works of 2 photographers on mountain glaciers, snow and ice in high Alps by Maralgua (Mongolia) and Laurence Piaget (Switzerland) under the Sustainable Mountain Art (SMArt) program implemented by the Foundation on Sustainable Development of Swiss Valais and the photos provided by the forum partner organizations: Oxfam Tajikistan, ACTED Tajikistan, CAMP Kuhiston (Tajikistan) and photo reportage by Alma Uzbekova, the Hub’s communication officer during her field trips throughout Kyrgyzstan.

Illuminating examples from across the region and around the world, eight sessions with 44 presentations and group discussions moderated by subject-matter experts from the global mountain community offered multiple perspectives on the challenges facing mountain communities.

Issues explored included food security and creating conditions for entrepreneurship and better livelihoods, particularly among women; methods for conflict-resolution about pasture management, water and access to resources including frameworks for encouraging proactive participation by communities in the design of solutions; sustainable land management practices and the necessary governance mechanisms for achieving sustainable land management; land-use management practices and the need for integrating disaster risk mitigation into these systems; design and delivery of knowledge management solutions about water and mountains that offers not only technical solutions and platforms, but the capabilities to help transform information into action on the ground, designed by and for the communities it is intended to benefit; multidisciplinary and cross-cutting approaches to research problem formulation and project delivery and the requirement to strengthen communication between research and policy.

The conference concluded that priority actions should be to:

Diversify food systems by supporting mountain farmers and encouraging climatesmart agriculture;
Promote participatory governance of natural resources in watersheds;
Upscale sustainable land management practices, including community-based climate risk mitigation plans;
Introduce equitable benefit sharing and compensation mechanisms to properly reflect the services provided by mountains for all;
Enable better knowledge exchange between practitioners, communities and researchers;
Invest in decision-support tools and programs that integrate the concerns of mountain communities by working directly with them;
Place sustainable mountain development concerns in development plans and use international meetings and conventions to emplace mountain issues in sustainable development goals and actions.

External Links:

Presentations and documents are available at DROPBOX

Photos of the forum at FLICKR:

Work regions:

Latin America