Investing in Mountains: Innovative Mechanisms and Promising Examples for Financing Conservation and Sustainable Development

Mountain communities have traditionally been stewards of globally significant mountain resources. As more mountain resources are used, downstream beneficiaries have contributed little or no reinvestment in the resources or their traditional stewards, the mountain communities. As a result, mountain resources are being depleted at unsustainable rates, and traditionally self-reliant mountain communities are becoming marginalized. In order to ensure a sustainable flow of resources to national and global populations, policy makers must develop and implement mechanisms which capture and reallocate an appropriate share of benefits from resource outflows to mountain communities.