Publicaciones
The MRI community is growing rapidly and a lot of information on global change research in mountains is passing through our hands. One of MRI's role is to act as an information clearinghouse and to process this information quickly and efficiently, as in our four regional Newsflashes. With the MRI News we can now share in more detail some exciting global change science from mountain regions around the world.The six articles in the section “Science Peaks” cover a broad range. Read them to learn how global change topics have made it onto the research agenda of protected areas, e.g. the Swiss...
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...
Mountains have become a magnet for tourism, which is the most rapidly growing industry in the world. Massive increases of tourist activity in fragile mountain ecosystems pose a serious challenge in the developed world, and an even more daunting one in developing nations. How can mountain tourism be managed so as to avoid and minimize adverse environmental impacts? How can local communities receive an equitable share of the benefits from such tourism? Indeed, how can they interact with large numbers of tourists without destroying their own culture in the process?
Mountain peoples, many with thousands of years of experience living and working in their rugged environments, are overlooked stewards of fragile landscapes that support over ten percent of the Earth's population, and protect the watersheds that ensure freshwater for more than half of humanity. The high variability of mountain ecosystems makes them home to irreplaceable global treasures of biological diversity -- a diversity that is protected by mountain communities whose traditional lifestyles depend on intimate knowledge and sustainable use of their natural environment. Especially in...
Forests play crucial roles in the sustainable development of mountain regions, which are home to about one tenth of the global population. Mountain forests help to capture and store essential atmospheric moisture, to regulate river flow, and to reduce erosion and sedimentation downstream. Over half of humanity relies on fresh water from the mountains.Mountain forests are also important sources of wood: valuable as timber and particularly as a fuel source for both mountain people and those in nearby foothills and plains. Yet many mountain forests are subject to high, often unsustainable,...
Este informe sintetiza la discusión realizada en la Conferencia Electrónica sobre Pago por Servicios Ambientales (PSA) en Áreas Protegidas (APs) que se llevó a cabo entre el 11 de agosto y el 5 de septiembre de 2008.Esta se efectuó como parte del Estudio Pago por Servicios Ambientales en Áreas Protegidas de Latinoamérica, realizado para la Organización de Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (FAO) por un equipo consultor dirigido por Eugenio Figueroa B.La Conferencia Electrónica contó con intervenciones de 21 profesionales de 11 países con conocimiento en sistemas de pagos...
LINK POLICY RESOURCES ON RURAL INNOVATION SERIES No. 1The debates about science, technology and innovation (ST&I) in rural development have seen something of a renaissance in recent years. A series of high profile publications and the adoption of innovation as an organising principle for both policy and action by a number of influential bodies have generated considerable interest in the development studies, agricultural research and donor community.This ‘Tourist Guide’ is a resource document charting the emerging landscape of systems studies on rural innovation. Note that the term ‘...
América Latina es la región de mayor desigualdad económica del mundo en términos de ingresos. A pesar del crecimiento de la región, esta desigualdad aumentó durante los últimos cincuenta y, sobre todo, los últimos veinte años, con resultados previsibles: disminución del salario real, aumento del desempleo y compresión de la clase social media . A la vez hubo una abrupta reducción del gasto público en salud, educación y otros servicios sociales. Sin embargo, frente a la violación sistemática de los derechos sociales, el movimiento latinoamericano por los derechos humanos, forjado en muchos...
Reporte final sobre el simposio "Reconsiderando Políticas de Propiedad Intelectual (IPP) en la Investigación Pública" realizado el 11 de abril en Wageningen. El simposio aborda el difícil tema de la propiedad intelectual y los diferentes intereses de ambas partes. Se intenta formular una política general de patentes que logre crear consenso entre los involucrados.El texto plantea diferentes escenarios sumamente interesantes pero sobretodo hace una reflexión acerca del acceso a la investigacion fundamental.
Documento con el cual se inauguró el simposio "Reconsiderando Políticas de Propiedad Intelectual (IPP) en la Investigación Pública" realizado el 11 de abril en Wageningen. Los innovadores usualmente necesitan obtener licencias antes de poder insertar su producto biotecnológico destinado a los agricultores pobres. El proceso de obtención de estas licencias es engorroso y demanda dinero, tiempo y no asegura el éxito de la gestión. La pregunta lanzada hacia los institutos de investigación es el cómo pueden prevenir que su política relativa a la propiedad intelectual no obstaculize la...