The FAO and Mountain PartnershipEngagement With MountainsWith its mandate to work on natural

resource management; food security;

and livelihoods; and its attention to the

social, economic, and environmental

dimensions of sustainable

development, the Food and Agriculture

Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

has played a leading role in sustainable

mountain development for many years.

In 1992, the FAO was appointed Task

Manager for Chapter 13 of Agenda 21

(Managing Fragile Ecosystems:

Sustainable Mountain Development)

and acted as the lead agency for the

International Year of Mountains in

2002. The FAO hosts the global

Secretariat of the Mountain Partnership

and, from 2003 onward, has also been

mandated by the United Nations

General Assembly to lead observance of

the International Mountain Day, every

year on 11 December. Over time, the

FAO has progressively built up a

conceptual and operational framework

that links sustainable mountain

development to forest hydrology and

watershed and risk management. This

Platform Statement provides an update

on the FAO’s regular program on

sustainable mountain development,

watershed management, and forest

hydrology, which includes normative

work, a strong field program, and

support to international processes.

Further, it summarizes the latest

achievements of the Mountain

Partnership.

Normative work

In close collaboration with itsmember countries, the FAOcontributes to the advancement ofconcepts and approaches related toforest hydrology, watershedmanagement, and sustainablemountain development. In particular,the FAO acts as an internationalforum with the aim of bringingtogether different actors and sectors,such as government agencies,research institutions,

nongovernmental organizations, etc.Experiences, findings, andrecommendations that result fromthis consultative and analyticalprocess are tested and validated at thenational policy and field level, thusfeeding a continuous learningmechanism. The results aredisseminated in the form of policybriefs, technical manuals for fieldpractitioners, and papers that presentthe state of the art on particularissues. Current examples are anillustrated publication entitled ‘‘Whyinvest in sustainable mountaindevelopment?’’ and a document thatsummarizes the outcomes of forestsand water events held between 2008and 2010. Both papers will bepublished in 2011.

Three examples from the

field program

Tajikistan

Onbehalf of theWorld Bank, the FAOimplemented a watershed project inthe Dangara District (ThoirsuWatershed) of Southern Tajikistan.The project lasted from 2006 untilearly 2010 and came up with anumber of interesting results: morethan 400 subprojects related to watermanagement, forestry, livestock,pasture management, soilconservation, etc., were implementedin the villages of the ThoirsuWatershed. All proposals wereprioritized by the communitiesthemselves and showed an impressiverichness in terms of themes,approaches, and innovative ideas.Bottom-up institutional mechanisms(community interest groups,municipality developmentcommittees) were established, andpeople realized that they canimplement their ideas on their own;experiences that they have not had inthe past. The watershed project inDangara attracted significantattention and received an award from

the World Bank. Based on previouspositive experiences in other parts ofthe country as well, the FAO aims tocontinue its successful collaborationwith Tajikistan in the field ofsustainable mountain developmentand watershed management.

West Africa

In July 2009, implementation of theFouta Djallon Highlands (FDH)Integrated Natural ResourcesManagement Project, which is fundedby the Global Environment Facility(GEF), was begun. Eight West Africancountries (Gambia, Guinea, GuineaBissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger,Senegal, and Sierra Leone) areparticipating in this 10-year project,which is jointly implemented by theFAO, the United NationsEnvironment Programme, and theAfrican Union. To improve thelivelihoods of rural populations thatlive in countries directly or indirectlyconnected to the FDHs, the projectaims to ensure the conservation andsustainable management of FDH’snatural resources. Across thismountain ecosystem (Figure 1), 29pilot sites have been selected to testand pilot approaches for theconservation and more efficient useof natural resources. Furthermore, toimprove the economic situation of thelocal population, small enterpriseswill be developed for the promotionof mountain-specific products. The 8participating countries and theAfrican Union are in the process ofnegotiating a regional frameworkagreement for the sharing andimproved management of naturalresources. A regional observatory isbeing established for the long-termmonitoring of resources and thesocioeconomic situation of the peopleof the Fouta Djallon region. Allproject activities are accompanied byan extended capacity-buildingprogram. It is expected that projectexperiences will be upscaled and

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institutionalized across the wholeregion.

Ecuador

The FAO is strongly engaged inwatershed management andsustainable mountain developmentactivities in Ecuador. Four projects arecurrently under implementation: (1)an FAO-funded project on the‘‘management of high mountain areasfor sustainable development’’ in theCotopaxi Region, (2) a Spanish-fundedproject on ’’poverty alleviation andcombating desertification throughcollaborative watershedmanagement,’’ which is beingimplemented in the MembrilloWatershed in the Pacific CoastalRanges, (3) a GEF-funded project onthe ‘‘management of Chimborazo’snatural resources,’’ which is beingimplemented in 5 watersheds in theAndean ranges of ChimborazoProvince, and (4) an interdisciplinaryFinnish-funded forestry project thatworks at the national level and has astrong watershed managementcomponent. The combination of theseprojects, which work at differentadministrative levels and scales, indifferent field realities of the country,and with different sets of stakeholders

and partners, offers a uniqueopportunity to promote a harmonizedapproach to sustainable mountaindevelopment, to create nationalcapacities, to support institutionaldevelopment, and, finally, to provideevidence-based policy advice.

International processes

The FAO supports the internationalcommunity in processes that aim toaddress cross-cutting issues ofparticular concern. Topics related toforests and water interactions, andtheir implications for watershedmanagement, sustainable mountaindevelopment, and mitigation andadaptation to climate change, havegained momentum in recent years. InMay 2009, the FAO participated in aworkshop on forests and waterorganized by FOREST EUROPE andpartners in Antalya, Turkey; a total of4 forests and water and/or watershedmanagement events were organizedat the XIII World Forestry Congressthat was held in October 2009 inBuenos Aires, Argentina; and, inApril 2010, a forests and watersession was held during the 35thsession of the European ForestryCommission in Lisbon, Portugal.

During the 20th Committee onForestry, held in October 2010 atFAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, aplenary session on forests and waterin the context of climate change wasorganized by the FAO. The outcomesof these sessions, recommendationsfor forests and water policy-makersand technicians, and a practicalforests and water agenda will bepresented in the synthesis documentbeing prepared by the FAO.

The FAO will host the SecondWorld Landslide Forum ‘‘PuttingScience into Practice,’’ which isorganized by the InternationalConsortium on Landslides and itspartners. The event will be held inOctober 2011 at FAO headquartersin Rome, Italy, and is expected toattract approximately 500participants, including high-leveldecision-makers.

Together with Slovak partners,the FAO organized the 27th Sessionof the European Forest Commission(EFC) Working Party on theManagement of MountainWatersheds in Strbske Pleso, SlovakRepublic, in April 2010. During themeeting, the FAO presented aproposal to review the Working Partyand to enlarge its mandate to include

FIGURE 1 The FDHs in Guinea. (Photo by Thomas Hofer)

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forests and water issues that gobeyond mountain watersheds. TheFAO, in collaboration with thegovernments of member countries,EFC and United Nations EconomicCommission for Europe TimberCommittee, will implement thisreview in the course of 2011.

Both the FAO and the globalMountain Partnership Secretariatwere actively involved in the secondPerth Mountain Conference held inScotland in September 2010. Themain objective of this conference wasto review progress in research relatedto global change in mountain regionsover the last 5 years since the firstPerth Conference. The increase inattention to mountain research since2005, as evidenced in the number ofpapers and diversity of topicspresented during the conference, wasvery impressive. In the future,effective communication of theseresearch results to policy-makers willbe essential. The Mountain ResearchInitiative will play a key role in thisimportant process.

The Mountain Partnership

The Mountain Partnership is aninternational, voluntary alliance ofpartners dedicated to improving thelives of mountain people andprotecting their environment aroundthe world. An official United Nationspartnership, it was launched at theWorld Summit on SustainableDevelopment in 2002. It now hasmore than 170 members, whichcomprise governments, civil society,and intergovernmental organizations.Its Secretariat continues to besupported financially by thegovernments of Italy and Switzerland,and its structure consists of centraland decentralized hubs. The CentralHub is hosted by the FAO in Rome,whereas the decentralized hubs arehosted by the University of CentralAsia in Kyrgyzstan, the Consortiumfor the Sustainable Development ofthe Andean Ecoregion in Peru, andthe International Centre forIntegrated Mountain Development

(ICIMOD) in Nepal. The Secretariatalso includes the EnvironmentalReference Centre, which is hosted bythe United Nations EnvironmentProgramme in Vienna and isresponsible for ensuring attention toenvironmental concerns.

Since March 2010, the fundinginstitutions and hostingorganizations of the MountainPartnership Secretariat have joinedforces to create the MountainPartnership Consortium, a strategicand operational alliance that servesto add value to the activities of eachpartner while promoting synergies,knowledge exchange, and jointcollaboration in the MountainPartnership context.

Among the initiatives promotedto benefit the members of theMountain Partnership is theInternational Programme onResearch and Training onSustainable Management ofMountain Areas (IPROMO), whichwas conceived and designed in 2008by the Mountain PartnershipSecretariat and the University ofTurin, Italy. The IPROMO wascreated as a response to MountainPartnership members who hadexpressed their concern about thelimited availability of courses onmountain issues and the serious needto build capacity in mountaincountries. The target audienceincludes technicians, planners, anddecision makers from mountainregions of the world, in particular,developing countries. Every year, a 2-week course is organized on issuesrelated to mountain development,such as climate change in 2008,economic opportunities in 2009, andmountain biodiversity in 2010.

The Mountain Partnership–FAO,together with ICIMOD, is alsoimplementing a World Bank projectto support climate change adaptationprocesses in mountains. These effortsare providing technical support tothe process initiated by theGovernment of Nepal, with theMountain Alliance Initiative forClimate Change Adaptation in

Mountain regions to create a moreeffective mountain political lobby inthe context of the United NationsFramework Convention on ClimateChange negotiations.

With the support of the CentralAsia hub of the MountainPartnership Secretariat, the CAMPForum 2010 took place lastNovember in Kazakhstan, with theaim of sharing and discussingregional-, national-, and community-level efforts to cope with changingclimate by providing a platform forshared learning and discussion of thechallenges and opportunities foradapting to changes. The forum wascomplemented by a 25-minutedocumentary that capturedchallenges related to climate changeand local level adaptation practicesin 3 Central Asian countries(including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,and Tajikistan).

As part of the Mountain ProductsProgramme, implemented by theFAO in the context of the MountainPartnership to increase the incomeand livelihoods of mountaincommunities through improvedproduction and marketing of localquality products, the Partnership issupporting a project in the Anti-Atlas Mountains of southernMorocco to promote and develop theproduction of high-quality saffron.The project has carried out athorough analysis of the entiresaffron value chain in Morocco,which should lead to a much greatercontribution of saffron to localincomes and development efforts insouthern Morocco as well aseventually at the national level.

Development plans to adapt toclimate change and promotesustainable mountain developmentare being developed within the smallpilot project in the Cotopaxi area(Ecuador), as mentioned above. Localmountain communities haveorganized themselves and haverequested support to introduceorganic agriculture and llamabreeding, improved irrigationschemes, and new marketing

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strategies for their products(Figure 2). The MountainPartnership Secretariat will promotethe sharing of the results at nationaland regional level with a view toadapting and replicating theseschemes in other Andean areas.

In addition, through theorganization of mountain-relatedpresentations at high-level UnitedNations events and Conference ofthe Parties, conferences, websites,and publications, the MountainPartnership Secretariat isdisseminating lessons learned andbest practices as well ascommunicating the activities ofmembers and mechanisms that cancontribute to Sustainable MountainDevelopment. It also aims topromote the global mountainagenda, especially in view of the 2012United Nations Conference onSustainable Development: Rio+20.

Outlook

The FAO is experiencing an increasein the number of requests fortechnical assistance and policyadvice related to sustainablemountain development, watershedmanagement, and forest hydrology.This shows the growing concern formountain issues recentlydemonstrated by the public as well asthe private sector. A concerted effortis needed to make sure that mountainissues play a prominent role on theagenda of Rio+20. The coincidence ofRio+20 with the 10-year anniversaryof the International Year ofMountains provides an apt occasionto seize the momentum and givemountains the voice they deserve.

For further information about theFAO’s multidisciplinary focus onsustainable mountain development,see the following:

N Forests and water website: http://www.fao.org/forestry/forestsandwater/en/

N Mountain Partnership website:http://www.mountainpartnership.org/default.asp

N International Mountain Day web-site: http://www.fao.org/mnts/home3/en/

AUTHORS

Paolo Ceci, Thomas Hofer*, SaraManuelli, Rosalaura Romeo, andClaudia Veith* Corresponding author:

thomas.hofer@fao.orgFood and Agriculture Organization of the UnitedNations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153Rome, Italy

Open access article: please credit the authors andthe full source.

FIGURE 2 A market for organic mountain products in Ecuador. (Photo by Thomas Hofer)

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