International Symposium on Mountain Economy

Guiyang, China - 6 May 2014

Agenda

• Mountain Partnership

• Why focus on mountains

• Mountain economy

• Culture and traditional knowledge

• Governance

What is the Mountain Partnership?

A United Nations voluntary alliance that brings members together to work towards improving the lives of mountain peoples and protecting mountain environments around the world

Photo: Sajal Sthapit/LI-BIRD

Mountain Partnership

• Launched:

WSSD 2002, Johannesburg

(ITA, SWI, FAO, UNEP)

• Membership: 228

Type 2 alliance

• MPS resource partners:

ITA, SWI, WB, FAO

Mountain Partnership

Governments

Intergovern mental

Organizations

Civil Society Organizations

(CSOs)

Research / Education

Organizations

Private Sector

Entities and Associations

NGOs

Mountain Partnership Secretariat

The Mountain Partnership is supported by a Secretariat which is hosted by Forestry Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome, Italy

Areas of work

Advocacy

Joint action

Knowledge management

& communication

Capacity development

& technology transfer

Resource mobilization

Advocacy

• Increased attention to mountains at national and regional levels

Contribution to CSD and UNSG reports

Contribution to IMD celebrations

• Increased attention to mountains in international negotiations

Rio+20: Paragraphs 210-212!

Mountains in the SDGs

Joint action

• Cuzco, Peru & Dénia, Spain

• Andes mechanism

for transboundary SMD

• VERTEX in North America

• MP African

Champions Committee

• International symposium on mountain economy

Knowledge mgmt & communication

Highlighting members’ activities, updates on events, videos and publications, information sharing through:

• Peak to Peak monthly newsletter

• MP Website

• Social media

Facebook

YouTube

Flickr

Capacity dev & technology transfer

• Training and capacity development

IPROMO courses

Climate change workshops

• Key publications with partners

Family Farming

Climate change

Mountain forests

Biodiversity

Drylands

Resource mobilization

• Brokering initiatives among partners and donors

• Providing support for filling out funding applications

• Maintaining a funding source database

– currently being updated

• Establishing the Mountain Facility

– ongoing

• GEF projects as implementing agency

• TCP projects, internal FAO funds

Why focus on mountains?

►Mountain peoples are vulnerable

►Early indicators of climate change

►25% of earth’s land surface

►60-80% of freshwater

►>25% of world biodiversity

► Renewable energy

© Zoi Environment Network

Flow of goods & services

Mountain economy

• Economic development in mountains follows a different path than that of the lowlands

• Greater complexity requires a more integrated approach

• Success is associated to valorization

of specificities

Drivers of change

World trends impacting mountains: • globalization • migration • increasing urbanization • growing demand for goods and services • climate change pressure on natural resources serious economic, environmental and social

implications for upstream and downstream populations

Resources and economic potential

60-80% of freshwater

Water

Energy

Mountains are a key source of renewable energy and green economic growth

Hydropower, solar power, wind power

Forests

23% of the world’s forests

Biodiversity

25 out of 34 of the earth’s.....

.....biodiversity hotspots

Small-scale agriculture

• often family-based

• diversified activities and crops

greater variety of nutrients

adaptive, flexible and resilient

• low carbon footprint

• often organic

• high value and quality niche products

Need for investments in access to markets and strengthening of product value chains

Tourism

Mountains attract about 15-20% of global tourism

If sustainably managed: • source of livelihood and income diversification • wildlife habitats, ecosystem and biodiversity preservation • community services and infrastructure improvement • local culture and traditional lifestyle appreciation • responsible tourist behaviour

If poorly managed: • Social impacts • Environmental impacts • Economic impacts

Focus should be on long-term sustainability; institutional support; gender equity; local and national economic integration; local financial incentives; security

Payment for ecosystem services

The incredibly rich fabric of ethnic minorities hosted by mountains is an asset to preserve and value

Adequate mechanisms are needed to support mountain peoples and reward them for the ecosystem services that they traditionally provide to lowland populations

Culture and traditional knowledge

• High capacity to adapt Soil and indigenous seed

varieties conservation Watershed protection Indigenous products • Resilience measures • Adaptation to climate

variability

Mountain communities gained experience and developed solutions to face harsh environments

Threats to mountain communities

• Political, social and economic exclusion of indigenous groups and minorities Exclusion from decisions affecting the

management and use of local resources • Risk of hunger and malnutrition – higher for women

and children • Heavy impact of global trends on social fabric and

incidences of poverty, food insecurity and social conflicts

Sustainable mountain development

Key requirements

• Community-focused

• Participatory governance

• Long-term

sustainability

• Empowerment

of decentralized

authorities

Issues and Challenges

• Persistent poverty and marginalization

• Fragility of mountain ecosystems

• Difficulty of valuating and compensating mountain ecosystem services

• Low level of political attention and commitment

disaggregated mountain-specific data are needed to support advocacy and evidence-based policy making at the local level

Governance

• the needs and priorities of indigenous peoples

• long-term sustainability

• environmental respect

• protection of the rights of local communities

• creation of employment opportunities for mountain peoples

National and local authorities need to develop policies for long-term growth and development based on:

Alto Adige attracts 40% of visitors to the Italian Alps

Thanks to a forward-looking policy, the local population benefits directly

• Sales of houses are strictly regulated Houses are mainly owned by local people

• Local job creation • Safeguard of local identity

Case study – South Tyrol

Conclusions

Achieve a sustainable mountain economy that rewards local communities requires:

• Enabling policy framework

Long-term planning

Direct and strong local community involvement

Local authority empowerment

• Mountain specificities valorization

• Cultural tradition and ecosystem preservation

Thank you for your attention!

www.mountainpartnership.org