Recognizing the importance of pursuing sustainable mountain development as part of transforming our world into one free of poverty, the United Nations adopted three mountain-related targets under two of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015.

The Mountain Partnership Secretariat, alongside numerous Mountain Partnership members, called for the inclusion of mountains in the international plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. The partners held series of events and meetings at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome and at the United Nations Headquarters in New York during sessions of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals. Bringing together diplomats, policy makers, experts and practitioners from more than seventy countries, the meetings progressively fine-tuned a strategy for mountain advocacy.

In addition to the events in Rome and New York, the 14-month Mountain Partnership advocacy efforts included producing issues briefs on climate change, water, biodiversity and forests and energy as well as conducting a social media campaign to raise awareness and build a greater understanding of the vital role of mountain ecosystems for sustainable development.

This message was heard, resulting in three mentions of mountains in “Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development”.  That means that concerted efforts will be made to protect mountain ecosystems over the next 15 years.

The three mountain-related targets are:

• Target 6.6: By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes
• Target 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements
• Target 15.4: By 2030, ensure the conservation of mountain ecosystems, including their biodiversity, in order to enhance their capacity to provide benefits that are essential for sustainable development

Issue briefs

• Why mountains matter for energy (available in Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish)
• Why mountains matter for forests and biodiversity (available in English, French and Spanish)
• Why mountains matter for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction (available in English, French and Spanish)
• Mountains as the water towers of the world (available in English, French and Spanish)
• Mountains and the SDGs (available in English, French, Russian and Spanish)

In 2011, the Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS) received a grant from the Development Grant Facility (DGF) of the World Bank to support a strategic initiative on climate change impacts, adaptation and development in mountain regions.

The overall objective of the Initiative was to enhance awareness of climate change impacts in mountain regions and to strengthen cross-regional and cross-thematic cooperation, in order to mobilize international support and resources to promote climate change adaptation in mountain ecosystems.

Activities under the initiative included:   

• Regional meetings on mountains and climate change
• Mountain Day events held at the Conferences of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• IPROMO 2012 dedicated to theme of mountains and climate change
• Mountains and Climate Change: A Global Concern (video)
• Session on women and climate change as part of Bhutan+10: Gender and Sustainable Mountain Development in a Changing World

Regional meetings

Four regional meetings in Chile, Tajikistan, Uganda and Morocco were organized with the support of the World Bank Development Grant Facility.

Each regional meeting brought together government delegates, policymakers, scientists and climate change experts, to strengthen knowledge about the climate change impacts in mountain areas, discuss adaptation options in mountain ecosystems, and promote better alliances and cooperation among countries with mountain territories to reinforce their understanding of key issues.

The meetings were complemented with a mountain field visit where the impacts of climate change were visible. The aim of these field visits was to expose participants to local level adaptation practices in the respective mountain areas.

Africa

The Regional Meeting on Sustainable Development in African Mountain Regions was held in Mbale, Uganda, from 16 to 18 November 2011.

The meeting was jointly organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with support from the World Bank, in the context of the Strategic Initiative for Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Development in Mountain Regions. Participants visited Mount Elgon and communities on its slopes to observe emerging micro-climate changes, their causes and effects so to discuss coping mechanisms and suitable adaptation strategies.

Central Asia

The Regional Meeting on Climate Change and Mountains in Central Asia was held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, from 9 to 11 November 2011. The meeting was jointly organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, the University of Central Asia (UCA) and the Government of Tajikistan, with support from the World Bank, in the context of the Strategic Initiative for Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Development in Mountain Regions. Participants visited three project sites in the Nurobod district of the Rasht Valley.

Latin America

The regional meeting for Latin America was held in Santiago, Chile from 26 to 28 October 2011. The meeting was jointly organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat in collaboration with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Chile and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In Chile, participants visited Cajón del Maipo, a canyon located in the Andean South-Eastern portion of the Santiago Metropolitan Region.

Near East and North Africa

Over 15 representatives from the Near East and North African (NENA) region met 16-18 December in Marrakech, Morocco, to discuss the effects of climate change in mountains. The meeting was the fourth in a series organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS) in the context of the World Bank Project Strategic Initiative on Mountains and Climate Change.

The Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries partnered with the Mountain Partnership Secretariat for the event, which analyzed climate change impacts, adaptation and development in the region’s mountain ecosystems. Participants included members of the national delegations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), officers from various ministries dealing with mountain issues and Mountain Partnership focal points.

Mountain Partnership members worked together to ensure that sustainable mountain development featured in the final outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, which took place on 20-22 June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The third international conference on sustainable development in 20 years included participation from 192 UN member states — including around 100 heads of state and government as well as private sector companies, NGOs and other groups.

Largely as a result of members’ active collaboration and engagement in the run-up to, and during, negotiations, the following three paragraphs on mountains were included in the final document, The Future We Want:

• 210. We recognize that the benefits derived from mountain regions are essential for sustainable development. Mountain ecosystems play a crucial role in providing water resources to a large portion of the world’s population; fragile mountain ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, deforestation and forest degradation, land use change, land degradation and natural disasters; and mountain glaciers around the world are retreating and getting thinner, with increasing impacts on the environment and human well-being.
• 211. We further recognize that mountains are often home to communities, including Indigenous Peoples and local communities, who have developed sustainable uses of mountain resources. These communities are, however, often marginalized, and we therefore stress that continued effort will be required to address poverty, food security and nutrition, social exclusion and environmental degradation in these areas. We invite States to strengthen cooperative action with effective involvement and sharing of experience of all relevant stakeholders, by strengthening existing arrangements, agreements and centres of excellence for sustainable mountain development, as well as exploring new arrangements and agreements, as appropriate.
• 212. We call for greater efforts towards the conservation of mountain ecosystems, including their biodiversity. We encourage States to adopt a long-term vision and holistic approaches, including through incorporating mountain-specific policies into national sustainable development strategies, which could include, inter alia, poverty reduction plans and programmes for mountain areas, particularly in developing countries. In this regard, we call for international support for sustainable mountain development in developing countries.

Mountain Partnership members the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) are officially charged with following up on paragraph 211.