www.mountains2002.org/action/action.html.
Mountain Partnership launched at Johannesburg
At the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, a number of governments, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations agreed to work in partnership to address the most pressing issues affecting mountain ecosystems and mountain communities.
At the Summit, the International Partnership for Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions was launched by FAO together with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Government of Switzerland, acting on behalf of the 15 member countries of the International Year of Mountains Focus Group. The Partnership is structured to ensure multi-stakeholder and long-term approaches. In addition, it's conceived as an evolving alliance with the flexibility to address the complexity, diversity and magnitude of mountain issues. Currently, 28 countries, 15 intergovernmental organizations and 12 major groups have expressed their intent to participate in the Partnership.
FAO's Director-General Jacques Diouf announced at the Summit that FAO would consider hosting a support facility for the Partnership, if requested to do so by countries. Dr Diouf also affirmed FAO's commitment to helping countries develop strategic plans for the sustainable development of their mountain areas, as well as supportive policies and laws, as part of its continuing work to fight hunger and poverty in mountain communities.
Bishkek Global Mountain Summit approaches
More than 400 participants representing governments and a wide range of stakeholders are expected to attend the culminating global event of the International Year of Mountains, the Bishkek Global Mountain Summit, 28 October to 1 November in Kyrgyzstan. The Summit will draw together the ideas and recommendations generated by previous events into proposals for concrete action. For more about the Bishkek Summit, including a programme of events, visit www.globalmountainsummit.org/Home_Page.html.
World Food Day
Every year on 16 October people around the world celebrate World Food Day. This year's theme is 'Water, source of food security'. Activities will focus on the essential role freshwater plays in ensuring food for a growing world population.
Because most of the world's freshwater comes from mountains, this year's theme offers opportunities for spreading the word about the importance of protecting mountain environments and the communities that live in them.
We encourage national committees and others who are concerned about sustainable mountain development to participate in World Food Day events in their countries. Highlighting the connections between mountains, freshwater and food security is one way to help ensure that mountain voices are heard during celebrations for the International Year of Freshwater in 2003.
Earthdance supports mountains
The International Year of Mountains Trust Fund at FAO has been selected as one of the recipients of funds raised during this year's Earthdance, which will be held on 12 October. Earthdance, which has been called the 'Live Aid' of the new millennium, hosts simultaneous dances every year in over 100 cities in more than 50 countries to raise money for environmental protection, peace and indigenous people. The theme of this year's Earthdance is 'Give Peace a Dance'. Earthdance events vary in size from a handful of people to large happenings involving many thousands of participants. The styles of music featured at these events include rock, electronic, techno, trance and world music.
For more information about Earthdance, visit http://www.earthdance.org/
Mountain documentary broadcast in October
A new documentary film produced by FAO for the International Year of Mountains will be broadcast in October on the BBC's World Earth Report during a special mountain month. The half-hour documentary called 'The Angle on Hunger' will take viewers on a journey to some of the world's highest altitudes to explore reasons why many mountain people face chronic malnutrition and food insecurity. The show is one of five special documentaries on mountains being featured during October and is expected to reach more than 220 million homes around the world.
The mountain month series, which was sponsored by UNEP, will also include:
Summit To Sea (parts one and two), which takes viewers around the world to explore the effects of environmental change in mountain regions
Where Families and Mountains Meet, a look at how removing fuel subsidies in the former Soviet republics of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has affected mountain people and forests
Uphill Struggle, a special programme highlighting the International Year of Mountains and the upcoming Bishkek Global Mountain Summit
Programme broadcast dates and times are as follows (all in Greenwich Mean Time, check local listings for times in individual countries):
The Angle on Hunger
Monday, 14 October, 21:30
Tuesday, 15 October, 01:30 and 09:30
Saturday, 19 October, 18:30
Sunday, 20 October, 07:30
Summit to Sea - Part One
Monday, 30 September, 21:30
Tuesday, 1 October, 01:30 and 09:30
Saturday, 5 October, 18:30
Sunday, 6 October, 07:30
Summit to Sea - Part Two
Monday, 7 October, 21:30
Tuesday, 8 October, 01:30 and 09:30
Saturday, 12 October, 18:30
Sunday, 13 October, 07:30
Where Families and Mountains Meet
Monday, 21 October, 21:30
Tuesday, 22 October, 01:30 and 09:30
Saturday, 26 October, 18:30
Sunday, 27 October, 07:30
Uphill Struggle
Saturday, 2 November, 08:10, 12:10, 19:10
Sunday, 3 November, 15:10
Celebrating Mountain Women
Women from around the world gathered 1 to 4 October in Thimphu, Bhutan for the Celebrating Mountain Women Conference. The conference was an opportunity to articulate concerns and share experiences and ideas about the future of mountain women's livelihoods and cultures. Five thematic areas were the basis of the conference's activities:
Natural resources and environment
Health and wellbeing
Entrepreneurship
Legal, political and human rights
Culture and indigenous knowledge
A draft preliminary declaration for the Conference was drawn up earlier this year at the first preparatory meeting in Chambˇry, France (30 - 31 May). To view the document, visit the following Web page: www.mtnforum.org/resources/library/cmwpm02b.htm
For more information about the conference, visit www.mtnforum.org/calendar/events/0205mwaa.htm.
Second World Meeting of Mountain Populations
Mountain activists, scientists and representatives of governments and United Nations agencies from around the world met from 17 to 22 September at the Second World Meeting of Mountain Populations, held in the high-altitude Ecuadorian capital of Quito. Participants adopted a draft of the Mountain People's Charter. For information about the World Mountain People Association, visit its Web site at www.mountainpeople.org.
International Year of Mountains promotional tools
Part two of the International Year of Mountains toolkit is now available on the Web site and compact disc. The promotional tools in Part Two will help national committees and other groups make a strong final push to deliver key messages about sustainable mountain development during the International Year of Mountains. The second part of the toolkit includes:
a poster
a poster template that can be adapted to include information about your country or organization
public service announcements for newspapers and radio
a newspaper supplement template
The newspaper supplement is a template for developing special newspaper supplements on mountain issues. The template includes sections that reflect global issues, as well as sections that can be adapted to address the unique challenges and circumstances in specific countries. For more information about working with newspapers in your country to develop a supplement, contact Sandra McGuire at sandra.mcguire@fao.org or Patricia Baeza at patricia.baeza@fao.org.
Part two of the toolkit also includes a case for support and PowerPoint presentations in Arabic, Chinese and Russian.
The kit can be downloaded from the International Year of Mountains Web site at www.mountains2002.org/media.html. It is also available on compact disc.
Education kit ready
The International Year of Mountains coordination unit at FAO has prepared an education kit to help educators teach students about mountains and mountain people. The kit brings together materials developed by many partners and includes:
lesson plans developed by FAO
'Discovering natural resources of Hindu Kush', a cartoon book with a teacher's guide prepared by FAO and ICIMOD
artwork from 'Mountains Forever', a Spiny Babbler project
'Volcano Daily', a booklet with information sheets and a poster prepared by the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
The kit is available on compact disc. All materials can be downloaded from the International Year of Mountains Web site at www.mountains2002.org/kids.html.
Contact Us
If you are organizing events and activities, please let us know. For more information, visit the International Year of Mountains Web site at www.mountains2002.org or contact the International Year of Mountains Coordination Unit at FAO at info@mountains2002.org.
