International Year of Mountains 2002 Japan

This is the fourth monthly newsletter on preparations for the International Year of Mountains 2002 (IYM). It was prepared by the IYM Coordination Unit at FAO (the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), the UN lead agency responsible for coordinating the IYM.

Meeting of the IYM Focus Group

The IYM Focus Group held its most recent meeting on 2 July in New York. The group has expanded its membership to 15 countries and now includes representatives from Austria, Bhutan, Bolivia, Ethiopia, France, Guatemala, Iceland, Italy, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Lesotho, Peru, Slovenia and Switzerland. During this meeting representatives of FAO's IYM Coordination Unit presented an overview of IYM preparations, including the Unit's communication plan for the IYM, which it is currently finalizing. A representative of The Mountain Institute (TMI) presented an update on preparations for the informal activities being organized for the IYM launch on 11 December in New York. Ms Florence Chenoweth, the newly appointed Director of the FAO Liaison Office to the UN in NY, was introduced at the meeting.

Enhanced collaboration among major IYM global events

The IYM Coordination Unit convened a meeting on 19 July in Geneva with representatives of the major global events currently scheduled for the IYM. The meeting, hosted by the Swiss Government, was held to establish closer collaboration among the major events to ensure a well coordinated and coherent overall approach to the IYM. The aim is to ensure that each of the major global processes and events has the opportunity and is encouraged to build on the results of the other processes that precede it, and that all of the results are fully considered and duly recognised at the final IYM conference. The need to develop coherence among initiatives and to present certain common IYM messages throughout 2002 was also discussed, while maintaining and recognizing the individual identity of each process. At the Geneva meeting a small informal group of communications focal points from each major event was established to work toward this objective.

Bishkek International Advisory Board

The first meeting of the International Advisory Board of the Bishkek Global Mountain Summit was convened by the Government of Kyrgyzstan in Geneva, also held on 19 July. The group discussed the proposed draft programme of the conference and advised on a variety of technical issues related to organizing the summit. The Board is co-chaired by Kygyzstan and FAO. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been designated the international tehnical secretariat and is working closely with the Government of Kyrgyzstan to organize the conference, scheduled for late October 2002.

Regional Roundtables and Prepcoms for Johannesburg 2002: the World Summit on Sustainable Development

Formal preparatory meetings have begun for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). Roundtable discussions involving eminent persons have been held in all regions which will be followed by regional prepcom meetings later this year. The multi-stakeholder roundtables will be presenting their reports to the prepcoms, in anticipation of the Johannesburg summit. These regional processes are meant to assess progress in the implementation of Agenda 21 and highlight priority regional concerns to be addressed at the Summit in September 2002. Although these meetings deal with all of Agenda 21, they provide an opportunity for mountain issues in particular and the observance of the IYM to be more fully incorporated into the Johannesburg process. Information on the outcome of these regional meetings can be found at the official WSSD website: http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/.

Linkage between the International Year of Ecotourism (IYE) and the IYM The year 2002 has also been declared the International Year of Ecotourism (website: http://www.world-tourism.org/sustainable/IYE-Main-Menu.htm). The World Tourism Organization (WTO) and UNEP are co-lead agencies for the IYE. Since a large portion of tourist activities occurs in mountain areas, simultaneous observance of both international years in 2002 provides an important opportunity to jointly build awareness and new synergies. Events to take advantage of this coincidence include the "Month of Mountains", a series of events which took place during April and May 2001 in Pakistan as part of that country's contribution to the IYM. An international conference on "Mountain Resort Planning and Development in an Era of Globalization" will be held from 25-28 September, 2002 in Colorado, USA (for details contact Rudi Hartmann Ph.D, at rudi.hartmann@cudenver.edu); and the "Conference on Ecotourism in Mountain Areas: A Challenge to Sustainable Development" is being organized by the Government of Austria, WTO and UNEP in September 2001 as a European regional contribution to both Years (http:/www.ecotourism-mountains.at http://www.ecotourism-mountains.at).

Country-level preparations

To date, thirty-four national committees have been established or are planned in mountainous countries around the world. No new committees have been added to the list since the last newsletter went out, but we are hopeful that the positive trend of IYM national committee establishment will continue in the near future. In early August the IYM web site will be updated to include the full list of countries concerned and available information on IYM preparations and contacts in many countries around the world.

Contact Us

If you are organizing IYM-related events and activities, please let us know.
For more information go to the IYM website at
http://www.mountains2002.org or contact the IYM Coordination Unit at FAO:info@mountains2002.org.