The IUCN Bulletin World Conservation · 6 WATER ’ Lifeblood of nature and society Bruno Messerli...

World Conservation

The IUCN Bulletin Number

12002

Mountain high

2 World Conservation 1/2002

CONTENTS

World Conservation(formerly the IUCN Bulletin)

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Mountains issueContributing editor:

Lawrence S. Hamilton

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© 2002 International Unionfor Conservation of Nature

and Natural Resources

Volume 33, No. 1, 2002

ISSN: 1027-0965

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Mountains on the agendaWhen the United Nations declared 2002 International Year of Mountains, its aim wasto celebrate the biological and cultural diversity of our planet’s mountain regionsand the human cultures they nurture, and to draw the world’s attention to theimportance of these fragile and vulnerable ecosystems on which so many humanlives and livelihoods depend.

The international community is responding with a multitude of events andcelebrations, in the hope of putting mountains firmly on the world agenda. Thisspecial issue of World Conservation is an IUCN contribution to those efforts.

1. MOUNTAIN VALUES

3 For the love of mountainsYolanda Kakabadse4 Why mountains matterLawrence S. Hamilton6 WATER • Lifeblood of nature andsociety Bruno Messerli7 Mount Kenya: vital water for a semi-arid region Hanspeter Liniger andFrancis Gichuki8 BIODIVERSITY • Our naturalwealth Lawrence S. Hamilton andShengji Pei9 CULTURE • Fountains ofinspiration Edwin Bernbaum11 WORLD HERITAGE • Mountainsgalore Jim Thorsell

2. UNDER SIEGE

12 ENCROACHMENT • Danger inthe clouds Sampurno Bruijnzeel andLawrence S. Hamilton13 POLLUTION • Rain of destructionJiri Flousek14 CLIMATE CHANGE • Can wecope? Martin F. Price16 REGIONAL PERSPECTIVESON CLIMATE:

The future of the fynbosGuy MidgleyAlpine plants as early warningsystems Michael Gottfried

17 TOURISM • Promise and perilSanjay Nepal18 RESOURCES • Managingdemand Mahesh Banskota19 CONFLICT • Priorities for 2002and beyond An interview withJack D. Ives

3. TAKING ACTION

PROTECTING NATUREAND CULTURE21 EcoAméricas: a bold visionMario A. Boza22 Protected landscapes: need forinnovation Jessica Brown23 Cultural landscapes:Kyrgyzstan’s crown jewelStephan Doempke

LIVING SUSTAINABLY25 Ecotourism: minimizing impactsChandra P. Gurung26 China’s model countiesHu Yuanhui27 Pohnpei: power to the peopleBill Raynor

REDUCING TENSIONS28 Parks are for peaceLawrence S. Hamilton30 Resolving conflicts in Mt ElgonSean White31 Linking communities in Maloti-Drakensberg Trevor Sandwith32 Kangchenjunga: a tri-nationalapproach Mingma Norbu Sherpa33 Maritime Alps: nature withoutborders Patrizia Rossi

4. KEY PLAYERS

35 IUCN • Inspiring actionDavid A. Sheppard36 FAO • Mountain AgendaDoug MacGuire36 ICIMOD • Learning from thepeople Gabriel Campbell andGreta Rana37 MOUNTAIN FORUM • Aknowledge network AlejandroCamino and C.P. Jayalakshmi37 BANFF CENTRE FOR MOUNTAINCULTURE • Appreciation andinspiration Debra Hornsby38 OTHER PARTNERS • Working inconcert Lawrence S. Hamilton39 IUCN • Focusing our strengthsAchim Steiner40 IN PRINT

Masherbrum, Central Karakorum NationalPark, Pakistan.

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Cover photographs:Cover photographs:Cover photographs:Cover photographs:Cover photographs:

Centre: Pilgrim to Mt Kailas, asacred centre for both Hindus andBuddhists in Tibet. Edwin Bernbaum

Sides: Sagarmatha/Mount Everestbetween Nepal and China (detail).IUCN/Jim Thorsell

3World Conservation 1/2002

In the Andes of Ecuador where I was born, peopleconsider mountains as gods and goddesses. We grewup close to the nature of the mountains, and aware ofthe intimate and unbreakable bonds between ourenvironment and our culture, between our pursuit ofthe practical necessities of life and the spiritual mean-ing that makes life worthwhile.

The natural and cultural diversity of the Andesspans glaciers, high grasslands (paramo), cloud for-ests, other montane forests, volcanoes, lakes, markettowns and indigenous settlements. As a result, theAndes are the most visited region in the country and apillar of our tourist industry.

For the love of mountainsYolanda Kakabadse

We are but one of many countries of the world tobe blessed with mountains – and to find them threat-ened. Therefore I was particularly gratified when, in1998, the UN General Assembly declared 2002 the In-ternational Year of Mountains. This action respondeddirectly to Agenda 21 – the major outcome of the 1992Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro – Chapter 13 of whichhighlights the need for urgent action to achieve sus-tainable mountain development.

IUCN can be proud of the role it played, before andsince the Earth Summit, in getting mountain issuesonto the world agenda. But there is still much to do.

The International Year of Mountains is a timelyevent for the Union and its members, and part of aseries of international events in which mountain is-sues take centre-stage (see box on page 5).

This special issue of World Conservation is dedi-cated to our mountains, so rich in resources and cru-cial to life on Earth. It is equally dedicated to mountainpeoples – so often the poorest of the poor yet so richin culture, who face such enormous obstacles to de-velopment and prosperity. Perhaps the last hope formany of them, and our great challenge over the nextfew years, is to make our political leaders and ourcollective public realize the need to protect mountainenvironments and cultures, and to develop themequitably, wisely and sustainably.

Yolanda Kakabadse is President of IUCN.

As a major ecosystem representing the complex andinterrelated ecology of our planet, mountainenvironments are essential to the survival of the globalecosystem.

– Agenda 21, Chapter 13, “Managing fragileecosystems: sustainable mountain development”

IUCN was well represented at the launch of the InternationalYear of Mountains (IYM) on 11 December 2001 at UNHeadquarters in New York, USA. Both Yolanda Kakabadse,President of IUCN, and Larry Hamilton, Vice-Chair(Mountains) of the IUCN World Commission on ProtectedAreas (WCPA), took part in panel discussions on theconditions for sustainability in mountain development. Readthe IISD report at http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/sd/mountains/

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For eons mountains have supplied their inhabitantswith the resources essential for self-sufficientlifestyles, and the rest of humanity with water, timber,recreation and inspiration. As we enter a period oftransformation and changing demands, our challengeis to adapt to these new conditions while preservingboth the natural and cultural values of mountainenvironments.

1. MOUNTAIN VALUES


What is a mountain? There are technical definitions,though not everyone agrees with them, and most peo-ple would say they know one when they see one.

My own operational definition is that a mountainis conspicuous, steep sided, having altitudinal plantzonation, and at least 700 m (2300 feet) in relative re-lief. This covers a range from Mount Everest to theScottish Highlands.

An easier question to answer is: Why are moun-tains so special to us?

First, mountains invariably havedeep cultural significance for the peo-ple who live in and around them. Theworld’s major religions have sacredor venerated mountains. Artists, po-ets, writers, and alpinists have givenus ample evidence of their specialmetaphysical relationships to moun-tains. And mountains are able to liftthe spirits of even the weariest hik-ers or jaded tourists.

Second, mountains are home to atleast one-tenth of the world’s human beings, includ-ing the most endangered minority ethnic groups. Thecultures of these often marginalized people are beingeroded by heedless development. But they are too

precious to lose. They add richness to our world fab-ric, and they harbour priceless traditional knowledgeabout how to live sustainably in these fragile envi-ronments.

Third, mountains are the water towers of the world,receiving the bulk of the planet’s precipitation. Enor-mous quantities are stored as snow and glaciers,which then feed the watercourses on which we alldepend and generate from 60 to 95% of the freshwa-ter of the planet (see page 6). For instance, the Nileand the Indus from their sources in the mountainsnourish the life and economies, respectively, of Egyptand Pakistan. Elsewhere, mossy, lichen-drapedmountain cloud forests capture moisture which oth-erwise would not reach the ground.

Finally, biological diversity is very great in themountains. This species richness is due largely to theextreme heterogeneity of mountain climates andsoils, the rapid elevational changes, variable direc-tional aspects, and abundant microhabitats. More-over, a great share of the world’s endemic species arefound in mountains due to the isolated island natureof mountain massifs. They are often the last bastionsof wild nature –“islands” in a sea of transformed low-lands, and thus provide a home for much of theworld’s remaining biodiversity (see page 8).

Why mountains matterLawrence S. Hamilton

Mountains areimportant because

➤ they inspire cultural values➤ they provide a home to one-

tenth of the world’s people➤ they serve as water towers➤ they harbour much of the

world’s biological diversity

Which is the tallest mountain in the world? It depends. Sagarmatha (also known as Mt Everest or Quomolangma) on theborder between Nepal and China (left) is tallest above sea level (8823m); Mauna Kea in Hawaii (top right) rises the greatestdistance from its base a couple of miles below the sea surface; Chimborazo in Ecuador (bottom right), because of the Earth’sbulge at the Equator, has its summit farthest from the centre of the planet.

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Threatened majestyThreatened majestyThreatened majestyThreatened majestyThreatened majesty

Mountains possess other inherent characteristicswhich call for our special concern and care.

Mountains are dynamic centres of incessantchange. They manifest powerful geological processesof vulcanism, surface erosion, uplift, earthquakes,landslides, torrents and rockfalls. Mountain peoplehave to cope continuously with these hazards, as doflora and fauna.

Mountain climates are as variable and extreme astheir topography, and the soils thin and fragile. Theresult is continual stress to their vegetation and fauna,rendering mountain ecosystems vulnerable and slowto recover from disturbance.

Mountain ecosystems are also strongly affected byhuman impacts on the atmosphere including long-distance transmission of air pollution, acid rain, pho-tochemical smog, and airborne heavy metals (seepage 13). Global warming will wreak havoc on moun-tain flora and fauna, as their habitats are shifted up-wards in elevation to an increasingly smaller area.Mountain “islands” where there is no opportunity forlongitudinal migration will be most severely affected(see page 14).

The human communities of mountains are alsoparticularly vulnerable. They are relatively remotefrom centres of population, wealth and power, whichcompounds their economic and political marginality.

Mountain ridges are often frontiers between peo-ples and nations, and tend to be zones of tension orconflict (see page 19). An example is the Siachen Gla-cier warfare in the Kashmir. They can provide refugefor the lawless, the rebels andthe disenchanted members ofsociety, further adding to thetension.

Action for mountainsAction for mountainsAction for mountainsAction for mountainsAction for mountains

The ability of mountains toarouse our passion and loyaltycan be a real boon inmarshalling the support ofgovernments, NGOs, localcommunities and individualmountaineers for sustainablemountain development. Whenour sense of sacredness orwonder does not give themenough protection, we can givethem secular status as nationalparks, monuments and pre-serves. Their use as nationalborders offers singular oppor-tunities for the establishmentof border parks, peace parksand transborder cooperationwhich have myriads of ecologi-cal, economic, social andcultural benefits. Mountainsare no less deserving of our

Mountain features

Mountain areas are known for their

➤ dynamic geological processes➤ ecosystem fragility➤ remoteness➤ vulnerability to air pollution

and global warming➤ use as national frontiers➤ strategic role in many national

and regional conflicts

commitment than are tropicalrainforests, coral reefs, deserts,and the like. This recognitioncame finally in Agenda 21 out ofthe Earth Summit at Riode Janeiro, with the globalendorsement of Chapter 13,“Managing Fragile Ecosystems:Sustainable Mountain Develop-ment”. A global MountainAgenda is now gradually imple-menting this chapter.

To be successful this processrequires broad public support.This is being fostered by IUCN and its WorldCommission on Protected Areas (WCPA), particularlyin the run-up to the Vth World Congress on ProtectedAreas (Durban, South Africa, 2003). It is being fosteredby a fine journal, Mountain Research and Devel-opment, and by an electronic network, the MountainForum (see pages 35–38). Mountain Agenda is beingguided by an Interagency Task Group led by FAO.

And 2002, the International Year of Mountains, isan opportunity for all of us to renew our commitmentto the protection and sustainability of our mountainheritage.

Emeritus Professor Lawrence S. Hamiltonis Vice-Chair (Mountains), IUCN World

Commission on Protected Areas.He is also a partner in the ISLANDS

AND HIGHLANDS EnvironmentalConsultancy, Vermont, USA.

Mountain calendar

Among the recent and future international events to address mountain issues, either as acentral focus or a cross-cutting theme, are:

1992 Earth Summit issues Agenda 21, Chapter 13 on mountainsIUCN/WCPA Mountain Theme established

1995 Global Mountain Forum founded2001 World Mountain Symposium (September-October, Interlaken, Switzerland)

IYM official launch (December, New York, USA)2002 International Year of Mountains

International Year of TourismCelebrating Mountain Women (May, Kathmandu, Nepal)International Conference of Mountain Children (spring, Uttaranchal, India)Mountain Forests in 2002 (June, Foral de Navarre, Spain)World Summit on Sustainable Development (September, Johannesburg, S. Africa)2nd World Meeting of Mountain Populations (September, Quito, Ecuador)Bishkek Global Mountain Summit (October-November, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan)Planetary Garde ’02, Mountains Future (November, Chambéry, France)Banff Mountain Summit 2002 (October-November, Banff National Park, Canada)

2003 Vth World Congress on Protected Areas (September, Durban, South Africa)2004 Convention on Biological Diversity, 7th Conference of the Parties

3rd World Conservation Congress (IUCN)

For other meetings and activities, and more informationand links, see http://www.mountains2002.org/

MOUNTAIN VALUES


Mountain waters captured at high altitudes arecarried by streams or groundwater aquifers tothe lowlands where the water demand from popula-tion centres, agriculture and industry is high. Thedistance covered can be hundreds to thousands ofkilometres.

In humid areas, the proportion of water generatedin the mountains can comprise as much as 40–60%of the total freshwater available in the watershed,while in semi-arid or arid areas, this proportion ismuch higher, from 80% to more than 90%.

Storage capacityStorage capacityStorage capacityStorage capacityStorage capacity

High and cold mountains store precipitation as snowand ice. During the summer or dry season, when tem-peratures rise, meltwater is released precisely at thetime when precipitation is at a minimum and waterdemand, particularly for irrigation, is at a maximum.This seasonally delayed release is indispensable formany mountain and lowland farming communities.

In tropical, subtropical, and mid-latitude moun-tains only 1% of the global freshwater resources isstored as ice and snow. This supply is vital, however,for filling lakes, recharging groundwater and support-ing lowland rivers in the dry season.

A glance at a rainfall map in most areas of the worldwill show isohyets (lines of equal precipitation) of in-creasing precipitation looking very like the rising con-tours of the highlands. The classic example ofmountain water supply is the River Nile, which irri-gates one of the oldest civilizations in the world at least3200 km downstream from where the rain fell.

Mediterranean: a legacy of deforestationMediterranean: a legacy of deforestationMediterranean: a legacy of deforestationMediterranean: a legacy of deforestationMediterranean: a legacy of deforestation

Many of the mountains of the Mediterranean basinhave traversed all the stages of degradation from lushclimax forest to bare denuded rock. In many places,the process began in antiquity with deforestation toprovide fuel for cooking, pottery and tile-making, tim-ber rafters for houses and wooden war galleys forGreek, Roman and Carthaginian fleets. As early asthe fourth century BC, Plato is quoted as describingdeforestation around Athens: “What remains now,compared to what existed, is like the skeleton of a sickman, all the fat and soft earth wasted away and onlythe bare framework of the land left.”

Archeological studies have tended to confirm thesombre view now taken of mountain degradation.Many ancient civilizations whose collapse wasformerly inexplicable are now thought to havesuccumbed to its effects, made even worse by humanpopulation pressure.

Medieval navies consumed the forests too. It isestimated that the fleets engaged in the Battle ofLepanto in 1571 needed the felling of a quarter of a

High Atlas, in Morocco, with the highest peak Toubkal(4165m) in the background. There are no glaciers, but thesnow cover until late spring/early summer is crucial for thehighest irrigated fields (foreground), to supply the big plainsand towns (including Marrakech) and to rechargegroundwater. The Atlas mountain system is the water towerfor all of North Africa.

People throughout the world have always looked tomountains as the source of water, life, fertility, andgeneral well-being. Mountains have been, and insome places still are, worshipped as the home ofweather deities and as the source of clouds and rainthat feeds springs, rivers and lakes on which societiesmay depend for their very existence.

In times of drought, the Kikuyu people faced MountKenya and asked the god Ngai for rain. The Inca peo-ple constructed their temples on the highest peaksover 6000m in the arid Andes. In China, villages tradi-tionally had a temple dedicated to the local mountaindeity responsible for clouds and rain.

Soon their appeals may take on added urgency. Itis estimated that 35% of the global population will ex-perience water scarcity by 2025, highlighting the im-portance of mountains as “water towers.”

OriginsOriginsOriginsOriginsOrigins

All of the world’s largest rivers originate in the moun-tains, where precipitation is much higher than in thesurrounding lowlands. This is particularly importantwhen the lower courses flow through semi-arid andarid regions of the tropics and subtropics, which coveralmost 40% of the land surface.

MOUNTAIN VALUES

WATER Lifeblood of nature and societyBruno Messerli

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million mature trees which were taken, more andmore often, from mountain slopes.

And today mountain forests, guardians of waterquality, are exploited without regard to their waterconservation role. The result in modern times isimpoverished rural populations herding goats to getsome return from barren uplands, with lowlandindustrial plants working short time and unecon-omically because of irregular supplies of cooling andprocess water. Even the provision of drinking andsanitation water for tourism infrastructure becomesso expensive (sometimes requiring desalinationplants) that it forms a brake on development.

Needed: management and monitoringNeeded: management and monitoringNeeded: management and monitoringNeeded: management and monitoringNeeded: management and monitoring

In general, mountains to date have been treated as aresource to be used with little restriction. There hasbeen inadequate hydrological monitoring and poordissemination of the little information that does exist.This, together with an inadequate knowledge ofmountain hydrology, insufficient consideration of

highland-lowland interactions, and poor basin waterresource management, can result in seriousdegradation not only of water quantity and quality butalso of mountain ecosystems and biodiversity.

There is a great need to improve the current moni-toring and management of mountain water resources.There is also a great need for increased public aware-ness that mountains truly are the “water towers ofthe world.”

Bruno Messerli is Professor of Geography,University of Berne, Switzerland, former President

of the International Geographical Unionand co-leader of the Programme on

Mountain Ecology and Sustainable Developmentof United Nations University.

Mount Kenya: vital waterfor a semi-arid region

Mount Kenya (5199m), the second highest mountain in Africa, provideswater to over two million people. Rivers originating from its glaciersflow through the moorland to the forest belt, where rainfall is highest, torecharge river and groundwater aquifers. Some 90% of the dry seasonflow of the Ewaso Ng’iro River is produced in Mount Kenya’s alpinezone, moorland, and montane forest belt (above 2400m).

On the lower slopes and at the foot of the mountain, both the popu-lation and the cultivated area have more than tripled over the last 20years. River water abstractions for irrigation have increased to ten timesthat which is legally permitted, and the average dry season flow of theEwaso Ng’iro River and its tributaries from the Aberdare Mountainsdecreased from 9m³/s in the 1960s to 1.2 m³/s in the 1980s.

Consequently, the unique wildlife ecosystems of the Samburu andBuffalo Springs game reserves in the lowlands suffer during the droughtperiod, as the river now dries up. This is bad for tourism, the primarysource of foreign exchange in the region. Nomadic pastoralists andtheir livestock, and the wildlife living in the lowlands, are drasticallyaffected by the resultant water shortage and forced to move upstreamin the search for water and grazing land. As a result, conflicts withfarmers are increasing.

Changes in land use also have an impact on river flow and waterquality. Removal of vegetation cover and intensified land use on theslopes of Mount Kenya have led to increased surface runoff duringheavy storms, causing erosion and pollution of the surface water. Pre-viously unknown flash floods have been recorded in recent years, in-undating old farmhouses and tourist lodges. As a result, there is lesswater stored in the mountains to feed the rivers during the dry seasons.

Fortunately, Mount Kenya National Park and adjacent Forest Reserveprovide some protection to this valuable resource.

– Hanspeter Liniger and Francis Gichuki,Professors at the Universities of Berne, Switzerland,

and Nairobi, Kenya, respectively.

Meltwater from glaciers at the top of Mt Kenya combine withrainfall in the lower forest belt to recharge river andgroundwater aquifers.

The average dry season flow of the Ewaso Ng’iro River hasdecreased dramatically, causing the river to dry up.

On the lower slopes, river-water abstraction for irrigation is tentimes the legal limit.

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Throughout history, as we watched our lowlands be-come permanently altered by commercial agriculture,industry , infrastructure and urban settlement, we hu-mans have raised our eyes to mountains, both forinspiration and as the last stronghold of nature.

Today, even after centuries of increasing flatlander-exploitation and impoverishment, mountain ecosys-tems remain repositories of great genetic, species andecosystem diversity.

Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, for instance, is estimatedto have 4000–4500 species of plants, which is aboutone-quarter of all the native species in the USA (seepage 12). The richness of the fynbos of South Africa isrenowned (see page 16). Moreover, species ende-mism is particularly high in mountains owing to geo-graphical isolation. That faunal biodiversity correlateswell with plant diversity is demonstrated by BirdLife

International’s recent maps of endemic limited-rangebirds.

Much scientific and popular concern to slow spe-cies extinctions have focused on 25 ‘hot-spot’ areasin the tropics. Sixteen (over half) of these are eithermountains or have at least half their area in moun-tains. For example:

➤ the uplands of Madagascar

➤ Andean slopes of Western Amazonia

➤ Eastern Himalayas (Nepal, Bhutan, and neighbour-ing Indian states plus China’s Yunnan)

➤ the uplands of the Philippines

➤ the eastern arc montane forests of Tanzania

➤ mountains of Central America

➤ Brazil’s Atlantic Forest

This richness in biological diversity is due to thealtitudinal zonation of life forms on these 3-Dlandforms, their different directional exposures, theirsoil variability and abundance of micro- and meso-habitats which are characteristic of mountains. Otherfactors are light intensity and quality change, rainfallvariability and natural disturbance regimes.

On relatively high mountains in the tropics, vege-tation may range from sub-montane tropical rainfor-est to dry montane tropical forest, boreal forest, alpineheaths, cloud forests, grasslands, tundra and perma-nent ice fields. Each has its own assemblage of plantand animal species, even the ice fields. But wherevermountains come under human use, the flora andfauna may be drastically altered by agriculture, for-estry, water management, mining and infrastructure.

Food and medicineFood and medicineFood and medicineFood and medicineFood and medicine

Mountains supply us with abundant natural re-sources, among which we can count the genetic di-versity of their rare or unique species. For instance,we have taken some of our most important currentfood staples from mountain storehouses. Potatoescome to us from the Andes; the current InternationalCentre for Potato Research, including the conserva-tion of priceless genetic material, is located here. Wesecured coffee originally from the Ethiopian High-lands; it is now grown in uplands throughout all thecontinents in a wonderful array of varieties – as ismaize, barley and wheat.

Our mass-produced, commercial agriculturalcrops periodically need fresh infusions of geneticmaterial from their wild relatives. New technologiesin plant and animal breeding have increased the valueof our genetic storehouses, rather than reducing ourreliance. The only known stands of the most primi-tive wild relative of corn or maize are found on a2880m mountain in Sierra de Manantland, Mexico. Theformer Soviet Union has established a reserve to

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The snow leopard Uncia uncia of the high mountains of Central Asia is threatened bypoaching, loss of prey, conflicts with herders and habitat destruction.

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The bearded vultureGypaetus barbatus

is identified withmountain ecosystems

throughout Europe,Africa and Asia.

BIODIVERSITY Our natural wealthLawrence S. Hamilton and Shengji Pei


produce the wild relatives of wheat and fruit trees highin the Caucasus Mountains.

A long list of medicinal materials are derived fromhigh wildlands, and these provide actual and poten-tial benefit to ALL humankind. The importance of wildplants for local subsistence (food and medicine) is wellillustrated by the annual fair in Dali, Yunnan (China),where as many as 574 species of medicinal and foodplants are brought for trading by mountain people.

Animal products of many kinds are also part of thediverse mountain economy. And some of the world’smost interesting and rare mountain animals are thebasis for much of the nature-based tourism in someareas; for example, the mountain gorilla in Rwanda/Uganda/DR Congo, the resplendent quetzal in CostaRica and Guatemala, and the spectacled bear inthe Andes.

We need to know more about these banks of bio-logical wealth, and about the potential for a sustain-able flow of benefits. We can learn much about thisfrom traditional mountain peoples who have had along association with, and dependency on, these natu-ral resources. Mountains contain exciting possibili-ties for new products for humankind.

Moreover, there is an ethical imperative not todestroy the wonderful diversity of life on Earth. Allcountries have an obligation to stop and think ofbetter, more responsible, and sustainable ways to

CULTURE Fountains of inspirationEdwin Bernbaum

As the highest features of the landscape, mountainstend to become associated with the highest ideals andaspirations of societies around the world, both mod-ern and traditional. In particular, they highlightcultural and spiritual values and beliefs that deeplyinfluence how people view themselves and theirenvironment.

Mountains in general awaken a sense of wonderand awe that sets them apart as places of evocativepower and significance. Certain peaks are singled outas traditional sacred mountains with well-establishednetworks of myths, beliefs, and religious practices.Many mountainous areas that may or may not be re-vered in themselves contain sacred sites such as tem-ples, springs, and groves.

Home to the godsHome to the godsHome to the godsHome to the godsHome to the gods

People revere mountains for a variety of reasons. Oneespecially widespread view sees the mountain asa sacred centre. Hindus and Buddhists regardMount Kailas in Tibet, for example, as a physicalmanifestation of Mount Meru, the cosmic axis aroundwhich the universe is organized. Many religious tra-ditions look up to mountains as abodes of deities oras deities themselves. The ancient Greeks viewed

pursue mountain development. The Convention onBiological Diversity, signed by almost every nation,recognises this responsibility, and mountain biodiver-sity will be the focus of the Conference of the Partiesat its meeting in 2004.

Lawrence S. Hamilton is Vice-Chair (Mountains),IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas.

Shengji Pei is Senior Scientist, Department ofEthnobotany, Institute of Botany, Kunming, China.

Medicinal plants and extracts are traded at a mountain fair in the Dali area of Yunnan,China, in the eastern Himalayas.

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Tibetan pilgrim to Mt Kailas.

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Mount Olympus as the fortress of Zeus and the Olym-pian gods. For native Hawai’ans today, Kilauea rep-resents the physical body of the goddess Pele.

Mountains may also take the form of places ofworship, viewed as altars, shrines, temples, andcathedrals. Here a deity does not necessarily residein or on the peak, but rather the mountain provides aspecial setting for making contact with a divinepresence through prayer, ritual, or contemplation.This is particularly true of Western monotheistic reli-gions such as Christianity and Judaism.

Symbols of the transcendentSymbols of the transcendentSymbols of the transcendentSymbols of the transcendentSymbols of the transcendent

Many mountains are viewed as manifestations of theother world – earthly paradises, abodes of the dead,ancestral beings. East Africans traditionally bury theirdead facing sacred mountains like Kilimanjaro andMount Kenya. Maori tribes of New Zealand considerthemselves descended from divine ancestors whofroze into peaks such as Tongariro and Aoraki.

Mountains play a particularly important role assources of diverse blessings. Curanderos or traditionalhealers draw their curative powers from Andeanpeaks such as Ausangate in Peru. Elderly womenclimb Tai Shan in China to make offerings to havegrandchildren. The Hopi of Arizona depend on therain-bearing Katsinas of the San Francisco Peaks fortheir very existence.

Mountains are also revered as places of spiritualrevelation and transformation. Mount Sinai occupiesa prominent place in the Bible as the site where Godreveals the Ten Commandments to Moses. In China,mountains are regarded as such ideal places for spir-itual transformation that the Chinese expression forembarking on the practice of religion means literally“to enter the mountains.”

Because of their varied topography and isolation,mountains harbour many traditional societies attunedto the diverse environments that sustain them. These

societies have preserved storehouses ofknowledge and practices ranging fromthe uses of medicinal plants to ways of liv-ing in harmony with the natural world.

Symbols of cultural identitySymbols of cultural identitySymbols of cultural identitySymbols of cultural identitySymbols of cultural identity

Mountains function as important sym-bols of communal and cultural identity.At intratribal gatherings Maori rituallyidentify themselves by first stating theirtribal mountain, followed by their river,or lake, and then their chief. The perfectcone of Mount Fuji has come to symbol-ize the quest for beauty and simplicitythat lies at the heart of Japanese culture.

Mountains also embody cultural val-ues and ideas essential to the vitality ofmodern societies. William O. Douglas, aUnited States Supreme Court Justice,wrote: “A people who climb the ridgesand sleep under the stars in high moun-

tain meadows, who enter the forest and scale peaks,who explore glaciers and walk ridges buried deep insnow – these people will give their country some ofthe indomitable spirit of the mountains.”

Wellsprings of poetry and philosophyWellsprings of poetry and philosophyWellsprings of poetry and philosophyWellsprings of poetry and philosophyWellsprings of poetry and philosophy

Mountain peaks and ranges such as Fuji and HuangShan have long inspired artists and poets in East Asia.Interest in the European Alps for scientific, artistic, andmountaineering reasons developed as philosophersand writers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, JohannWolfgang von Goethe, and Percy Bysshe Shelley be-gan to extol their spiritually uplifting qualities. In theUnited States John Muir, a major figure in the genesisof the American environmental movement, workedto preserve pristine mountain environments as placessociety needs for spiritual and physical renewal.

For many people, both modern and traditional, the‘environment’ is not just the natural environment. Itincludes cultural and spiritual aspects that make itmeaningful – a source of life in its deepest and broad-est sense. People who perform rituals to draw waterfrom a sacred mountain, for example, do not view thewater and mountain simply as physical parts of theecosystem needed to grow their crops, but as essen-tial components of a larger system of meaning thatsustains them spiritually, culturally, and physically.

For assurance of long-term success, conservationprogrammes and messages need to be grounded indeeply held values and beliefs. The inspirational valueof mountains, in particular, has played a key role inthe establishment of the modern environmentalmovement and is one of the most effective tools forgalvanizing public support for the preservation ofparks and protected areas throughout the world.

Edwin Bernbaum of Berkeley, California (USA) isDirector of the Sacred Mountains Programme of The

Mountain Institute. Visit http://www.mountain.org/

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Hua Shan is the most spectacular of the five major sacred mountains of China


Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschorn of Switzerland

Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschorn area in Switzerland (54,000ha). The scenicsplendour of the JAB area is world-renowned, and thanks to protectionmeasures dating from 1933 it remains one of the most undisturbed natu-ral areas in the Alps. It features extensive glaciation and rugged topogra-phy, and contains the largest glacier in Europe in terms of both area anddepth, the Aletsch.

For its record of productive scientific research on geology,geomorphology, climate change, biology and atmospheric physics, theJAB is unsurpassed in Europe. It hosts a wide range of species typicalof the Alps, and is surrounded by outstanding historical monuments anda harmonious cultural landscape.

One-third of all Natural World Heritage sites are inmountain areas, making mountains the best-represented biome on the prestigious World HeritageList. In just the past two years, seven new mountainsites were inscribed, bringing the total number ofmountain areas on the list to 52.

Among the recent additions were Kinabalu Park inSabah, Malaysia; Gunung Mulu National Park inSarawak, Malaysia; and Drakensburg in Natal SouthAfrica.

In December 2001 the World Heritage Committeeinscribed the first Natural World Heritage site in theAlps, the internationally outstanding Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschorn area of Switzerland.

As a contribution to the International Year ofMountains (2002), the World Heritage Committee issupporting a project proposal to conduct a globaloverview of existing and potential mountain areas onthe World Heritage List. This is being conducted underthe auspices of an IUCN member, the Banff Centrefor Mountain Culture (see page 37) by WCPA Vice-Chair for Mountains Larry Hamilton and myself.

In this review we will be assessing the extent of thecoverage of the world’s mountain protected areasunder the Convention. Our work will be greatly facili-tated by the new mountains database at UNEP-WCMC with the support of UNEP and UNESCO.

Jim Thorsell is IUCN’s Senior Advisor – World Heritage.For more on World Heritage, see the special issue of

World Conservation, “Vision and Reality: the WorldHeritage Convention in action” ( 2/2001).

Visit UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre website at:http://www.unesco.org/whc

WORLD HERITAGE Mountains galoreJim Thorsell

uKhahlamba-Drakensburg inNatal South Africa

This 242,800ha park has exceptional natural beautyin its soaring basaltic buttresses, incisive dramaticcutbacks, and golden sandstone ramparts. Rollinghigh altitude grasslands, the pristine steep-sided rivervalleys and rocky gorges also contribute to the beautyof the site. The site’s diversity of habitats protects ahigh level of endemic and globally threatened spe-cies, especially birds and plants.

This spectacular natural site also contains manycaves and rock shelters with the largest and most con-centrated group of paintings in Africa south of theSahara, made by the San people over a period of 4000years. The rock paintings are outstanding in qualityand diversity of subject and in their depiction ofanimals and human beings. They represent thespiritual life of the San people who no longer live inthis region. Visitor’s Centre for the uKhahlamba-Drakensburg Park.

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From development to climate change to war, human activities are leavinga deep imprint on mountain ecosystems, species and humancommunities. In this section we will look at some of the pressingproblems facing mountain communities as a result of human activities,and consider some responses.

In the Talamanca Mountains which cross the borderof Panama and Costa Rica, a large trans-border Bio-sphere Reserve, called La Amistad (Friendship) hasbeen created. This 1.1 million hectare area includesthe largest tract of cloud forest in Central America.

La Amistad contains roughly 10,000 higher plantspecies, 400 bird species, 250 reptile and amphibianspecies and many species of mammals, including sixspecies of tropical cats. More than one-third of theplant species are found nowhere else on Earth.

Yet this treasure house of biological diversity isunder assault, even though it has Protected Area sta-tus. The rugged terrain, high rainfall and poor soilsonce discouraged forest conversion to other landuses, when better land was still available.

But with population increases and the loss of fer-tility of previously farmed land on lower slopes, colo-nists are rapidly moving up the mountain slopes intothe montane rain forest, mostly for grazing but alsofor fruit and vegetable production.

Illegal drug production is best carried out in remoteareas, and cloud forests in Colombia and other An-dean countries are under assault from this extremelylucrative activity. Similar processes are at work inmountain areas around the world.

The rate of cloud forest loss must be slowed or evenhalted. With few exceptions, the land uses that replaceor impair cloud forests are not sustainable, economi-cally marginal at best, and/or illegal.

Indicators of changeIndicators of changeIndicators of changeIndicators of changeIndicators of change

Unfortunately, we still know too little about how cloudforests function to ensure their long-termconservation. Monitoring programmes are crucial forthese often stressed, slow-to-recover ecosystems,and should include changes in weather, air andprecipitation quality, and levels of ozone and UV-Bradiation.

Moreover, the use of indicator species can revealeven slight environmental changes. For example, thedramatic crashes in cloud forest amphibian popula-tions in Costa Rica since the 1970s following changesin the regional climate suggest that these species couldserve as effective bio-indicators. Epiphyte commu-nities living on the exposed branches of the uppercanopies of cloud forests may be equally suitable.

The more we discover about the cloud forestecosystem, the better we can raise awareness amongcommunities that live with these unique assemblagesof life; the better we can influence decision-makers innational capitals and international forums; and theeasier it will be to design effective conservationprogrammes to protect and sustainably managecloud forests. This work will require the cooperation

The methods used for wood harvesting and charcoal production inmost montane cloud forests, such as here in Colombia, are still ratherlow-tech which limits their impact on forest hydrological andecological functioning.

Gnarled subalpine cloud forest on Mt. Kinabalu, Sabah. Underfavourable conditions the ‘stripping’ of wind-blown fog by cloudforests may add hundreds of millimetres of water to the ecosystemper year.

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ENCROACHMENT Danger in the cloudsSampurno Bruijnzeel and Lawrence S. Hamilton


of researchers, communities, decision-makers andconservation and development practitioners.

The Tropical Montane Cloud Forest Initiative isbringing them together to combine and integrate theirunderstanding, awareness, policy, and hands-onexperience. It involves IUCN’s Forest Conservationand Wetlands and Water Resources Programmes, theMountain Theme of IUCN’s World Commission onProtected Areas, the UNEP World ConservationMonitoring Centre, UNESCO’s International Hydro-logical Programme, WWF’s Forests for Life and Fresh-water Programmes, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam,The Netherlands Committee for IUCN and NGOrepresentatives from Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Europe and North America offer the world a fine ex-ample of how not to develop if you care about moun-tain ecosystems.

Air pollution connected with burning of fossil fuelsand a complex of industrial technologies has been re-garded as a serious environmental problem in moun-tain ranges on both continents since the 1970s. Oneof the most striking examples is Central Europe, whereall mountain ecosystems have been affected.

The most visible evidence, obvious to anyone whohas lived here for the past several decades, is the dra-matic, large-scale decline of the region’s forests. Itssigns are unmistakable: retarded tree growth; de-creasing foliation and fertility; and greatly reducednatural regeneration. Look more closely and you willsee greatly impaired photosynthetic and mycorrhizalprocesses, soil chemistry, and nutrient and waterbalance.

Mountain forests are particularly vulnerable, be-cause their structure is markedly simpler than that oflowland forests, and their microclimates more ex-treme. The degree of forest damage increases withincreasing altitude. Once weakened, these forests areeven more sensitive to extreme weather episodes andinsect outbreaks.

Coniferous stands are much more impaired thanmixed and deciduous forests, and decline is quickerin non-native than in native stands.

Reduced diversityReduced diversityReduced diversityReduced diversityReduced diversity

The damage can also be seen in the decline in plantspecies diversity and reduced fauna (both inverte-brates and vertebrates). Decaying forests and newlyformed clearings offer conditions for penetration ofsome species from alpine and subalpine vegetationbelts, and gradually forest species are replaced byopen-habitat species.

Alpine, subalpine and montane meadows sufferfrom the input of elements that increase their nutri-ent level (especially nitrogen). Plant composition is

changed in favour of nitrogen-loving species, and thediverse native plants of nutrient-poor mountainmeadows tend to disappear.

Water ecosystems, both running and stagnant, areaffected by ‘acid rain’ as well. Increased eutro-phication and water acidity negatively influence popu-lations of aquatic plants, invertebrates, indigenous fishand amphibians, and especially their sensitive devel-opment stages.

Is restoration possible?Is restoration possible?Is restoration possible?Is restoration possible?Is restoration possible?

How are we to restore the air-polluted mountain en-vironment? We must, of course, start by reducing airpollution to remove the cause. Then we must try torepair the damage.

We know a great deal more about restoration offorests than of other habitats. Key approaches include

Tropical montane cloud forests are under threatworldwide: decision time is now if we are toensure that they continue to provide the ecosystemservices necessary for nature and humankind intothe future.

L.A. (Sampurno) Bruijnzeel is with the TropicalEnvironmental Hydrology Programme (TRENDY) at

Vrije Universiteit De Boelelaan, Amsterdam, TheNetherlands. Visit http://www.geo.vu.nl/users/trendy


Visit http://www.wcmc-unep.org/forest/cloudforest/english/homepage/htm

Reforestation of extensive ‘emission’ clear-cuts in mountains is difficult due to soilerosion, dense ground cover, and browsing by deer and voles.

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POLLUTION Rain of destructionJiri Flousek


conservation of natural tree populations, gradual re-construction of native stands, and restoration of de-stroyed areas in close-to-nature species compositionand with respect to ecological conditions.

Restoration methods combine artificial plantingwith natural regeneration, support the planting ofyoung trees under the protection of heavily damagedor dead ‘mother’ stands and the establishment of newforest groups (biocentres) which are gradually en-larged. Stabilization of the upper timberline by layer-ing is also successfully used.

But what about the wildflower meadows? Restor-ing the diversity of these areas requires special man-agement procedures, some of which are simpleenough, such as mowing and removal of plantbiomass at the appropriate time of year. But restor-ing habitats and watercourses above the timberline isa much more complicated proposition, and efforts sofar have had controversial results.

For the most part, restoration of fragile mountainhabitats is a difficult and expensive undertaking withan uncertain outcome. The rest of the world woulddo well to learn from Europe’s example and simplyprevent air pollution damage in the first place.

Jiri Flousek is Deputy Director of Krkonose NationalPark, Czech Republic. Visit http://www.krnap.cz/

Climate change is now accepted as a reality by mostscientists and by a significant proportion of policy-makers in governments around the world. Sincemountains cover nearly a quarter of the Earth’s landsurface, climate change is clearly of concern to thehundreds of millions who live in mountain areas. Yetclimate change in mountains is of vital importance tothe entire global population.

Disappearing glaciers; changing riversDisappearing glaciers; changing riversDisappearing glaciers; changing riversDisappearing glaciers; changing riversDisappearing glaciers; changing rivers

At the global scale, one of the best pieces of evidencefor climate change is the retreat of glaciers, becausethis process ‘integrates’ the effects of gradual warm-ing and changes in precipitation over long periods.Except for some glaciers near coasts, the phenomenonis worldwide. Kilimanjaro has lost 82% of its icecapsince 1912. In Europe, both the Alps and the Cauca-sus have lost half their ice in the past century. NewZealand glaciers have shrunk 26% since 1890. In thethousands of glaciers in the Tien Shan of Central Asia,22% of the ice volume has disappeared in the past 40years. Monitoring this phenomenon can provide on-going evidence of the rate of climate change and isalso essential to plan the allocation of water from themany glacier-fed rivers, of vital importance both forhuman communities and for the survival of manypopulations and species.

CLIMATE CHANGE Can we cope?Martin F. Price

Changing ecosystemsChanging ecosystemsChanging ecosystemsChanging ecosystemsChanging ecosystems

Mountains are centres of biodiversity for a number ofreasons, including their range of altitudes, their di-versity of habitats at all scales, their isolation, and pastevolution and migration.

This rich heritage is protected by a disproportion-ately high percentage of the world’s protected areas.Yet many of these are ‘islands’, either literally or figu-ratively – surrounded by ecosystems changed beyondrecognition by human activities. Many species will beendangered as changes in temperatures, precipitation,frost frequency and other climatic factors mean thatthe conditions necessary for continued growth andreproduction disappear. In some cases, populationsmay be ‘metastable’, persisting until a serious envi-ronmental perturbation – such as fire, landslide,flood, or windstorm – pushes them beyond the pointof no return.

For species living on the uppermost slopes ofmountains, climate change may mean that as the suit-able habitat space moves upwards there is nowherehigher to go; and that there is also increasing compe-tition from species migrating from below. The pictureis further complicated in many of the mountains ofdeveloping countries, where population growth andeconomic forces will also lead to cultivation and

This mountain spruce forest in the Giant/Krkonosemountains, Czech Republic, is an example of forest declinecaused by air pollution.

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Mountain climates vary significantly over verysmall distances; there are very few regions for whichwe have data which can reasonably describe them,and the interactions between climates, species, andeconomic activities are very complex. It is thereforeremarkably difficult to predict likely scenarios, letalone their possible timeframes.

In many mountain regions, climate change will notbe the driving force of change for some time, if ever; itwill be added to other forces such as land use changeand air and water pollution, compounding the chal-lenges of deciding how to manage in an uncertainworld.

Nevertheless, climate change is undoubtedly tak-ing place, and mountain ecosystems and the peoplewho depend on them will be directly affected. At thesame time, mountains are also key locations for un-derstanding what is happening to our world; moni-toring and research focusing on mountain glaciers,hydrological systems, and sensitive species are of vitalimportance to us all.

Martin F. Price is Director of theCentre for Mountain Studies at Perth College,

UHI Millennium Institute, Scotland, UK,Chairman of the European Mountain Forum, and amember of WCPA. Visit http://www.mtnforum.org/

regions/europe.htm

grazing at higher altitudes. Climate change will add tothe imperative to ensure that local communities be-come partners in conservation to ensure the survivalof threatened species.

Winners and losersWinners and losersWinners and losersWinners and losersWinners and losers

As with all aspects of climate change, there will be notonly ‘losers’ but also ‘winners’ among mountain biota.Some species will become more abundant – and thesemay well include species that are currently endan-gered. Trees may grow better and at higher altitudes.

Yet we have to assume that many mountain eco-systems in future decades and centuries will be dif-ferent from those today – as paleo-ecological researchshows, every species responds differently to changein climate. And the survival of many species dependsnot only on the climate, but also on other species, vi-tal for pollination, seed dispersal, food, etc.

Another factor to consider is the different genera-tion times of different species. For instance, in a for-est ecosystem, disease-causing insects may be ableto adapt more quickly to new climatic conditions thantrees, leading to increased pressures and, in somecases, death. All of these interlocking issues implythe need for continued research to increase our un-derstanding of species population dynamics and con-servation biology at the landscape level. Thebiosphere reserve model developed by UNESCO maybe of particular relevance. Already 163 biosphere re-serves are in mountain areas. Yet it seems probablethat in situ conservation may be impossible for somemountain species. In a few decades, they may onlyexist in gardens, zoos, or genebanks.

Living with uncertaintyLiving with uncertaintyLiving with uncertaintyLiving with uncertaintyLiving with uncertainty

Changes in the availability of water, and also the rela-tive proportion of precipitation falling as snow or rain,will affect mountain people at least as much as changesin temperature. However, the changes in the fre-quency of extreme events – such as avalanches, heavysnowfalls, floods, droughts, and frosts – predicted byclimatologists will probably have more serious im-pacts than changes in average conditions. In additionto changes in plant communities of all types, from for-ests to alpine tundra, many mountain landscapesseem likely to become more unstable, threateningresidents, tourists, and those in transit on roads orrailways.

These trends may have serious consequences forthe increasing proportion of mountain people –including the managers of many protected areas –who are coming to rely on tourism as a major sourceof income, as tourists develop perceptions that moun-tain landscapes are not as attractive as they used tobe, and that the dangers of travelling through themare increasing. Such uncertainty points to the needfor mountain people to develop or maintain multi-functional economies and flexible approaches to theiruse of their landscapes. For conservation agencies,cooperation and flexibility should be keywords.

As suitable habitat moves to higher altitudes, some alpine species such as theseibex Capra ibex in Gran Paradiso, Italy, may have nowhere left to go.

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Regional perspectiveson climateThe future of the fynbos

The fynbos vegetation of South Africa’s Cape Prov-ince forms a major part of one of the world’s six floralkingdoms: the Cape Floral Kingdom. At least 5600 ofits 8000 plant species are endemic to the region.

Research into the likely effects of climate changesuggests that over the next 50–100 years the northernpart of the fynbos may disappear, and many drought-sensitive plants will go extinct. With a hotter and drierclimate, fires may become more frequent and exten-sive; if they occur before plants are old enough to setseed, local extinctions could result. Also, alien woodyplants may grow better and spread. This was a causalfactor of the major fires of January 2000 which led tothe loss of both fynbos ecosystems and property.

However, the mountainous terrain of much of theregion means that there are many habitats in whichplants could survive, and that migration to higher al-titudes should be possible if changes in climate donot adversely affect the insects, rodents and birds onwhich many plants depend for pollination and seeddispersal. Also, southern coastal fynbos may experi-ence less extreme climatic changes due to the moder-ating effects of the ocean.

The protection of targeted lowland areas of fynbosmay help to minimize extinctions, but it appears likelythat much of the western-coastal and inland lowlandfynbos and its species are increasingly threatened.

– Guy Midgley, Research Fellow,ConservatioInternational, and Scientist, National

Botanical Institute, USA.

Alpine plants asearly warning systems

Since the mid-19th century, botanists have visited someof the highest peaks in the Alps, making exact recordsof the plant species found, and their altitude.

In the early 1990s, botanist-mountaineers from theUniversity of Vienna revisited 30 of these peaks tomake comparable measurements. The pilot studyfound that species richness had increased significantlyon two-thirds of the summits, providing clear evi-dence of global warming. Subsequently, in 2001 anobservation network called GLORIA (Global Obser-vation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments)was launched with the support of the EuropeanCommission.

The network is based on three principles: thatmountain summits are distributed across all parts ofthe world; that their ecosystems are particularly sen-sitive to climate change; and that they are compara-ble. The network uses a standardized sampling designto record the plant species, and their number and lo-cation, on the highest 10m of sets of four mountainsummits with minimal human or grazing disturbancewithin different regions; currently it covers 18 sites inall parts of Europe.

Though the methodologies involve precise and rep-licable measurement, they are relatively simple andinexpensive, as it is recognised that future measure-ments will be made over decades or even centuries,and significant changes in patterns of species may takedecades to become evident.

– Michael Gottfried, Department of ConservationBiology, Vegetation and Landscape Ecology, Institute of

Ecology and Conservation Biology,University of Vienna, Austria.

Climate change may aid the spread of alien woody plants inSouth Africa’s fynbos, such as the Australian black wattleAcacia mearnsii in the centre of this photo taken nearCape Town.

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IUCN’s Plants OfficerWendy Strahm

catalogues Alpineplants in Switzerland.


Tourism is the fastest growing industry in the world,and mountain tourism accounts for a large propor-tion of this growth.

Mountains attract people for their scenic beauty,their biological and cultural diversity, and their pros-pects for adventure. They are places where skiersgather in lavish resorts, hikers and trekkers pursuenew challenges, rafters and kayakers brave danger-ous rapids, nature lovers explore diverse meadowsand forests, culture-oriented tourists study enduringcultures, and pilgrims seek religious inspiration.

But there is a flip side to these attractions. Moun-tain ecosystems are fragile and easily damaged. Dif-ficult access leaves local communities isolated,impoverished and lacking services. Avalanches,floods and earthquakes ravage villages at regular andunpredictable intervals, destroying their resourcesand infrastructure.

Demand and transformationDemand and transformationDemand and transformationDemand and transformationDemand and transformation

Sadly, the very development that promises to bringeconomic and social improvements to isolated com-munities can turn against them. The NepaleseHimalaya offer one example of how local people canrespond to the destructive pressures of tourism.

Tourism started to become a significant activity inNepal in the 1950s, resulting in the construction ofhotels and lodges for the growing numbers of visi-tors. Most of these facilities were built in theAnnapurna and Everest regions in the last 20 years.

The impact on local communities has been pro-found. One notable effect was the depletion of for-ests to meet the tourism industry’s demand forfirewood and timber, leaving local people with a fire-wood crisis.

The initial response to the crisis was to introducealternative energy sources, including micro-hydropower and kerosene. But this did not lead to animmediate reduction in demand for firewood andtimber, partially because local people could not changetheir habits so quickly. This was an important lesson:simply providing alternatives is not enough. Peoplemust be motivated to use them.

The best solutionThe best solutionThe best solutionThe best solutionThe best solution

Confronted with a serious challenge, the local peopledecided to take action, at both household and com-munity levels. Households simply tried to reducetheir consumption of firewood. Community actioninvolved the development of community forestry andthe conversion of degraded lands and pastures tofuelwood plantations. Their efforts have attractedhelp and support from local organizations such as theAnnapurna Conservation Area Project (see page 25)as well as international agencies. It is a beginning.

Paradoxically,forests in Anna-purna began tobenefit as theeconomy wastransformed fromfarming-based tot o u r i s m - b a s e d .Much of the agricul-tural land was aban-doned, and peoplebegan to plant treeson the fallow land.(Whether this is awise outcome, andwhether forestryshould take theplace of agriculture in such communities, is hotlydebated.)

Community-based mountain tourism is not yetwidespread in the world, yet it offers the best chancefor mountain people to develop their economies inharmony with their traditions, cultures and naturalenvironment, and to reinforce and strengthen theirtraditional stewardship roles. And it can stimulate thecreation of procedures and tools for counteringthreats from the pressures of modern development.

Sanjay Nepal teaches at the University of NorthernBritish Columbia in Prince George, Canada.

A firewood porter in the shadow of Mt Everest: tourist hotelsand lodges can strain local resources.

Hiking in Annapurna. Tourists are visiting mountain parks in record numbers,bringing both benefits and threats to fragile ecosystems and local communities.

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TOURISM Promise and perilSanjay Nepal


Mountain farming systems over the world are the fruitof centuries of effort by mountain communities tomeet their needs for food, fodder, fibre and fuel. Cropcultivation, livestock rearing and forestry are espe-cially challenging in upland areas, where they mustbe carefully adapted to local conditions – slope, as-pect, climate and soils – which can vary greatly overshort distances and periods of time.

To survive, mountain farmers have had to learn toconserve their resources in four critical areas:➤ Maintenance of soil fertility, through methods such

as composting with livestock manure, leaf litter andcrop residues; inter-cropping and crop rotation;agroforestry; and planting of nitrogen-fixinglegumes.

➤ Control of soil erosion with proper drainage, useof vegetation to minimize surface erosion, and ter-racing. Terracing is a necessary feature of moun-tain farms everywhere, and represents a store oftraditional engineering knowledge that remains tobe properly tapped. Trees in cropland can decreasethe incidence of shallow landslips.

➤ Management of water resources, which is a ques-tion of adjusting to ‘boom and bust’ conditions. Inareas such as Nepal this can mean organizing a safedischarge during a three-four month surplus pe-riod combined with parsimonious use of availablewater over a nine-month dry period.

➤ Management of forest resources, through preser-vation of forest biodiversity and sustainablecommunity forestry. Leaf fodder, medicinal plantsand fuelwood are among the most important prod-ucts of the farming system.

RESOURCES Managing demandMahesh Banskota

Adapting to changeAdapting to changeAdapting to changeAdapting to changeAdapting to change

Change is a reliable constant in mountains, althoughits scale and nature is variable. The population of up-land areas has more than doubled in the last 50 years,accompanied by a rapid increase in demand for natu-ral resources beyond the carrying capacity of many ofthese areas. The increase in livestock has resulted inexcessive deforestation and overgrazing, and is con-sidered a major threat to the sustainability of the hillenvironment. The penetration of market forces hasbrought both advantages and disadvantages to moun-tain areas. Extraction and use of natural resources,particularly forests, has intensified. Concern withprofits over sustainability has led to a rapid depletionof limited resources. Evolving national land policieshave often done more harm than good, aimed moreat generating revenue for governments than manag-ing land sustainably.

Women in mountain regions have traditionallydone much of the farm work. The exodus of the youngand skilled to urban centres is creating new problemsin farm labour.

Moving to sustainable managementMoving to sustainable managementMoving to sustainable managementMoving to sustainable managementMoving to sustainable management

The burning question is: how do we move towards asystem of sustainable management? How can weensure the needs of a growing number of mountainpeople and at the same time not destroy the environ-ment? The biggest obstacles to this effort appear tobe in the socio-political, economic and institutionalareas.

A first step will be to manage the scale of demandfor mountain resources, by controlling thegrowth of human and livestock populationsand eliminating harmful and wasteful prac-tices. We must also ensure that increasing theincome of mountain communities is not ac-companied by intolerable pressure on limitednatural resources, as in the case of tourism’simpact on forests in remote areas of Nepal.The cutting of vegetation in fragile alpine areasfor cooking and heating fuel is degrading theseareas. We need to develop better know-howregarding sustainable development inmountain environments, particularly throughlocally focused research and development.Little effort has been made thus far tosystematically tap the knowledge of mountaincommunities relating to resourcemanagement.

Equitable development is another key fac-tor in the health of mountain communities,which have few alternatives to their naturalresources and are most severely affected by

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Degraded soil condition and erosion in the mid-hills of Nepal are evidence that soilconservation efforts have not always kept up with the rapid increase in demand for naturalresources.


What do you see as the main threat to mountainenvironments?

Jack Ives: I am convinced that mountain warfare is aproblem of such overwhelming magnitude that noless than a restructuring of the world political agendais required to meet it. Let me give you a couple ofquotes:

One of the core publications of the MountainAgenda, Mountains of the World: A Global Prioritystates it like this: “When the World Mountain BalanceSheet is reviewed as a whole, military assault on moun-tain peoples, legitimized by the state, surely offsets allprogress that has been made.” (Ives, Messerli andRhoades, p. 456 ).

It also says: “The singlemost obdurate obstacle tosustainable mountain development is warfare in anyor all of its forms. In terms of the world-at-large, thedisproportionate burden that mountains and theirpeoples are obliged to carry, as victims of inhumantreatment, will surely rebound on society unless thecurrent situation can be alleviated and reversedquickly… To end this shame on humanity… nothingless than a major restructuring of world affairs will berequired. Unless there is a strong measure of success inthis arena, the long-term costs will likely exceed theability of society to pay; the moral cost will be evengreater. The losses, in terms of nothing less than cul-tural and biological extinctions, will be beyondrecovery.” (Ives, Messerli and Rhoades, p. 457)

So far, those of us who enthusiastically claim tobelong to the Mountain Agenda movement havedone little more than try to describe the problem. Wemust do a great deal more.

What kind of warfare do you mean?

Jack Ives: The most obvious problem is conventionalwarfare between states, or within states by rival claim-ants to governmental legitimacy. To this we must add:➤ terrorism;➤ the drug wars in all their forms;➤ local insurrections and guerrilla actions;➤ pure and simple banditry;

CONFLICT Priorities for 2002 and beyond

An interview with Jack D. Ives of United Nations University

➤ and even passive national “defence” that places largenumbers of military personnel in environmentallyand culturally vulnerable locations.The causes range from national rivalries, ethnic and

religious conflicts, and discord over access to waterand other resources to simple greed and misguidedself-interest.

For example?

Jack Ives: Let’s use the one that is already on every-one’s mind. The appalling events of 11 September2001 have focused the entire world’s attention on asingle mountain country – Afghanistan. This issomething new! The explosion of worldwide ter-rorism has riveted world attention on one aspect ofthe mountain problematique. Additionally, theevents unfolding in Afghanistan have already drawnin neighbouring mountain regions, including thosein Northern Pakistan, Kashmir, India, Tajikistan,Western China and Iran.

Some 100,000 Bhutanese refugees of Nepalese descent, forced from their homes,have languished in camps in eastern Nepal for ten years. Many of the children inthis photograph were born in this state of “no-man’s-land” facing a level offrustration that may eventually lead to violent reaction unless governmentalobfuscation can be overcome.

their loss and degradation. The conflicts, social ten-sion and ethnic violence that often concentrates inmountain border regions invariably leads to greaterscarcity of natural resources. In fact, resource scarcityis increasingly a critical causal factor in such tensions.

There is no reason to believe that these obstaclesare insurmountable. New technology can providesome, but not all, of the answers. In mountain

communities as elsewhere, our efforts and energiesshould go toward (1) making traditional practices thatwere considered sustainable more productive and (2)making modern practices that are productive moreenvironmentally friendly.

Mahesh Banskota is IUCN CountryRepresentative in Nepal.

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Further reading: Messerli, B. andIves, J.D. (eds.): Mountains of theWorld: A Global Priority. Parthenon,London and New York, 1997. Seeparticularly: Ives, J.D., Messerli, B.,and Rhoades, R.E.: “Agenda forsustainable mountain development”pp.455-466; and Libiszewski andBächler, G., “Conflicts in mountainareas – a predicament forsustainable development”pp.103-130.

Young Tajik militia with kalashnikovs at a border checkpoint on the Pianj Riverbetween Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan, and northeastern Afghanistan (July1999).

Furthermore, there is a critical subjective issue –refugees in particular and poor mountain people ingeneral.

It is hard to contemplate how the Mountain Agendacan play a role in this deadly turmoil. As the Interna-tional Year of Mountains unfolds, however, we canhardly ignore it.

Do you see Afghanistan a microcosm of mountainissues?

Jack Ives: No, but it is the case now before us on ourtelevision screens, hour by hour. In their enormity,these events may awaken the world to reality, yet theymay also seriously detract attention from other areasof mountain devastation. They tempt us to focus tooclosely on these particular horrors and lose focus onother, perhaps distantly related, and – for the momentat least – only minor horrors. I mean bythis the many [resource] conflicts, tribalrivalries, poverty and misguided policies,and even half-forgotten crimes againsthumanity, if not actual ethnic cleansing,taking place in other mountain regions.

For example, how many of us areaware that more than 100,000 peoplehave been forcibly expelled from Bhutan– most of them subsistence farmers –and have been confined to refugeecamps in eastern Nepal for over a dec-ade? I could find many other examples,but the moral is that sustainable moun-tain development remains in the balance.

Q: Are you hopeful that mountains are now firmlyon the international agenda, and that progress is insight?

Jack Ives: The 1992 Earth Summit (UNCED) and theUN’s declaration of 2002 as the International Year ofMountains has certainly resulted in a large number ofbeneficial activities aimed at mountain communitiesand environments. For one thing, there has been ahuge increase in contacts amongst mountain peoples,researchers, development agency personnel, andNGOs, especially aided by the Mountain Forum andits online communications system.

As for real progress, I’m not so sure that we yethave our priorities straight.

You sound pessimistic.

Jack Ives: Not entirely. Mountains occupy practicallya fifth of the world’s land surface, so that problemsand progress vary enormously from region to region.For instance, much of the work being done by theMountain Agenda partnership – with first-rate lead-ership being provided to the FAO focal point for IYM –is helping to reduce tensions between countries andethnic groups. IUCN in particular is doing useful workin this regard (see page 35).

Here is an optimistic statement I can make: suc-cess in the war against terrorism will be won. It mighteven have a widespread and positive result – if theinternational community is persistent, and ensuresthat mistreatment of poor mountain peoples andefforts to mitigate their plight become and remain apriority on the world political agenda.

It surely is the opportunity and the responsibilityof the supporters of the IYM to seek this goal, if onlythrough insistence on rigorous identification of therelated problems. This will depend on appropriateuse of 2002 to effectively publicize the negative issuesas well as the positive ones that are facing mountainenvironments and their peoples.

Jack Ives is Adjunct Professor of MountainGeoecology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada,

and co-leader of the Programme onMountain Ecology and Sustainable Development

at United Nations University.

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Imagine this: a continuous biological corridor extend-ing 20,000km along the mountain backbone of theAmericas, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, that pro-tects a significant proportion of the biodiversity of twocontinents.

This vision may at first seem unrealistic, but effortsare under way to make the Ecological Corridor of theAmericas, or EcoAméricas, a reality.

Linking protected areasLinking protected areasLinking protected areasLinking protected areasLinking protected areas

Protected areas, whether national parks, biospherereserves, wildlife refuges, peace parks or private na-ture reserves, play a key role in the conservation andmaintenance of the world’s biodiversity. Unfortu-nately, most of them are too small to conserve eco-logically functional populations of the species theycontain, particularly the larger-bodied or highlymobile fauna (‘landscape species’). They need to beembedded in a broader landscape, where natural ar-eas and wild species are used by human communi-ties to meet their socio-economic needs andaspirations. For conservation to be effective, it is es-sential that we integrate use and non-use areas acrossthe landscape.

Sustainability on a hemispheric scaleSustainability on a hemispheric scaleSustainability on a hemispheric scaleSustainability on a hemispheric scaleSustainability on a hemispheric scale

We can define a ‘sustainable landscape’ as one whichprovides people with a living while conserving biodi-versity. It should incorporate:➤ protected areas;➤ areas where resource use is extensive, such as well-

managed forestry concessions, indigenous man-agement areas, and extractive reserves; and

➤ more intensive land uses, such as nature-friendlyagriculture and settlement areas.The purpose of EcoAméricas is to link sustainable

landscapes along a corridor of relatively wild areas ofhigh biodiversity and endemism, most of which areconsidered of high priority for conservation. Theproject is, in fact, a strategic instrument to promote

planning for conservation and sustainable use of natu-ral resources in such areas, on a hemispheric scale.

An idea gains groundAn idea gains groundAn idea gains groundAn idea gains groundAn idea gains ground

At a global level, interest in creating corridors to con-serve biodiversity began with the publication of thetheory of island biogeography in 1967. A decade later,the scientific community began to write about theneed to establish connections among protected areas.

Projects began on the ground in 1990 in Florida,USA, with the design of a system of greenways linkingnational and state protected areas, and in the CentralAppenines in Italy spreading out from Abruzzo Na-tional Park. In 1991, “Yellowstone to Yukon”, a conser-vation initiative to restore and create corridors alongthe western USA and Canada, got under way.

The idea of regional corridor projects in LatinAmerica also dates from 1990, when the Wildlife Con-servation Society (WCS) and the Caribbean Conser-vation Corporation developed the “Paseo Pantera”project to link protected areas in Central America to

Protecting mountain ecosystems and species while respectinghuman livelihoods and cultures will require all our ingenuity,innovation and commitment. Activities under way around theworld at national and international levels, from biologicalcorridors to parks for peace, are showing the way.

3. TAKING ACTION

PROTECTING NATURE AND CULTUREEcoAméricas: a bold vision

Mario A. Boza

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Sajama National Park will be part of the ecological corridor in South America.Pictured: Alpacas and Sajama village.


form a green corridor of parks, buffer zones andmultiple-use areas. Their hope was that ecologicallysound and sustainable management of the corridorwould guarantee the conservation and restoration ofMeso-American biodiversity.

The idea caught on, and has evolved into one ofthe most compelling environmental and socio-economic initiatives of the century: the Meso-Ameri-can Biological Corridor. The project was endorsed byall of the region’s governments and supported by sev-eral international agencies. The IUCN Regional Of-fice for Meso-America (ORMA) played a key role inpromoting and implementing this initiative, workingin partnership with national governments, protectedareas agencies and IUCN members.

The ultimate goal of EcoAméricas is the long-termconservation of the rich biological diversity of theAmerican continent. It will allow natural movementsof wide-ranging species and provide opportunities formulti-species migration in response to climatechange. International institutions including WCS, Con-servation International, The Nature Conservancy,Tropical Science Centre and national institutions willpromote and support research to determine rangingbehaviour, habitat and spatial needs of viable popu-lations of “landscape” species, and how the speciesfare in various human-modified ecosystems.

Human societies on both continents will benefitfrom the project. In addition to preserving the intrin-sic value of biological diversity, it will➤ contribute to the maintenance of productive lands

over the long term;➤ help to abate disasters relating to natural causes,

such as hurricanes, flood and forest fires;

➤ mitigate climate change impacts;➤ help to maintain a supply of clean water;➤ provide a source of new medications and chemical

substances;➤ offer new and diversified economic opportunities;➤ preserve a source of scenic beauty, cultural values,

artistic inspiration and scientific discovery.

Hemispheric effortHemispheric effortHemispheric effortHemispheric effortHemispheric effort

In the beginning, EcoAméricas will focus on LatinAmerica, while making use of lessons and experiencefrom the North American corridor projects. As WCScontinues its work to implement the Meso-AmericanBiological Corridor, it will promote its use as thefoundation of a larger, hemispheric effort.

Our next steps will be to work with local organiza-tions and stakeholders in Mexico and South Americato promote the corridor concept; to link the projectwith existing corridor initiatives, local projects andnational biodiversity conservation strategies; and toexplore how to consolidate existing protected areasand buffer zones into a potential route for the corri-dor. Once this preliminary research is completed, wewill identify potential donors and implementingagencies.

If all goes well, EcoAméricas will soon be in placeto preserve and restore the biological diversity of themountain backbone of the Americas. By doing so itwill make an important contribution to the social, eco-nomic, cultural and scientific development of the en-tire Western Hemisphere.

Mario A. Boza is with the Wildlife Conservation Societyin San Pedro, Costa Rica. Visit: http://www.wcs.org/

Protected landscapes: need for innovationJessica Brown

Mountainous regions are typically rich in landscapesthat have been shaped by the interactions of peopleand nature over time. These traditional patterns ofland use have proven sustainable over centuries, con-tribute to biodiversity and other natural values, andare living examples of cultural heritage. They areplaces where people live and work.

However, in many places, these landscapes and thearray of values they embody are increasingly vulner-able. Sustaining them will require new and innova-tive approaches to conservation.

Flexibility and varietyFlexibility and varietyFlexibility and varietyFlexibility and varietyFlexibility and variety

The Protected Landscape designation (Category V)has great potential to respond to these challenges, andto reinforce local responsibility for stewardship. TheProtected Landscape approach is well suited to areaswith a mosaic of land ownership patterns, and canaccommodate diverse management regimes, includ-ing customary law. It encourages flexible arrange-ments for management of resources, including

Protected landscapes, such as the Peak District in the UK, incorporate a mosaic ofland ownership patterns and management regimes.

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co-management of resources and the range of pri-vate land stewardship tools. It seeks to bring benefitsto local communities and sustain local livelihoods.

Protected Landscapes can therefore provide valu-able models of how to integrate biodiversity conser-vation, cultural heritage protection, and sustainableuse of resources in mountain environments.

Growing interestGrowing interestGrowing interestGrowing interestGrowing interest

While Protected Landscapes are common in someregions such as Europe, the designation has been littleused in many parts of the world. However, there isgrowing interest in the Protected Landscapeapproach worldwide, including in mountainousregions such as the Andes and the Himalayas.

Responding to this interest, WCPA established aTask Force on Protected Landscapes to promote anddemonstrate the use of the Protected Landscape des-ignation. The Task Force has held two working ses-sions: the first in Vermont, USA (June 1999) and asecond in England (November 2001). It has producedthree publications to date, which are available fromWCPA (see web address below).

Plans are under way to offer workshops on thistheme at the upcoming Vth World Congress on Pro-tected Areas (Durban, South Africa, September 2003).In addition, several Task Force members are involvedin a pilot project to link protected landscapes in An-dean South America, focusing on themes which rec-ognise the great diversity of cultural and naturalresources in that region.

Jessica Brown is Vice President for InternationalProgrammes at QLF/Atlantic Centre for the Environ-

ment (see http://www.qlf.org) and a member of theWCPA Task Force on Protected Landscapes (see http://

wcpa.iucn.org/theme/landscapes/landscapes.html).

The Issyk-Kul Biosphere Reserve in Kyrgyzstan is oneof the most encouraging success stories of nature con-servation and sustainable development worldwide,in a region where success stories are rare.

At its September 2001 meeting, UNESCO’s Man andBiosphere Programme (MAB) formally approved thedesignation Issyk-Kul as a Biosphere Reserve, the cul-mination of an eight-year effort. The reserve setsaside 43,100sq km – an area as big as Switzerland andalmost a quarter of the country’s territory – for natureconservation and sustainable land use.

The reserve encompasses the Central Tien Shanmountain range, the huge basin of Lake Issyk-Kul,three cities and more than 400,000 people.

Issyk-Kul means “warm lake”: underground warmsprings prevent it from ever freezing. The lake isframed by mountain ranges rising from 1608m to

Cultural landscapes: Kyrgyzstan’s crown jewelStephan Doempke

almost 5000m directly from the lakeside. With an areaof 6236sq km it is the second-largest high-mountainlake, and the second-deepest lake in the world.

Of the total area, 141,022ha constitute the reserve’score zones, 3.5 million ha are buffer zones (includingall seasonal grazing areas), and 688,540ha aretransition zones. Its landscapes include agriculturaland horticultural areas around the lake, endemicTien Shan spruce forests, endless mountain meadowsand steppes with unique permafrost swamps (syrts),high mountain peaks, and the two biggest glaciersoutside the polar regions (Northern and SouthernIngylchek) which provide the Central Asian oaseswith water.

The notable endangered species in the regioninclude snow leopard Panthera uncia, Argali moun-tain sheep Ovis ammon, the ibisbill Ibidorhyncha

Mountain centres of plant diversity

The IUCN/WWF Centres of Plant Diversity project identified nearly250 major sites important for plant conservation worldwide, a signifi-cant number of which are in mountains.

European centres of plant diversity are covered in Volume 1 ofCentres of Plant Diversity. One centre is the Alps (Austria, France,Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, and Switzerland), identifiedas having some 5550 species of vascular plants, of which 7% areendemic. Threats to these species are many, including mass tour-ism, ski resorts, construction of communication links, hydroelectricdams, decline in traditional agriculture. Global warming and dam-age from acid rainfall or high ozone levels may also threaten the high-altitude environment.

You may order printed volumes from IUCN (see http://iucn.org/bookstore/index.html), or access Volume 3 (The Americas) on theIUCN website. Volumes 1 and 2 will soon be available online.

See http://iucn.org/themes/ssc/plants/centres.htm

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Dark purple mountain pasque flowers Pulsatilla montana grace a diversemeadow in the Swiss Alps.


struthersii, and dozens of species of foxtail liliesEremurus spp. and wild tulips Tulipana spp.

A cultural landscapeA cultural landscapeA cultural landscapeA cultural landscapeA cultural landscape

After the collapse of the Soviet system and the clo-sure of Kolkhozes and Sovkhozes, the traditionalsemi-nomadic (transhumant) way of life has beentaken up again by the people. Culture and nature areagain becoming one. To provide a space for this cul-tural landscape to thrive as it did in the past is one ofthe main tasks of the Biosphere Reserve.

The basis of the project was a 1993 agreement be-tween the German NGO, NaturschutzbundDeutschland (NABU), and the Kyrgyz State Commit-tee for Environmental Protection. It involved scien-tific cooperation between the Universities ofGreifswald and Bishkek. The German Governmentfunded the formal planning process in 1995, and itbecame a Kyrgyz-GTZ project.

World-famous Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aitmatov, aformer advisor to Gorbatchev, who had organized thefirst perestroika think-tanks on Lake Issyk-Kul, spokeout publicly against further gold-mining and becamea member of the steering committee.

When the planning was completed, the Presidentof Kyrgyzstan Askar Akayev decreed the BiosphereReserve in September 1998. Parliament passed a spe-cial law on biosphere reserves in 1999, an executiveorder for its implementation was decreed, and the ad-ministration of the Biosphere Reserve was establishedin 2000.

Central Asia’s model of conservationCentral Asia’s model of conservationCentral Asia’s model of conservationCentral Asia’s model of conservationCentral Asia’s model of conservation

Kyrgyzstan’s accomplishment was unique: one of thepoorest countries in the world, it was far-sightedenough to base its development strategy onsustainability, nature conservation and culture, whileexcluding mining and hydro dam development.

At the same time, the size and complexity of theBiosphere Reserve has taken UNESCO’s MAB Pro-gramme to new horizons. For the first time, an entirebio-region has been placed under protection as a func-tional unit in ecological, economic and cultural terms.

Work continues apace:

➤ GTZ continues to support the Reserve through thetraining of staff;

➤ the EU has agreed to fund small-scale tourismfacilities;

➤ Swiss Intercooperation has developed a sus-tainable forestry policy, and the Swiss NGOHelvetas is running a comprehensive agriculturalprogramme;

➤ the German NGO “People and Nature” (PAN) ismarketing traditional felt carpets and other craftsmade by nomad women, and thus encouragingnomadism as an ecologically-adapted way of lifedeeply rooted in the Kyrgyz culture;

➤ NABU has initiated an anti-poaching brigade runby the Kyrgyz Government to protect the snowleopard;

➤ PAN is also supporting the securing of archeologi-cal and sacred sites in the Reserve, and has lobbiedthe German Government to allocate anotherDM1.5 million for implementation projects over thenext three years.And things do not stop here: a large transboundary

Biosphere Reserve is already on the way in theWestern Tien Shan which will connect Kyrgyzstan,Kazakstan and Uzbekistan.

Central Asia is fast becoming one of the mostpromising regions for nature conservation in theworld. Kyrgyzstan will host the “Global MountainSummit” in 2002. We can hope that these events willfocus some well-deserved attention on the country’sconservation efforts.

Stephan Doempke is Executive Directorof People and Nature, Berlin.

Visit: http://www.peopleandnature.de

The semi-nomad way of life is the basis of traditional Kyrgyz culture. The re-development of a sustainable grazing economy will be the cornerstone of a viablebiosphere reserve. The high mountain pastures (jailoo), a nomad’s paradise insummer, belong to the wild animals alone in winter.

The “Center Kyrgyz Style” has encouraged nomad women to revive the 2500-year-old tradition of felt-making. Through the German NGO, People and Nature, high-value traditional shyrdak carpets and other felt crafts find their way from the remotemountain steppes directly to classy interior design stores in Europe.

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Nepal has less than four decades of experience withtourism development. In that time the number of vis-its has increased several fold, from around 6000 in1962 to over 460,000 in 1998. Tourism has becomethe country’s number one source of foreign exchange,generating income and employment opportunities inonce-remote mountain areas.

At the beginning, tourism activities were concen-trated inside the Kathmandu valley. Then Annapurna,Everest and Langtang regions started becomingpopular trekking destinations among organizedgroup trekkers, later followed by free and independ-ent trekkers. Teahouses and lodges began to prolifer-ate along the major trekking routes in mountainareas, changing the nature – and impacts – of tourismon the country forever. Pressures on the country’srich biodiversity intensified, as fuelwood cutting andpollution increased in all the major trekkingdestinations.

In 1986 the Annapurna Conservation Area Project(ACAP) under the aegis of the King Mahendra Trustfor Nature Conservation (KMTNC) was establishedto address three key concerns: community develop-ment, nature conservation and tourism development.It would do this by reducing the pressure on forestresources, improving the quality of life of local resi-dents and making tourism more responsible.

Local responsibilityLocal responsibilityLocal responsibilityLocal responsibilityLocal responsibility

The major thrust of ACAP and other such integratedprojects in Nepal has been on building local capaci-ties so that the people eventually become masters oftheir own destiny. The local people are consideredprime actors and key beneficiaries in all endeavours.The income from tourism and entry fees for visitingACAP (approximately US$15) are ploughed back topromote biodiversity conservation and sustainablecommunity development activities in the region.

These activities include:➤ establishment of forest nurseries for community

and private plantations;➤ providing alternatives for fuelwood, by providing

kerosene and LPG depots, micro-hydro schemesand fuel efficient cooking and heating devices;

➤ development of extension and educational pro-grammes to educate tourists as well as local peo-ple. Organizations such as the Kathmandu-basedKathmandu Environmental Education Project(KEEP) have been working closely with ACAP inspreading the ethos of ecotourism.After several years of working in southern

Annapurna, a special tourism interventionprogramme was initiated to improve the wilderness

experience and the safety of trekkers to the AnnapurnaBase Camp. This included the relocation of lodges inclusters at intervals of three hours trekking.

Principles of sound ecotourismPrinciples of sound ecotourismPrinciples of sound ecotourismPrinciples of sound ecotourismPrinciples of sound ecotourism

Among the new lessons we have learned from ourexperience in ACAP, two stand out:1. The success of ecotourism largely depends on edu-

cation and sensitization programmes for mutualrespect between tourists and local people. If tour-ists and local people know about each other’s cul-tural backgrounds as well as their expectations andneeds, their encounter will be much more reward-ing and productive.

2. To reduce the risk of dependency on tourism foreconomic growth, it is advisable that ecotourismbe small, manageable and complementary to othersectors of the local economy. Recent events havereminded us that the tourism sector is very sensi-tive to political uncertainty and instability. Until lastyear, the number of tourists and trekkers to ACAPwas growing steadily. But after the event ofSeptember 11th in the USA and the escalation ofMaoists insurgency and the declaration of state ofemergency in Nepal, tourist or trekker arrivals toACAP declined by 12% from the previous year(2000). But because the ecotourism initiative inACAP is rather small in scale and most businesses

LIVING SUSTAINABLYEcotourism: minimizing impacts

Chandra P. Gurung

Sustainable community development activities in Annapurna include theestablishment of forest nurseries for community and private plantations.

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are family run, the impact of this drop has beenrelatively modest. The local economy has provensustainable and resilient in the face of internal andexternal changes.

The success of the Annapurna Conservation AreaProject has encouraged many other projects in Nepalto follow its lead, including those in Manaslu,Kangchenjunga (see page 32), Langtang, and the

China’s model countiesHu Yuanhui

China’s mountainous areas – some 6.6 million sq km –account for nearly 70% of its territory, and are hometo more than 50% of the population. Mountainregions provide an abundance of natural resourcesincluding non-timber forest products and minerals.Many of China’s main river systems originate inmountains.

Located mainly in the west and south of the coun-try, China’s mountain areas enjoy a growingecotourism industry, and serve as an important sourceof income for local communities and local govern-ments. Their communications, infrastructure andeconomic development, however, lag behind the de-veloped coastal regions.

Research and demonstration projectsResearch and demonstration projectsResearch and demonstration projectsResearch and demonstration projectsResearch and demonstration projects

To promote China’s rural economy, the Central Gov-ernment established model counties for sustainabledevelopment of mountain areas (SMD) in 1996. A na-tional coordination group headed by the State For-estry Administration was given responsibility forprogramme supervision, while ten other ministries,commissions, financial institutions and international

organizations participate in the process. An expertpanel of renowned scholars from the China Engineer-ing Academy is providing technical supervision.

Financed with a low-interest loan of RMB300 mil-lion (US$38 million) from the Central Government,24 counties were selected as research and demonstra-tion models, based on their resources and level of eco-nomic growth. In 1998 the number of model countiesincreased to 111.

The main components of the Sustainable Moun-tain Development Programme are soil improvementand infrastructure development, but it also includesthe planting of commercial tree species and relatedprocessing industries. The Programme gives top pri-ority to improving farming practices on slopes of lessthan 25 degrees.

Signs of improvementSigns of improvementSigns of improvementSigns of improvementSigns of improvement

Soil and water conservation measures have improvedsoil fertility and productivity and water conservationcapacity. Steeper farmland of more than 25-degreeslope and land at higher altitudes is being convertedto forest and grassland, which is also part of the Na-tional Forest Protection Plan established in 1998 afterthe devastating floods of the Yangtse, Nen and SonguaRivers. Protecting forests in the upper and middlereaches of the main rivers are a priority of this plan.

In addition, forest shelter-belts have been intro-duced to protect crops from strong winds, accessroads have been constructed, water discharge chan-nels have been improved, and the irrigation systemshave also been improved.

These efforts have paid off in recent years, and liv-ing conditions in mountain regions are improving.Millions of commercial trees have been planted on atotal of 82,000 ha; 70,000 water conservation schemeshave been established and 7000km of county roadshave been built. Hundreds of modern farms havebeen established.

Encouraging investmentEncouraging investmentEncouraging investmentEncouraging investmentEncouraging investment

Nevertheless, the pace of mountain economic devel-opment remains slower than that of the coastal ar-eas. County roads are not as good as they should be.Farmers’ incomes are still modest compared withthose of city-dwellers. More education and extension

Makalu-Barun National Park and Buffer Zone. Thegoal is to make tourism more socially andenvironmentally responsible, economically bene-ficial, and institutionally manageable at thecommunity level.

Chandra P. Gurung is Country Representative,WWF Nepal Programme, Baluawatar, Kathmandu.

Visit www.wwfnepal.org.np

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In the more gently sloping areas of China’s mountainous areas the model countiesprogramme focuses on water conservation and improving soil fertility.


services are needed. Communication with other ar-eas outside mountain communities is sporadic, andmodern equipment needed for further improvementis still lacking.

The Western Development Strategy of the Chinesegovernment gives priority to developing infrastruc-ture and services in 13 provinces, but capital invest-ment is needed and the conditions are not as attractiveas the East Coast where access to markets is mucheasier. The Western Development Strategy gives pri-ority to investment to assist these under-developed

Pohnpei: power to the peopleBill Raynor

With the largest remaining native forests in Micronesiain the western Pacific Ocean, the small volcanic islandof Pohnpei (355sq km) is one of the greenest, wettestplaces in the world. The island’s native forest, whichprovides essential habitat for 330 plants and animals,many found nowhere else on Earth, is also vital tomaintaining the island’s water quality, supporting agrowing tourist industry, and enriching the culturaland spiritual lives of the island’s people. It includes amountain “crown” of tropical montane cloud forest.

But during the twenty years from 1975 to 1995,Pohnpei’s intact native forest in the island’s “moun-tainous” interior was dramatically reduced from 42%to just 15% of the island’s area. The culprit: the devas-tating impacts of cultivating kava (Piper methysticum),a Pacific plant that is used in the preparation of a cul-turally important and mildly intoxicating beverage thathas emerged as the premier cash crop for the island’speople over the last two decades.

As the commercial market for kava has expanded,cultivation has encroached on public lands in the up-land forest where soils are rich and moist. Contem-porary kava production requires almost completeremoval of the forest overstory to stimulate fastgrowth. The planing of the shallow-rooted crops onsteep slopes adjacent to mountain streams leads toerosion and increased sedimentation in the coastalmangrove forests, lagoons, and coral reefs.

During a vegetation survey jointly undertaken bythe US Forest Service and the local government in1982–83, foresters first became concerned about therapid forest clearing in the island’s interior. This led tothe passage of The Pohnpei Watershed Forest Reserveand Mangrove Protection Act of 1987, a law which des-ignated some 5100 ha of the central upland forest areaand 5525 ha of coastal mangrove forests of PohnpeiIsland as a protected area, to be managed and en-forced by the Pohnpei Department of Resource Man-agement and Development.

Its legislative intent was that all utilization of theupland and mangrove forests within the reserveswould have to be coordinated with State officials sothat further upland settlement and other perceivedunsustainable activities could be restrained.

In 1990, the government tried to establish theboundary for the Watershed Forest Reserve, but themove precipitated a backlash by angry villagers sus-picious of the government’s intentions. Today this cri-sis is remembered as the starting point for acommunity-based resource management pro-gramme that has gained widespread supportthroughout Pohnpei.

Working with the local government, The NatureConservancy helped conduct 200 meetings with localcommunities from 1992–94, and from this input

Pohnpei’s biodiversity-rich upland forests are beingsacrificed to kava production as the market expands.Pictured: Mount Mutante.

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areas giving both foreign and domestic investors pref-erential conditions in order to encourage investment,as was done in the special economic zones of the eastduring the early stages of the reform period.

Hu Yuanhui is the Deputy Director Generalof the NGO Division, International

Forestry Cooperation Centre,State Forestry Administration, China.

For an overview of Chinese participationin ICIMOD, see page 36.


Mountain protected areas are usually established toconserve biological diversity, protect outstanding sce-nic heritage and sustain ecosystem services. But oneof their happiest side-effects is their role in reducingtension between neighbours.

Mountains make convenient political boundariesbetween nations or other jurisdictions. Differencesin language, religion or other cultural characteristics,may exist across these borders, causing misunder-standings and tension. In many parts of the world,the precise location of these has not been determinedor agreed upon, a situation that can easily escalateinto sudden armed conflict or fuel a simmering, long-term political confrontation.

As of 1985, there were roughly 35 wars and 13armed conflicts in the world, involving 43 countries.More than half occurred in mountains, and most ofthese involved border disputes. One has only to think

of recent conflicts across the India/Pakistan border inthe Karakorams, the Golan Heights between Israeland Syria, the Ecuador/Perú border, the Balkans, thePamirs, and so forth.

A transboundary protected area can eliminate thereasons for conflict as well as plant the seeds of coop-eration and common purpose.

Confronting common enemiesConfronting common enemiesConfronting common enemiesConfronting common enemiesConfronting common enemies

The world’s first International Peace Park was estab-lished in 1932 involving Glacier National Park (USA)and Waterton Lakes (Canada). There was hardly aconflict situation, but there were problems of differ-ent approaches to park management and to fightingcommon enemies such as fire and invasive species.Solid cooperation across the border has developedsince then, an example to the world.

The earliest proposal to use a peace park in the set-tlement of a frontier dispute came in the Krakow Pro-tocol of 1925 which terminated the conflict betweenPoland and Czechoslovakia by setting the boundaryand calling for an international nature park. This didnot materialize until after World War II with first theestablishment of Tatra National Park in Slovakia in1949 and then the Tatra National Park in Poland in 1954.This is now a joint Tatra International Biosphere Re-serve with excellent scientific collaboration across theborder.

Guidelines for cooperation

IUCN has published a book on Transboundary Protected Areas forPeace and Cooperation (Sandwith, T. C. Shine, L. Hamilton and D.Sheppard, November 2001) in its IUCN/University of Cardiff Series ofBest Practice Guidelines, edited by Adrian Phillips. It sets forth themany benefits of transborder cooperative management; discusses thedifficulties; and presents a Code of Conduct in times of peace or war.Available from WCPA or the IUCN Bookstore, http://iucn.org/bookstore

their village chiefs, are responsible for conservationeducation and awareness building, promotingsustainable development activities, monitoring, andenforcement of community-approved restrictions.The Conservancy and partners are providing train-ing, strategic planning and fund-raising support toCCO groups. In addition, participating municipalitieshave gone through extensive participatory commu-nity visioning and planning exercises focusing on allaspects of community life – health, education, culture,economic development, environment, etc. – ampli-fying links between a healthy environment and hu-man survival and well-being and building a strongcommunity consensus to sustainably manage theirnatural resources. The work has fostered localparticipation in “ridge to reef” watershed manage-ment and created a new spirit of cooperation betweengovernment and community leaders. More impor-tantly, it has allowed the people of Pohnpei to regaincontrol of their own resources after more than acentury of colonialism.

Bill Raynor is the Country Programme Directorfor The Nature Conservancy,

Federated States of Micronesia.

developed a watershed management strategy recog-nising the authority of local traditional leaders andtheir people to manage their own forest and marineresources. Over the past five years, a local villageconservation network (the Community ConservationOfficer Corps) has been built to exercise this author-ity. The CCOs, community volunteers appointed by

Local participation in ‘ridge to reef’ watershed management in Pohnpei has createda new spirit of cooperation between government and community leaders.

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REDUCING TENSIONS Parks are for peace


Models for peace and friendshipModels for peace and friendshipModels for peace and friendshipModels for peace and friendshipModels for peace and friendship

There are now 136 border-abutting protected areasaround the world involving two or more countries,about half of them having some cross-border coop-eration. A few examples:➤ The opening of the Iron Curtain resulted in the crea-

tion in March 1990 of an NGO alliance called “Eco-logical Bricks for Our Common House of Europe”.Several nature protection areas were establishedwhich include the “security-protected” buffer zonebetween countries of the East and West, where foryears the human imprint was reduced and natureallowed to recover. Mountain examples includeBavarian Forest National Park (Germany)/SumavaNational Park (Czech Republic) and BohemianSaxonian Switzerland National Park (Germany)/Elbe Sandstones Protected Landscape (CzechRepublic).

➤ The Cordillera del Condor in the zone of disputa-tion between Ecuador and Perú was the scene ofregular skirmishes during the minor war in 1995.In the agreement brokered by the USA, Brazil,Argentina and Chile, part ofthis range was designated as aParque para la Paz at the sug-gestion of IUCN PresidentYolanda Kakabadse, then Ec-uador’s Minister for Environ-ment as well. In October 1998two ecological ProtectionZones, 2500 ha in Ecuador and5400 ha in Perú, were createdas a Peace Park. The area hasrecently been proposed for ex-pansion to protect vital watersources for both countries, andto include lands of indigenousgroups who have proposedcommunal reserves for theirtraditional lands.

➤ Also in Latin America is LaAmistad Biosphere Reserveconsisting of two nationalparks of the same name, inCosta Rica and Panamá. Thesewere established in 1982 and1988 in the Talamanca moun-tains and designated as apeace park “to serve as modelsfor peace and friendship between neighbouringcountries.”

A world of possibilitiesA world of possibilitiesA world of possibilitiesA world of possibilitiesA world of possibilities

Could such models be useful in the Caucasus Moun-tains, where military conflict continues to erupt? Here18 of 36 zapovedniks (exclusive nature reserves) havebecome border areas between recently created States.Could an International Peace Park help in solving thedisputed Siachen Glacier boundary in the Kashmir?Or offer a solution in the Korean Demilitarized Zone

where there is now a de facto nature reserve in amountainous strip roughly 4 by 250 km?

An International Conference on Parks for Peacewas held in South Africa in 1997, co-sponsored byWCPA and the Peace Parks Foundation. Its Declara-tion of Principles stated that:

“A major contribution can be made to internationalcooperation, regional peace and stability by the crea-tion of transfrontier conservation areas which pro-mote biodiversity conservation, sustainabledevelopment, and management of natural and cul-tural resources… such areas can be managed coop-eratively, across international land or sea boundarieswithout compromising national sovereignty.”

Clearly we have only begun to realize the potentialfor mountain protected areas to keep the peace andrescue borderline mountain communities frommarginalization and persistent conflict.

Lawrence S. Hamilton is Vice-Chair (Mountains)of the IUCN World Commission on

Protected Areas (WCPA).

Further reading:Libiszewski, S. and G. Bächler (1997). Conflicts in mountain areas – a predica-ment for sustainable development. Pp 103-130 in B. Messerli and J.D. Ives(eds.), Mountains of the World: A Global Priority. Parthenon: New York andLondon.Zbicz, D. P. (1999). Transboundary cooperation between internationally adjoiningprotected areas. Pp. 199-204 in D. Harmon (ed.), On the Frontiers of Conservation.The George Wright Society, Hancock, Michigan.Thorsell, J. (ed.) (1990). Parks on the Borderline: Experience in TransfrontierConservation. IUCN. Gland, Switzerland.Hamilton, L. S. et al. (1996). Transborder Protected Area Cooperation. IUCN.Gland, Switzerland and Australian Alps Liaison Committee, Canberra, Australia.

Polish and Slovak guards at Tatra border park between Slovakia and Poland.

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Mt Elgon lies just north of the equator on the borderbetween Uganda and Kenya. The mountain isprotected in both countries and forms a conservationarea of approximately 200,000 ha. It is one of a seriesof mountains in East Africa, all of which possess asimilar afro-alpine ecology unique to the region whichhas fascinated ecologists since it was first discoveredover a hundred years ago.

On Mt Elgon the vegetation changes with increas-ing altitude from mixed montane forest on the lowerslopes below 2500m to bamboo forest, ericaceouscloud forest, high montane heath, and finally highmoorland above 3500m.

The mountain is surrounded by fertile and heavilypopulated farmland. During a period of political chaosand civil strife in Uganda in the 1970s and 80s, peopleleft the towns and cities and returned to subsistencefarming in rural areas. Large areas of forest onMt Elgon were cleared for agricultural crops, valuabletimber trees in the remaining forest were selectivelylogged and wild animals were killed for bushmeat.

When order was restored to Uganda by a new po-litical regime in the late 1980s, the government beganto rehabilitate the degraded conservation areas andrestore the integrity of the National Parks. Institutionalcapacity was still weak, but the authority began to evictencroachers, arrest pit-sawyers and poachers andprohibit grazing by domestic livestock.

Not surprisingly, these actions caused conflictsbetween the community and the authority and anatmosphere of distrust and resentment prevailed.Extractive resource use was illegal according to thelaws governing National Parks at the time, but withlittle or no alternatives outside the Park, people

continued to rely on Park resources and the authorityfound it impractical to prevent it.

Change of policyChange of policyChange of policyChange of policyChange of policy

The approach to management of protected areas inUganda began to change in the mid-1990s asenvironmental management and conservation poli-cies in Uganda were revised to focus on serving theneeds of people. Resource use in National Parksbecame legal in 1996, provided it was sustainable andcertain regulatory mechanisms were put in place.

Drawing on the expertise of IUCN and on experi-ences of collaborative forest management in coun-tries such as Nepal, the authority negotiated two pilotcollaborative resource use agreements with repre-sentative communities around the Park and imple-mented them on a trial basis for two years.

Since then, the authority has evolved a standard-ized process for negotiating agreements, involvingPark rangers and community resource user groups.

The communities have responded positively to thenew arrangements, and indications from the pilotareas are that resource use is now better regulated,illegal activities have declined, relations with theauthority have improved and attitudes toconservation have improved.

There is still a lot to be done, but it is already clearthat involving the communities in regulating their useof Park resources is bringing immediate benefits tothe communities while at the same time helping toconserve Mt Elgon National Park.

Sean White is Chief Technical Advisor,Mt Elgon Conservation and

Development Project (Uganda).

Resolving conflictsin Mt ElgonSean White

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This collaborative management committee represents forest resource users in theTangwen community neighbouring Mt Elgon National Park.

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Mt Elgon: resource use is legal as long as it is sustainable.

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Linking communities in Maloti-DrakensbergTrevor Sandwith

South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho share a bor-der along the 300-km Maloti-Drakensberg mountainrange. The mountains link the livelihoods of peoplein both countries, who depend on the water resourcesand the use of the mountains for agriculture and tour-ism. The outstanding universal value of the area hasbeen recognised by the listing in 2000 of theuKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park as a World HeritageSite meeting both natural and cultural criteria. Itsunique biological diversity is reflected in its status asa Ramsar site, an Endemic Bird area and one ofWWF’s 200 global ecoregions. Within this same land-scape is one of the world’s richest archaeological treas-ures, with over 40,000 rock art images painted in 600sites, the only trace of the San hunter-gatherers whoonce lived there.

In addition to these biological and landscape link-ages, there are striking socio-economic ties betweenthe communities on either side of the internationalboundary, and transboundary activities whichthreaten the integrity of the area including alien plantinvasions, poor fire management and over-grazing.

Despite its significant inherent value, the area hasremained politically and economically marginal to theinterests of both countries. In day-to-day terms, ille-gal activities, including drug smuggling and stockthefts, bedevil the relationship between the countries,yet both recognise the untapped potential of the areaas a world-class tourism destination, and the oppor-tunity to build an economy which will ensure that theunique resources are managed sustainably.

The transfrontier programme was initiated in 1982and, after South Africa’s political transformation, a bi-lateral meeting in 1997 resulted in a joint declarationto pursue the goals of a cooperative programme. Withsupport from the Global Environment Facility throughthe World Bank, progress was made with coordinatedactivities, and on 11 June 2001, a bilateral Memoran-dum of Understanding was signed by the Ministers ofEnvironment in each country, creating high-level po-litical endorsement. This was the basis for the awardon 13 September 2001 of a GEF grant totallingUS$16 million for the transboundary programme.

The ultimate aim is to secure the commitment ofthe two countries to a broad conservation and devel-opment area, characterized by harmonized planningand cooperative management. Activities will includestrategic conservation planning; the establishment ofprotection measures for priority sites; enhanced man-agement of existing protected areas; community in-volvement, including the strengthening of communityconservation forums and local boards for protectedareas; nature-based tourism planning, includingbuilding of capacity to take advantage of economicdevelopment opportunities; and institutional devel-opment for effective conservation and management.

Of strategic importance is the way in which SouthAfrica and Lesotho engage to effectively and jointlyimplement the World Heritage Convention in the area,as a force for both heritage protection and economicempowerment.

There is also an opportunity to link several dispa-rate components of the greater Maloti-Drakensbergconservation area to achieve a major focal area span-ning both countries, generally known as “The Roof ofAfrica”, and to develop and market its tourism poten-tial as a major contribution to removing barriers tosocial and economic development in the region.

Trevor Sandwith is Coordinator, Cape Action Plan forthe Environment (CAPE), Claremont, RSA, and

Chair of the IUCN/WCPA Task Force onTransboundary Protected Areas.

South Africa’s Minister of Environment and Tourism, Mohammed Valli Moosa,and Lesotho’s Minister of Environment, Gender and Youth Affairs,Mrs Lepono, walk hand in hand along the border.

Both sides of the border are visible in this photograph of the Maloti-Drakensbergmountains.

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On an early spring morning in 1997, during our 12-day trek, we came across a farmer treating hiswounded yak. The yak had been attacked by a snowleopard the night before, near the remote village ofGunsa, which lies at an altitude of 3500m on the slopesof Kangchenjunga. Once we paused to talk with him,we also met with local traders, who were returningthrough ancient high passes after bartering for goodsin Tibet.

Snow leopards Uncia uncia, a highly endangeredspecies, are found in high altitude areas along theslopes of Kangchenjunga in Nepal, India and China.Due to depletion of their natural prey, wild ungulatessuch as Himalayan blue sheep or bharal, there areincreasing reports of snow leopards entering humaninhabited areas to attack domesticated animals.

The Kangchenjunga region is extraordinarily richin biological diversity, cultural heritage and dynamicgeomorphology. The Kangchenjunga mountain eco-system in the Eastern Himalayas is a dominant land-scape, rising up to 8586 meters as the world’s thirdhighest peak. At the heart of this ecosystem lies theKangchenjunga Conservation Area (2035sq km) ofnortheastern Nepal and the Kangchenjunga Bio-sphere Reserve (2566sq km) of Sikkim, in India. Tothe north, the ecosystem extends into a narrow stripof the trans-Himalayan Alpine Shrub/Meadowecoregion of south central Tibet. This region essen-tially constitutes a tri-national protected area. Thus,the Kangchenjunga Complex corresponds with the

Kangchenjunga: a tri-national approachMingma Norbu Sherpa

proposed “tri-national reserve”, which would be sharedby Nepal, India and China.

The southern slopes of the Kangchenjunga Moun-tain are heavily denuded mainly due to uncontrolledharvesting of medicinal plants and slash-and-burn ag-ricultural practices. In the past, the rich ecological re-source base sustained the well-being and economicsurvival of an ethnically diverse human populationthrough animal husbandry, transhumance pastoral-ism, crop farming, forestry, hunting and harvesting ofplant materials. However, human population pres-sures (as a result of population growth, unsustainabletourism, trade and other such factors ) on the resourcebase threaten the region’s biological resources as wellas the well-being of local communities.

On the last day of our trek, we were joined byseveral dignitaries from Kathmandu, including theMinister of Forests and the Member of Parliamentfrom Taplejung district. A brief meeting was held atGunsa village, followed by a formal function inKathmandu that evening during which, His Majesty’sGovernment of Nepal (HMG/Nepal) declared theKangchenjunga region in Nepal as a “Gift to the Earth”,in support of WWF’s Living Planet Campaign on29 April 1997.

This declaration was preceded by several biologi-cal and socio-economic surveys between 1996 and1997 as well as consultation meetings with local peo-ple, all of which indicated strong support for declara-tion of the area as a multiple land use conservation

area similar to the Annapurna Conserva-tion Area (see page 25).

After several informal consultations withgovernment officials from India, China andNepal, the WWF Nepal Programme withtechnical support from the InternationalCentre for Integrated Mountain Develop-ment (ICIMOD) organized a consultativemeeting with participants from India, Chinaand Nepal in Kathmandu from 31 March –1 April 1997. The participants included gov-ernment representatives, NGOs and fieldand wildlife experts. The result was a set ofagreed recommendations for conservationof the Kangchenjunga Mountain ecosys-tem. Shortly thereafter, an area of 1650sqkm was given protected area status asKangchenjunga Conservation Area; on 14September 1998 this was increased to2035sq km. In India, the KangchenjungaNational Park was converted to a BiosphereReserve. Following the consultation meet-ing, the Kangchenjunga region was envi-sioned as a Tri-National Peace Park sharedby China (Tibet Autonomous Region), India(Sikkim) and Nepal.

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The tri-national Kangchenjunga Complex in the Eastern Himalayas encompasses naturereserves in Nepal, India and Tibet. Kangchenjunga mountain itself (pictured) is the world’sthird highest peak.


The Kangchenjunga Tri-National Conservation Ini-tiative aims to conserve biodiversity and habitat in-tegrity among the three countries sharing theKangchenjunga mountain ecosystem. In the past, lackof coordination amongst the three countries resultedin illegal wildlife traders and poachers being able tocross international borders and escape capture.

This transboundary collaboration has set into mo-tion an integrated approach towards illegal trade andpoaching of wildlife and plants across nationalboundaries.

Mingma Norbu Sherpa currently directs WWF-USprogrammes in the Himalayas and South Asia.

Prior to 1998 he was WWF CountryRepresentative for Nepal and Bhutan.

The Maritime Alps in southern Europe have come to symbolize transboundarycooperation in the interest of biodiversity conservation, scientific study and culturaltraditions.

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Every August Parkauthorities organizethe“Festa dellaSegale” (rye festival)in the village ofSant’Anna di Valdieri,the only village in thepark that is inhabitedyear-round. With thevillagers’ collabora-tion, the park hasrevived the ancienttradition of cele-brating the reapingand threshing of therye crop.

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Maritime Alps:nature without bordersPatrizia Rossi

Southern Europe’s Maritime Alps are only some tensof kilometres from the sea, yet their wild, rugged androcky 3000m peaks, their snow-fields and glaciers givethem the appearance and features of high mountains.

An area at the heart of the Maritime Alps is pro-tected by two remarkable mountain parks: the AlpiMarittime Nature Park in Italy and the MercantourNational Park in France. These twinned parkscomplement one another in terms of their history and

culture as well as in their importance for biodiversityand scientific study.

Covering an area of about 100,000 ha, the parksunite the North and South sides of the Maritime Alps,an area which has the crystalline Argentera-Mercantour massif at its heart. Around this ellipticmassif a band of sedimentary rock has stratified, sofrom the geological point of view the region is ex-tremely diversified. This feature and a wide variety of


The need to coordinate their management of thesewild herds led the parks’ managers to strengthen theircross-border collaboration through the exchange ofdata, cooperative censusing and harmonized con-trols.

Today the most significant transfrontier initiativeremains Operation Ibex, which included the creationof two new groups of ibex, one on each side of theborder, in areas that had not yet been colonized. Thisoperation took place in 1986-1989 and was considereda great success, having increased the commonpopulation of ibex from 400 to 800 individuals.Moreover, it resulted in even closer collaborationbetween the parks’ managers, who decided thatOperation Ibex should not become an isolatedincident.

At a ceremony on 10 July 1987, park officials signeda formal agreement twinning the Alpi Marittime andMercantour Parks.

Return of the carnivoresReturn of the carnivoresReturn of the carnivoresReturn of the carnivoresReturn of the carnivores

Another successful operation involved the reintroduc-tion of the bearded vulture Gypaetus barbatus, the larg-est European bird, which disappeared from the Alpsat the beginning of the last century. Because thevulture can cover hundreds of kilometres in a shortperiod of time, the extension of the two protected ar-eas together (a total of 100,000 ha) was particularlyvalued by the international expert commission direct-ing the project.

Vulture releases began in 1993 and will continuealternately in France and Italy for a period of ten years.The project has attracted enormous interest fromboth the media and the public.

In another promising development, in 1992 wolvesCanis lupus were spotted on the French side of theAlps. Scientists determined they had originated froma population in Italy’s Appenine range. They contin-ued to spread, and in summer 1995, they were sightedon the Italian side of the Maritime Alps. We have pre-pared a joint project for the wolves which includesscientific research, a public information campaign,and a common protection policy for domestic cattle.

For the success of their transfrontier cooperation,in October 1993 the Council of Europe awarded itsDiploma for the Protection of Nature to the AlpiMarittime and Mercantour Parks.

Park authorities felt it was important to keep upthe momentum, and decided to create a more formalframework for future collaboration. At a ceremonyon 6 June 1998, we signed a Charter committed to bi-lingualism, to reinforcing the links between moun-tain communities, and to harmonizing our institutionsand regulations. Our ultimate goal is to create a com-munity of knowledge, work, and environmental pro-tection and management, firmly grounded in mutualrespect and friendship.

Patrizia Rossi is Director of Italy’s Parco Naturale AlpiMarittime. Visit http://www.parks.it/parco.alpi.marittime/

microclimates have given rise to a flora truly uniquein Europe. Species from the Mediterranean and theArctic co-exist, and there is an unusually high degreeof endemism.

Cultural linksCultural linksCultural linksCultural linksCultural links

The most ancient vestiges of human colonization heredate from the Bronze age, between 2000 and 1000 BC– times when shepherds and their flocks were alreadymoving across the two sides of the mountains. Eventoday, the peaks and ridges are not a true frontier, withshepherds freely moving their herds across them.Long before the creation of the parks, the inhabitantsof the Argentera-Mercantour massif had close rela-tions and common mores, language and traditions.

Alpi Marittime Nature Park and MercantourNational Park have a common historical origin: bothderive from the old hunting reserve of VittorioEmanuele II, King of Italy, which was created in 1857and covered vast portions of the two sides of the Mari-time Alps. When they were created in 1980 and 1979,respectively, they inherited from the Royal HuntingReserve a long tradition of wildlife management.

Operation Ibex: a model of cooperationOperation Ibex: a model of cooperationOperation Ibex: a model of cooperationOperation Ibex: a model of cooperationOperation Ibex: a model of cooperation

In the seventies, researchers began to documentfaunal migrations across the national borders: in sum-mer, ibex Capra ibex would migrate towards Frenchterritories, and at the beginning of autumn return totheir winter range in Italy. Moufflon (mountain sheep)Ovis musimon moved in the opposite direction, cross-ing to Italian territories in late summer and returningto France to winter at a lower altitude.

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Reintroductions of the bearded vulture Gypaetus barbatus to the Alps hasattracted a great deal of public attention. Pictured: reintroductionoperation in the Alpi Marittime Nature Park.

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A remarkable number of organizations throughout the worldshare a concern for mountain ecosystems and peoples. Manyof them are IUCN’s members and partners. The MountainAgenda which emerged from the Rio Summit was the beginningof a process to combine their energies, a process given furtherimpetus by the International Year of Mountains

➤ promoting a greater awareness of values of moun-tain protected areas among governments, environ-mental NGOs, donors and the general public;

➤ co-sponsoring or collaborating in planning and im-plementing several major conferences and work-shops on mountains;

➤ formulating the Mountain Cloud Forest Initiative(see page 12);

➤ promoting transboundary protected areas and theParks for Peace initiative, particularly in mountains;

➤ helping to launch and support the MountainForum, a global electronic network for sustainablemountain development (see page 37);

➤ publishing a free quarterly newsletter, MountainProtected Areas Update, which is distributed to themountains network.

Remember the peopleRemember the peopleRemember the peopleRemember the peopleRemember the people

Looking ahead, the two main thrusts of the MountainTheme Programme will be (1) promotion of moun-tain conservation corridors throughout the world (seepage 21), and (2) promotion of transboundary pro-tected areas for peace and cooperation across moun-tain frontiers (see page 28). These objectives are firmlygrounded in our conviction that everything we do inmountain environments must be done with the closeparticipation and agreement of the people who live inthem – people whose knowledge of mountain eco-systems and appreciation of their fragility is a resourceto be cherished.

Mountains are destined to re-main at the heart of our concerns,if only because so many of us stillfind great inspiration in them. Allwe have to do is look out of ourwindows at IUCN Headquarters tosee the very mountains that in-spired the creation of our Union.

David A. Sheppard is Head ofthe IUCN Programme on

Protected Areas.

If IUCN was born in 1948 in Fontainebleau, it wasconceived in the mountains. In 1946 a group ofpioneering naturalists accepted an invitation to tourthe National Park and nature reserves of Switzerland.Apparently they were inspired by what they saw,for they decided that the world needed a globalorganization to coordinate efforts to protect theenvironment.

Their inspiration bore fruit: they met again a yearlater and agreed to launch the International Union forthe Protection of Nature (IUPN). Since then the Unionhas grown, evolved and changed its name, but the con-servation and sustainable development of mountainenvironments has remained among its ‘heartland’concerns.

Mountain Theme ProgrammeMountain Theme ProgrammeMountain Theme ProgrammeMountain Theme ProgrammeMountain Theme Programme

Prior to 1992, the Union approached mountain con-servation indirectly, through the activities of individualprogrammes (protected areas, species, ecosystemmanagement), activities related to environmentalimpact assessment and collaborative management,and the work of its field offices (e.g. in Nepal, Southand Meso-America, Pakistan and Europe).

In 1992, the Mountain Theme Programme of theWorld Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) wasset up to organize mountain expertise on protectedareas, and to promote IUCN’s role in MountainAgenda, a follow-up to Agenda 21 (see page 36).

Since then, under the inspired leadership of Vice-Chair Larry Hamilton, it has undertaken an impres-sive number of activities, including:➤ representing IUCN on the Interagency Task Group

for Mountain Agenda, responsible for coordinat-ing activities for the UN-designated InternationalYear of Mountains in 2002 under the leadershipof FAO;

➤ developing a support and exchange network of pro-tected area managers, researchers and other pro-fessionals dealing with mountain protected areas,which now numbers around 485 individuals in66 countries;

IUCN Inspiring actionDavid A. Sheppard

For more on the IUCN/WCPAMountain Theme Programme,visit: http://wcpa.iucn.org/biome/mountain/ mountain.html

4. KEY PLAYERS


The International Centre for Integrated MountainDevelopment (ICIMOD) is an independent interna-tional organization established in 1983 and the firstsuch centre to be dedicated solely to integrated moun-tain development. The Centre operates principally inthe Hindu Kush-Himalayan region, covering all orparts of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh,

Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Pakistan and Nepal.The concept for such a Centre arose out of concernfor the increasing poverty of mountain people in thisregion and concomitant deterioration of the moun-tain environment. It was based on the realization thatmountain areas had more to learn from other moun-tain areas than from the dominant research and de-velopment paradigms of the plains.

The idea was first discussed in Munich in the late1970s, and ICIMOD was eventually establishedthrough an agreement between His Majesty’s Gov-ernment of Nepal and UNESCO, strongly facilitatedby the German and Swiss governments and endorsedby the regional governments.

ICIMOD’s Mission is “… to help promote thedevelopment of an economically and environmentallysound mountain ecosystem and to improve the livingstandards of mountain populations in the HinduKush-Himalayas.” Its principal role is to function as amultidisciplinary applied research, training, and docu-mentation centre on integrated mountain develop-ment. Working through a network of more than 150partners in the region and drawing on a worldwidenetwork, ICIMOD seeks to overcome the constraintsto sustainable development of mountain areas, andpromote policies, local capacities and institutional andtechnological solutions.

Although the challenges are great and theresources limited, ICIMOD and its partners andsupporters are a prime example that ‘the whole isworth more than the sum of its parts.’

Gabriel Campbell is Director General of ICIMOD.Greta Rana is Head of the Information,

Communications and Outreach Divisionof ICIMOD. Visit: http://www.icimod.org/

ICIMOD’s Ecoregion, the Hindu Kush-Himalayan Region, extends 3500km fromAfghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east and is home to approximately 150million people. Its mountains serve as major sources of water, energy, andbiological and cultural resources which are largely ignored in national policies andvery rarely compensated for, or supported by, appropriate development efforts.These factors have contributed to making the Hindu Kush-Himalayas not only theworld’s most populated mountain region, but also the most poverty prone. Lack ofaccess to infrastructure, social services, markets, and appropriate institutions andtechnologies along with the normal risk of the mountain topography has severelylimited agricultural productivity and related economic growth.

Pictured: Tibetan minority women in the Huanglong scenic area of China’sMinshan mountains.

When in 1992 the United Nations Conference on En-vironment and Development (UNCED) agreed on aglobal action programme on sustainable develop-ment called Agenda 21, FAO’s Forestry Departmentwas assigned the role of Task Manager of Chapter 13,“Managing fragile ecosystems: sustainable mountaindevelopment”. This was informally known as the‘Mountain Agenda’.

As Task Manager, FAO works closely with other in-ternational organizations and governments to helpimplement Chapter 13 and strengthen partnershipsin the process. FAO also works closely with non-governmental organizations in holding meetings,developing communication and information sharing,

FAO Mountain AgendaDoug MacGuire

and reporting and reviewing implementation of theMountain Agenda. FAO is also the lead agency forpreparations for the observance of the InternationalYear of Mountains (IYM) 2002.

The wise and respectful use of the fragile resourcesin the highland areas represents one of the greatestchallenges for sustainable mountain development.Through its role in Mountain Agenda and IYM, FAOhopes to continue its long tradition of involvement inthese crucial issues.

Doug MacGuire is with the Forestry Division,Food and Agriculture Organization

of the United Nations (FAO), Rome, Italy.Visit http://www.fao.org/

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ICIMOD Learning from the peopleGabriel Campbell and Greta Rana


Mountain people and their community organizationsthroughout the world face similar challenges. Theseinclude limited access to public resources; isolationfrom one another and from much of the rest of soci-ety; and marginality – they are barely on most nationalpolitical agendas.

In response, representatives of NGOs, universities,multilateral agencies, and the private sector createdthe Mountain Forum in 1995. The Forum is a globalnetwork of regional networks for information ex-change, mutual support, and advocacy for equitableand ecologically sustainable mountain developmentand conservation. Today it links more than 2500 indi-viduals and 150 member organizations in 100 coun-tries, and is still growing rapidly.

The main technology for information exchange isthe Internet, which is rapidly becoming more accessi-ble in mountain areas. The Forum moderates 15 dis-cussion lists, global and regional electronicconferences, and an interactive website with

MOUNTAIN FORUM A knowledge networkAlejandro Camino and C.P. Jayalakshmi

membership services, a calendar of events, online li-brary, and links to other networks. Working withIUCN/WCPA the European Mountain Forum has as-sisted the training of protected areas staff to set uptheir own web pages and discussion lists.

One region in which Mountain Forum participantshave been particularly active is the Central and Mid-dle Mountains of Europe, with coordination from theSnow Mountains of southwestern Poland. One activ-ity is 'The Visegrad Network of Community Funds' – apractical lesson in democracy with a training campfor teachers and a summer camp for children fromfour participating countries. Another focuses on for-gotten vineyards, with classes for vinegrowers andsmall experimental mountain vineyards in villagesecondary schools.

Alejandro Camino is Executive Secretary, andC.P. Jayalakshmi is networking specialist,

with the Mountain Forum, Kathmandu, Nepal.Visit http://www.mtnforum.org/

KEY PLAYERS

Debra Hornsby

The Banff Centre for Mountain Culture promotes un-derstanding and appreciation of the world’s moun-tain places by creating opportunities for people toshare – and find inspiration in – mountain experi-ences, ideas and visions.

In addition to the Banff Mountain Book and FilmFestivals and Film Festival World Tour, activities of theCentre include the Banff Mountain Summits, BanffMountain Photography Competition, internationalexhibitions by mountain artists and photographers, amountain film and book archive, Mountain Commu-nities Conferences, mountain adventure vacations, amembership programme, a speakers series and amountain grants programme.

Banff Mountain Summit 2002Banff Mountain Summit 2002Banff Mountain Summit 2002Banff Mountain Summit 2002Banff Mountain Summit 2002

Banff Mountain Summit 2002, 27–29 October, willmark the International Year of Mountains by focusingon the theme “Extreme Landscape: Challenge and Cel-ebration”. It will feature mountain authors, scientists,dancers, musicians, anthropologists and filmmakers,and will include a symposium, slide shows, lectures,exhibitions, films, vertical dance performances andreadings. National Geographic Books will publish abook featuring 17 highly regarded writers involvedwith the event.

Presented in conjunction with the Banff MountainBook and Film Festivals, the Summit promises to bethe premier mountain cultural event of 2002.

Debra Hornsby is Head of Marketingand Communications, Banff Centre for

Mountain Culture, Banff, Alberta, Canada.Contact: www.banffmountainfestivals.ca

The town of Banff, Alberta, Canada.

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BANFF CENTRE FOR MOUNTAIN CULTUREAppreciation and inspiration


Mountain Research and Development

MRD is the leading interdisciplinaryjournal specifically devoted to theworld’s mountain regions. It is a ma-jor platform of communication onmountains, emphasising both re-search and development and includ-ing sections devoted to exchanges ofexperience among institutions andindividuals. It is thus an importantmeans of promoting sustainable de-velopment in mountain ecoregions.

Mountain Research and Develop-ment is published four times a yearby the International Mountain Society (IMS) and the United NationsUniversity (UNU). MRD has financial support from the Swiss Agencyfor Development and Cooperation, the UNU, and ICIMOD. The jour-nal’s editorial staff is located at the Centre for Development and Envi-ronment (CDE), University of Berne (Switzerland).

For subscriptions, contact: [email protected]: http://www.mrd-journal.org.For more on IMS, see http://www.mrd-journal.org/about_mrd.htm

OTHER PARTNERS Working in concert

Be sure to visit these websites


In addition to those described in previous pages, thereare many other key institutions with whom IUCN col-laborates on projects or other activities.

A very important one is The Mountain Institute,whose President and CEO for the past many years ofpartnership has been Dr Jane Pratt. TMI has been re-sponsible for much of the excellence and growth ofThe Mountain Forum (see page 37). It also carries outseveral mountain projects in Appalachia, Nepal, andPerú in particular.

United Nations University has supported the ef-fective and myth-busting Highland-Lowland Interac-tive Systems Project and the two principalinvestigators Jack Ives and Bruno Messerli have beenleaders in the unfolding Mountain Agenda. UNU wasthe catalyst for the initiation of the Andean MountainAssociation and the African Mountain Associationwith which IUCN has had fruitful cooperation.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Coopera-tion (SDC) has been a stalwart supporter of very manyMountain Agenda activities, and without this finan-cial support mountains would never have arrived atthe point on the global scene where they stand in2002. SDC was there at the very beginning in supportof the small “Mountain Mafia” group of six naturalscientists who coalesced from 1986 into a “strike force”that had the audacity to try to get mountains on theglobal agenda at the 1992 UN Conference on Envi-ronment and Development in Rio de Janeiro – and

with additional help, succeeded. SDC has mostrecently supported the Global Mountain Summit inInterlaken in October 2001, and the launch ceremonyfor IYM at the United Nations on 11 December 2001.

With long-standing interest in mountains datingback to a Man and the Biosphere Project 6 in the early1970s, UNESCO has continued to be a player in theunfolding Mountain Agenda. UNESCO’s World Herit-age Committee uses IUCN as its technical advisor fornatural sites (see page 11).

Data and maps for mountains around the worldare collected and maintained by the UNEP WorldConservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge (UK).They have been wonderfully cooperative in provid-ing information to various IUCN projects and pro-grammes, and have been particular collaborators inthe Tropical Montane Cloud Forest Initiative.

There are simply too many other partners workingwith IUCN to mention, and they range in interestsfrom the Union Internationale des Associationsd’Alpinisme to the host of conservation NGOs suchas The Nature Conservancy, WWF, Conservation In-ternational and the Wildlife Conservation Society. Inthis short piece only international organizations havebeen identified, but of course the list of within-countrypartners is huge.

We can hope that with all these organizations andtheir dedicated staff and members working in con-cert, we can gradually achieve the sustainable devel-opment of the wondrous three-dimensional Earthfeatures we know as mountains.


KEY PLAYERS

International YInternational YInternational YInternational YInternational Year of Mountains:ear of Mountains:ear of Mountains:ear of Mountains:ear of Mountains:http://www.mountains2002.orgMountain FMountain FMountain FMountain FMountain Forum: orum: orum: orum: orum: http://www.mtnforum.org/International Centre for Integrated MountainInternational Centre for Integrated MountainInternational Centre for Integrated MountainInternational Centre for Integrated MountainInternational Centre for Integrated MountainDevelopment (ICIMOD):Development (ICIMOD):Development (ICIMOD):Development (ICIMOD):Development (ICIMOD): http://www.icimod.org/

UNEP/WCMC Mountains and Mountain Forests:UNEP/WCMC Mountains and Mountain Forests:UNEP/WCMC Mountains and Mountain Forests:UNEP/WCMC Mountains and Mountain Forests:UNEP/WCMC Mountains and Mountain Forests: http://www.unep-wcmc.org/habitats/mountains/index.htmlUNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme:UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme:UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme:UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme:UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme: http://www.unesco.org/mab/UNU Project on Sustainable Mountain Development:UNU Project on Sustainable Mountain Development:UNU Project on Sustainable Mountain Development:UNU Project on Sustainable Mountain Development:UNU Project on Sustainable Mountain Development:http://www.unu.edu/env/mountains/index.htmWWWWWorld Torld Torld Torld Torld Tourism Organization:ourism Organization:ourism Organization:ourism Organization:ourism Organization: http://www.world-tourism.org/sustainable/IYE-Main-Menu.htmBishkek Global Mountain Summit:Bishkek Global Mountain Summit:Bishkek Global Mountain Summit:Bishkek Global Mountain Summit:Bishkek Global Mountain Summit:http://www.globalmountainsummit.org/IUCN/WCPIUCN/WCPIUCN/WCPIUCN/WCPIUCN/WCPA Mountain Theme Programme:A Mountain Theme Programme:A Mountain Theme Programme:A Mountain Theme Programme:A Mountain Theme Programme: http://wcpa.iucn.org/biome/mountain/mountain.htmlIUCN Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (MACP):IUCN Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (MACP):IUCN Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (MACP):IUCN Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (MACP):IUCN Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (MACP):http://www.macp-pk.orgIUCN Himal Programme: IUCN Himal Programme: IUCN Himal Programme: IUCN Himal Programme: IUCN Himal Programme: http://www.himal.sdnpk.org


KEY PLAYERS

IUCN Focusing our strengths

Achim Steiner

With more than half of humanity depending on moun-tains to provide the water it needs to drink, grow food,generate electricity and sustain economic develop-ment, we would be undermining our very basis forlivelihood if we did not pay attention to the sustain-able management of mountain ecosystems.

As we have seen in this special issue of World Con-servation, mountains harbour some of the world’s rich-est biological diversity and some of the world’spoorest people. Mountain communities are largelyshaped by their inaccessibility. This both preservestheir distinct cultural and environmental characteris-tics, yet often marginalizes them in terms of their ac-cess to resources, democratic processes and, as aresult, political influence. We have also seen how, asmountain ranges provide physical barriers and po-litical borders, these communities are often subjectto conflict – as reflected by the fact that 23 of the 27major armed conflicts in the world in 1999 were beingfought in mountain regions.

How does IUCN contributeto this frontier of sustainabledevelopment – the meetingpoint of environment, devel-opment and security? Is itpossible to reconcile the development needs andquest for resources of the lowlands with secured live-lihoods for mountain communities and the safe-guarding of fragile ecosystems?

Special strengthsSpecial strengthsSpecial strengthsSpecial strengthsSpecial strengths

Since its founding in 1948, IUCN has worked directlyor indirectly to address such questions. In doing so ithas capitalized on its unique structure, which makesit able to work with and influence a wide range ofstakeholders, from local communities to govern-ments to international policy institutions.

As early as 1977 IUCN convened a High MountainConference in New Zealand, and produced a set ofEcological Guidelines for Balanced Land Use, Conser-vation and Development in High Mountains, whichwas published in cooperation with UNEP and WWF in1979. The Union has been a member of the Inter-Agency Task Group for Mountain Agenda since its in-ception (see page 36), and hosted one of the meetingsin Geneva in November 2000.

IUCN is bringing together the diverse componentsthat create our understanding of mountains – geol-ogy, meteorology, hydrology, biology, ecology, anthro-pology, economics and politics – to assess the crucialrelationships between upper and lower watersheds,mountain forests and alpine grasslands, mountaincommunities and lowland urban dwellers. Theneeded expertise and scientific capacity is readilyavailable in the Union’s voluntary Commissions, who

offer scientific and managerial knowledge of moun-tain protected areas, species, societies, economies,and ecosystems.

Regional actionRegional actionRegional actionRegional actionRegional action

Moreover, our regional and country offices aroundthe world together can offer a truly global perspec-tive. Most of them deal every day with mountain is-sues, from the Andes to the Alps and from theHimalayas to the Usambaras, tackling the issues iden-tified earlier in this report as paramount, from biodi-versity conservation to watershed management totransboundary ‘peace’ parks. They work closely withthe many IUCN members who consider mountainconservation and development central to their con-cerns.

A prime example of this regional action is the 10-year Himal Strategy being launched by the IUCN AsiaMountain Programme. This effort reflects the aspira-

tions of a wide range ofstakeholders, and builds on anumber of existing initiativesin Nepal, Pakistan, Bangla-desh and, through its mem-bership, in India. It will foster

links between people and institutions throughout theHimalayan region for the conservation and sustain-able development of mountain biomes. The pro-gramme will begin by building a store of conservationknowledge for the region, which will then be used tobuild institutional and human capacity to conservebiological diversity, direct human resources towardvillage eco-development, influence government poli-cies for better management of mountain ecosystems,and promote improved governance through empow-erment of local communities.

Seize the momentSeize the momentSeize the momentSeize the momentSeize the moment

IUCN must use the opportunity of the InternationalYear of Mountains to focus its collaborative action andknown strengths on mountain issues. Our aim shouldnot be to create a parallel programme, or to duplicatethe work of other key players, but rather to facilitatethe confluence of environment, development andsecurity objectives.

The seemingly impenetrable monoliths of rock wecall mountains are in reality our repositories of biodi-versity, home to one-tenth of the world’s people andthe provider of goods and services to more than threebillion people. These fragile environments are our vi-tal life-support systems. Their resources must bemanaged and used in a way that safeguards bothmountain ecosystems and mountain cultures.

Achim Steiner is Director General of IUCN.

These fragile environments areour vital life-support systems.


IN PRINT

1. The AlpsMartin F. Price

This report was written as a contributionto Action Theme 10 (mountain ecosys-tems) of the Pan-European Biologicaland Landscape Diversity Strategy. It in-cludes a review of existing mechanismsfor intergovernmental cooperation inmountain ranges, and an analysis of howthe experience of the Alps might be ap-plied to other transnational mountain re-gions in Europe.

Environmental Research Series 12.ISBN 2-8317-0510-X, 1999, 210 x 147mm,vi + 46pp., maps. £6, US$9. Order no. B544

2: The CaucasusEdited by Martin F. Price

The Caucasus is an important centre ofbiological, landscape, and cultural diver-sity, and in great need of appropriatemechanisms to maintain and foster it.This report gives an overview of the re-gion and details of existing structures forcooperation at all levels.

Environmental Research Series 13.ISBN 2-8317-0534-7, 2000, 210 x 147mm,x + 160pp., tables, map. £10, US$15. Or-der no. B586. Soon to be available in Rus-sian from the IUCN Office in Moscow.

3: Sustainable Management ofClimbing Areas in EuropeBrigitte Hanemann

This report examines the history of rockclimbing and its social and economic sig-nificance. It describes the typical floraand fauna of the rock biotope, presentsthe results of a 21-country survey, andoutlines a number of case studies andrecommendations for sustainable man-agement of climbing in Europe.

Environmental Research Series 14.ISBN 2-8317-0541-X, 2000, 210 x 147mm,xviii + 158pp. £10, US$15. Order no. B594.

Guidelines for MountainProtected AreasEditor: Duncan Poore (1992)This product of a Parks, Peaks and Peo-ple Workshop held in Hawaii VolcanoesNational Park offers a set of 161 guide-lines grouped under topics and themescommon to mountain protected areasaround the world. It has been translatedinto Spanish, Russian and Japanese.

Available from the World Conserva-tion Bookstore.

Cooperation in theEuropean Mountains

Transboundary Protected Areasfor Peace and CooperationTrevor Sandwith, Clare Shine, LawrenceHamilton and David Sheppard. Serieseditor: Adrian Phillips

It is now generally understood thatconservation planning cannot just besite-specific; strategies to conserve bio-diversity in the 21st century must em-phasise transboundary cooperation, andmay at the same time foster better co-operation and understanding betweencountries. This publication reports on thework undertaken by IUCN’s World Com-mission on Protected Areas on the con-servation and security benefits oftransboundary protected areas.

ISBN 2-8317-0612-2, 2001. 295 x209mm, xii + 85pp. £16.50, US$24.75.Order no. B1117

Decision Time for Cloud ForestsL.A. Bruijnzeel and L.S. Hamilton

Number 13 in the Humid Tropics Pro-gramme series of UNESCO’s Interna-tional Hydrological Programme, thisbooklet results from a Tropical MontaneCloud Forest workshop held in July 1998.as a joint collaboration with UNESCO, theNetherlands Committee for IUCN andWWF. It describes how tropical montanecloud forests function and why they are

important, in an attempt to raise aware-ness of the threats to these ecosystemsand influence the way research, manage-ment, protection and policy actions arecarried out.

UNESCO, 2000. Available free ofcharge from IUCN’s Publications Divi-sion, Gland, Switzerland or the Publica-tions Services Unit, Cambridge, UK.

A Campaign for Cloud ForestsLawrence S. Hamilton (1995)

This IUCN Focus Series booklet pointsout the importance of tropical montanecloud forests, the threats to them, andcalling for action to conserve them.Printed also in French and Spanish.Available from WCPA.

PARKS MagazineVol. 6, No. 1, February 1996

Mountains and mountain ranges have aheterogeneity, a fragility, a climate, anda relative inaccessibility that present spe-cial problems in sustainable develop-ment. Moreover they are the livingenvironment for some of the world’smost ancient and traditional peoples,whose rich cultures are being rapidlyeroded. Some of the characteristics ofmountain environments that mandatespecial attention are treated in this im-portant issue of PARKS.

Available from WCPA at IUCN Head-quarters.

Transborder Protected AreaCooperation

L.S. Hamilton, J.C. Mackay, G.L.Worboys, R.A. Jones and G.B. Manson(1996)This publication is a synthesis of ben-efits, difficulties, guidelines and recom-mendations resulting from a conveningin the Australian Alps of 35 parks profes-sionals working in mountain trans-border protected areas. It includes fivecase studies of cooperation in managingborder-abutting parks in mountains,each with different institutional andmanagement arrangements for coop-eration.

Available from WCPA at IUCNHeadquarters.

http://iucn.org/bookstore

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