Sustainable Mountain Development

A/RES/62/196No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 54hSustainable mountain development, published in 2008.

What other versions does this mandate have?

9 versions · 2006–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/144

2025A/RES/80/144Sustainable mountain developmentLatestCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/77/172Sustainable mountain developmentCompare with previous version
2020A/RES/74/227Sustainable mountain developmentCompare with previous version
2017A/RES/71/234Sustainable mountain developmentCompare with previous version
2014A/RES/68/217Sustainable mountain developmentCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2009.

2009A/64/222Sustainable mountain development report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

39 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on sustainable mountain development;

Notes with appreciation that a growing network of Governments, organizations, major groups and individuals around the world recognize the importance of the sustainable development of mountain regions for poverty eradication, and recognizes the global importance of mountains as the source of most of the Earth’s freshwater, as repositories of rich biological diversity and other natural resources, including timber and minerals, as providers of some sources of renewable energy, as popular destinations for recreation and tourism and as areas of important cultural diversity, knowledge and heritage, all of which generate positive, unaccounted economic benefits;

Recognizes that mountains provide indications of global climate change through phenomena such as modifications of biological diversity, the retreat of mountain glaciers and changes in seasonal runoff that may impact major sources of freshwater in the world, and stresses the need to undertake actions to minimize the negative effects of these phenomena;

Recognizes also that sustainable mountain development is a key component in achieving the Millennium Development Goals in many regions of the world;

Notes with concern that there remain key challenges to achieving sustainable development, eradicating poverty in mountain regions and protecting mountain ecosystems, and that populations in mountain regions are frequently among the poorest in a given country;

Encourages Governments to adopt a long-term vision and holistic approaches in their sustainable development strategies, and to promote integrated approaches to policies related to sustainable development in mountain regions;

Also encourages Governments to integrate mountain sustainable development in national, regional and global policymaking and development strategies, including through incorporating mountain-specific requirements in sustainable development policies or through specific mountain policies;

Notes that the growing demand for natural resources, including water, the consequences of erosion, deforestation and other forms of watershed degradation, the occurrence of natural disasters, as well as increasing out-migration, the pressures of industry, transport, tourism, mining, agriculture and the consequences of global climate change are some of the key challenges in fragile mountain ecosystems to implementing sustainable development and eradicating poverty in mountain regions, consistent with the Millennium Development Goals;

Underlines the importance of sustainable forest management, the avoidance of deforestation, as well as the restoration of lost and degraded forest ecosystems of mountains in order to enhance the role of mountains as natural carbon and water regulators;

Notes that sustainable agriculture in mountain regions is important for the protection of the mountain environment and the promotion of the regional economy;

Expresses its deep concern at the number and scale of natural disasters and their increasing impact in recent years, which have resulted in massive loss of life and long-term negative social, economic and environmental consequences for vulnerable societies throughout the world, in particular in mountain regions, especially those in developing countries, and urges the international community to take concrete steps to support national and regional efforts to ensure the sustainable development of mountains;

Encourages Governments, the international community and other relevant stakeholders to improve the awareness, preparedness and infrastructure to cope with the increasing impact of disasters in mountain regions, such as flash floods, including glacial lake outburst floods, as well as landslides, debris flow and earthquakes;

Encourages Governments, with the collaboration of the scientific community, mountain communities and intergovernmental organizations, where appropriate, to study, with a view to promoting sustainable mountain development, the specific concerns of mountain communities, including the effects of global climate change on mountain environments and biological diversity, in order to elaborate sustainable adaptation strategies to cope with the adverse effects of climate change;

Underlines the fact that action at the national level is a key factor in achieving progress in sustainable mountain development, welcomes its steady increase in recent years with a multitude of events, activities and initiatives, and invites the international community to support the efforts of developing countries to develop and implement strategies and programmes, including, where required, enabling policies and laws for the sustainable development of mountains, within the framework of national development plans;

Encourages the further establishment of committees or similar multi-stakeholder institutional arrangements and mechanisms at the national and regional levels, where appropriate, to enhance intersectoral coordination and collaboration for sustainable development in mountain regions;

Also encourages the increased involvement of local authorities, as well as other relevant stakeholders, including civil society and the private sector, in the development and implementation of programmes, land-use planning and land tenure arrangements, and activities related to sustainable development in mountains;

Underlines the need for improved access to resources, including land, for women in mountain regions as well as the need to strengthen the role of women in mountain regions in decision-making processes that affect their communities, cultures and environments;

Encourages, in this regard, Governments and intergovernmental organizations to integrate the gender dimension, including, inter alia, gender disaggregated indicators, in mountain development activities, programmes and projects;

Stresses that indigenous cultures, traditions and knowledge, including in the field of medicine, are to be fully considered, respected and promoted in development policy and planning in mountain regions, and underlines the importance of promoting the full participation and involvement of mountain communities in decisions that affect them and of integrating indigenous knowledge, heritage and values in all development initiatives;

Underscores the need to take into account relevant articles of the Convention on Biological Diversity;

Recognizes that many developing countries as well as countries with economies in transition need to be assisted in the formulation and implementation of national strategies and programmes for sustainable mountain development, through bilateral, multilateral and South-South cooperation, as well as through other forms of collaborative approaches;

Notes that funding for sustainable mountain development has become increasingly important, especially in view of the greater recognition of the global importance of mountains and the high level of extreme poverty, food insecurity and hardship facing mountain communities;

Invites Governments, the United Nations system, the international financial institutions, the Global Environment Facility, all relevant United Nations conventions and their funding mechanisms, within their respective mandates, and all relevant stakeholders from civil society and the private sector to consider providing support, including through voluntary financial contributions, to local, national and international programmes and projects for sustainable development in mountain regions, particularly in developing countries;

Underlines the importance for sustainable development in mountains of exploring a wide range of funding sources, such as public-private partnerships, increased opportunities for microfinance, including microcredit and microinsurance, small housing loans, savings, education and health accounts, and support for entrepreneurs seeking to develop small- and medium-sized businesses and, where appropriate, on a case-by-case basis, debt for sustainable development swaps;

Notes that public awareness needs to be raised with respect to the positive and unaccounted economic benefits that mountains provide, and underlines the importance of enhancing the sustainability of ecosystems that provide essential resources and services for human well-being and economic activity and of developing innovative means of financing for their protection;

Recalls with satisfaction the adoption by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity of a programme of work on mountain biological diversity, the overall purpose of which is the significant reduction of the loss of mountain biological diversity by 2010 at the global, regional and national levels, and its implementation, which aims at making a significant contribution to poverty eradication in mountain regions;

Recognizes that mountain ranges are usually shared among several countries, and in this context encourages transboundary cooperation approaches, where the States concerned agree, to the sustainable development of mountain ranges and information-sharing in this regard;

Notes with appreciation, in this context, that the Convention on the Protection of the Alps promotes constructive new approaches to integrated, sustainable development of the Alps, including through its thematic protocols on spatial planning, mountain farming, conservation of nature and landscape, mountain forests, tourism, soil protection, energy and transport, as well as its Declaration on Population and Culture;

Also notes with appreciation the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians, adopted and signed by the seven countries of the region to provide a framework for cooperation and multisectoral policy coordination, a platform for joint strategies for sustainable development and a forum for dialogue between all involved stakeholders;

Further notes with appreciation the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, which promotes transboundary cooperation among eight regional member countries of the Himalaya Hindu Kush region to foster action and change for overcoming mountain peoples’ economic, social and physical vulnerability;

Notes with appreciation the contribution of the Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Mountain Regions project of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the statement of the Adelboden Group in promoting specific policies, appropriate institutions and processes for mountain regions, and the positive, unaccounted economic benefits they provide;

Stresses the importance of building capacity, strengthening institutions and promoting educational programmes in order to foster sustainable mountain development at all levels and to enhance awareness of challenges to and best practices in sustainable development in mountain regions and in the nature of relationships between highland and lowland areas;

Encourages the development and implementation of global, regional and national communication programmes to build on the awareness and momentum for change created by the International Year of Mountains in 2002 and the opportunity provided annually by International Mountain Day on 11 December;

Also encourages Member States to collect and produce information and to establish databases devoted to mountains so as to capitalize on knowledge to support interdisciplinary research, programmes and projects and to improve decision-making and planning;

Further encourages all relevant entities of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates, to further enhance their constructive efforts to strengthen inter-agency collaboration to achieve more effective implementation of the relevant chapters of Agenda 21,1 including chapter 13, and paragraph 42 and other relevant paragraphs of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation,2 taking into account the efforts of the Inter-Agency Group on Mountains and the need for the further involvement of the United Nations system, in particular the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations University, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund, as well as international financial institutions and other relevant international organizations;

Recognizes the efforts of the Mountain Partnership implemented in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 2003/61 of 25 July 2003, invites the international community and other relevant stakeholders, including civil society and the private sector, to consider participating actively in the Mountain Partnership to increase its value added, and invites the Partnership secretariat to report on its activities and achievements to the Commission on Sustainable Development at its sixteenth session in 2008, including in regard to the thematic issues of agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa;

Notes with appreciation in this context the efforts of the Mountain Partnership to cooperate with existing multilateral instruments relevant to mountains, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and mountain-related regional instruments such as the Convention on the Protection of the Alps and the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians;

Takes note with appreciation of the offer of the Government of Kyrgyzstan to host a second Bishkek Global Mountain Summit in October 2009, and of the invitation to Member States, the United Nations system and other relevant stakeholders to take part in such a summit;

Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session on the implementation of the present resolution, under a sub-item entitled “Sustainable mountain development” of the item entitled “Sustainable development”.

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Sustainable Mountain Development

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