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Case studies, climate and hunger in mountains

10.08.2017

Your case studies are invited for the fact sheets currently being created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS) for International Mountain Day (IMD) 2017, which will take place on 11 December. The theme chosen for this year’s celebration is “Mountains under Pressure: climate, hunger, migration”.

Almost one billion people live in mountain areas, and over half the human population depends on mountains for water, food and clean energy. Yet mountains are under threat from climate change, land degradation, overexploitation and natural disasters, with potentially far-reaching and devastating consequences, both for mountain communities and the rest of the world.

The MPS is looking for contributions and case studies that show how mountains’ extreme vulnerability puts their natural resources under increasing pressure, which in turn affects mountain peoples, exacerbating hunger, poverty and forcing migration. Specifically, two case studies are sought, one on each other the following topics:

• Climate: Examples could include the impacts of climate change on mountain ecosystems’ ability to provide essential ecosystem goods and services, the effects of melting glaciers on freshwater supplies upstream and/or downstream, and the wealth of knowledge and strategies accumulated by mountain communities over generations on how to adapt to climate variability.

• Hunger: Examples could include the impacts of climate change on hunger in mountains, examples of climate-smart agriculture and the role of climate resistant crops in mountains, examples of how the political, economic and social marginalization on mountain peoples affects their vulnerability to food insecurity, as well as strategies and policies to deal with poverty at national and regional levels.

Case studies should be between 200-400 words in length and be accompanied by photos depicting the content. The photos should be of good quality (high resolution, at least 300 dpi, in jpg format).

Please email case studies and photos to Sara Manuelli at [email protected] by 1 September 2017. You may also send her information about your upcoming IMD events from now until 11 December 2017.

The fact sheets and other communication materials will be made available on the FAO IMD website in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish (the six official United Nations languages) in November.

The United Nations General Assembly designated 11 December “International Mountain Day”. As of 2003, it has been observed every year to create awareness about the importance of mountains to life, to highlight the opportunities and constraints in mountain development and to build alliances that will bring positive change to mountain peoples and environments around the world.

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Photo: FAO/Tilak Neupane