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International Mountain Day 2012

11.12.2012

Today is International Mountain Day! We have been marking the day since 2002, when the United Nations first designated 11 December as the date to highlight the importance of sustainable mountain development and to build partnerships that will bring positive change to the world’s mountains and highlands.

Whether we live at sea level or higher, we are connected to mountains and affected by them in more ways than we can imagine. Mountains provide most of the world's freshwater, harbour a rich variety of plants and animals, and are home to one in ten people.

Yet, each day, environmental degradation, the consequences of climate change, exploitative mining, armed conflict, poverty and hunger threaten the extraordinary web of life that the mountains support.

Find out more in this video, which explains how mountains are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Meanwhile, in this video message for International Mountain Day 2012, Interim Coordinator of the Mountain Partnership Thomas Hofer explains why mountains matter.

Click for all the information on the International Mountain Day website.