News

MP Members write to Governments

13.06.2014

Following this week’s Mountain Partnership’s call for action, several members have taken action with their Governments requesting that mountains receive the attention they deserve in the sustainable development goals process.

Civil society organizations in Kyrgyzstan have written to the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Kyrgyz Republic,  Member of the Italian Parliament, Enrico Borghi wrote to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Monsieur Joël Giraud, parliamentarian for the Department of the  Hautes-Alpes in France has written to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Many MP focal points have contacted either the relevant Ministry or the country representative to the United Nations in New York to ensure that particular recognition of the role of mountain ecosystems is flagged at the next round of the Open Working Group.

The Nilgiri Documentation Centre (NDC), in a letter to the Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change,India, sought the ministry's urgent intervention for including mountains in the sustainable development goals' draft that will be finalised in the UN session starting on June 16.

‘We are seeing a great mobilization of Mountain Partnership members from all over the world,’ says Rosalaura Romeo, MP programme officer. «It’s so important to join forces now and run the final mile. »

So far, during the recent meeting of the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals, 56 governments spoke requesting attention to mountain ecosystems and there were more than 100 interventions during the entire OWG process targeting mountains. However, this strong call is not reflected in the current draft.

Photo: UCA/Alma Uzbekowa