Rio+20: Three paragraphs on mountains in the revised Co-Chairs text
25.05.2012
The revised Co-Chairs Text is now available. This text will form the basis for the 3rd (additional) round of informal-informal negotiations that will take place in New York next week (29 May – 2 June 2012).
The attached draft of the Rio+20 Outcome document has come down from 335 pages to 80 pages with three paragraphs on Mountains (page 58):
Mountains 1. We recognize that the benefits derived from mountain regions are essential for sustainable development. Mountain ecosystems play a crucial role in providing water resources to a large portion of the world’s population; fragile mountain ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, deforestation and forest degradation, land use change, land degradation, and natural disasters; and mountain glaciers around the world are retreating and getting thinner with increasing impacts on the environment and human well-being.
Mountains 2. We further recognize that mountains are often home to communities, including indigenous peoples, who have developed sustainable uses of their resources and who are often marginalized. We stress that continued effort will be required to address poverty, food security and nutrition, social exclusion and environmental degradation in these areas, and invite States to strengthen cooperative action with effective involvement of all relevant stakeholders, by establishing new or strengthening existing regional arrangements and centers of competence for sustainable mountain development.
Below are suggested amendments to Mountains 2. (original text highlighted by us in yellow is in italics, changes in CAPITAL letters):
We stress that continued effort will be required to address poverty, food security and nutrition, social exclusion and environmental degradation in these areas, and invite States to strengthen cooperative action with effective involvement AND SHARING OF EXPERIENCE of all relevant stakeholders, by establishing new or strengthening existing INTERNATIONAL AND regional AGREEMENTS AND/OR arrangements and centers of competence for sustainable mountain development.
Mountains 3. We call for greater efforts toward the conservation of mountain ecosystems, including their biodiversity. We encourage States to adopt a long-term vision and holistic approaches, including through incorporating mountain-specific policies into national sustainable development strategies which could include, inter alia, poverty reduction plans and programmes in mountain areas, particularly in developing countries.
The Mountain Partnership Secretariat urges all Members to keep up their efforts to ensure that these mountain paragraphs are maintained.
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