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 A network and declaration from Mountains 201627.10.2016The event Mountains 2016 held in Bragança, Portugal aimed at promoting sustainable development in mountains. It included two conferences: the tenth European Mountain Convention (EMC) on 3-4 October and the first International Conference on Research for Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions (ICRSDMR) on 6-7 October. Mountains 2016 brought together the European mountain community and a broader international community of scientists and stakeholders to address climate change adaptation and ecosystem services in mountain regions. The presentations and workshops at the EMC led to a new declaration on mountains, and the participants of the ICRSDMR motioned to create an international mountain network for Portuguese speakers. On 3-5 October 2016, around 260 mountain actors (researchers, farmers, environmentalists, elected representatives from local and regional authorities, representatives of chambers of commerce and development agencies) met in Bragança, Portugal during the tenth EMC organized by Euromontana. Juan Andres Gutierrez, President of Euromontana, stated at the end of the Convention: "Mountains are a sentinel for climate change which Europe risks neglecting at its peril. Mountain actors are among the first to detect the creeping impact of climate change. They have decided at Bragança to cooperate in taking action from the bottom up, with the communities and businesses already affected and call upon the European institutions to take their responsibilities and support them in this vital role." This tenth EMC presented a state-of-the-art of the situation in mountain areas and how experience and technical knowledge have been used to provide solutions to adapt to and mitigate climate change. The focus was on solutions not only at the policy level, but also at the practitioners’ level. Following two days of exchanges of good practices and debates, the representatives of Euromontana wrote a declaration identifying mountains’ prime role and mapping out the action needed to seize this opportunity before it is lost. They defined transversal recommendations and concrete actions for: agriculture and forestry, sustainable energy and water, biodiversity and protected areas, sustainable tourism, accessibility through transport and Information and Communications Technologies, and the innovative management of natural hazards. The ICRSDMR, which was organized by the Mountain Research Centre (CIMO) of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB), followed the EMC. It was also attended by over 200 participants from around the world. A key outcome of the ICRSDMR was the decision to create a network for scientists working in the mountain areas of Portuguese-speaking countries (LuMont). "Nearly all Portuguese-speaking countries – in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America – have mountains. There is a real need and opportunity to benefit from their common language, as well as from their expertise – particularly in Portugal and Brazil – to foster collaborative research and capacity-building for the benefit of the citizens of these countries and the mountain resources they depend on. The emergence of the LuMont network is therefore a unique and valuable outcome of this well-organized conference, and I will be glad to support it through the UNESCO Chair which I hold," said Martin Price, UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Mountain Development. Support for this network was shown by both the president of the Portuguese Science Foundation and the Portuguese Minister of Science. The second ICRSDMR is anticipated to take place in Brazil in 2018. Read the Declaration of Bragança Photo: Euromontana |
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