News

Summer course on food security in mountains

24.03.2015

The International Programme on Research and Training on Sustainable Management of Mountain Areas, better known as IPROMO, will focus on food security in mountain areas from 23 June to 3 July 2015 in Ormea and Edolo, Italy.Through a combination of lectures, seminars, group work and field trip, around 30 officers, researchers and technicians from around the world will receive scientific and technical training on issues related to food security and nutrition in mountain regions.

Now in its 8th year, the 10-day intensive programme will focus on the preliminary findings of a study conducted by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) that indicates that mountain communities are still at considerable risk of hunger and food insecurity. “Food insecurity is exacerbating poverty in the remote corners of the world,” says Rosalaura Romeo, MPS Programme Officer and IPROMO Technical Coordinator.

The course will bring together experts from the UN, universities and other organizations to examine a wide range of issues, including the global changes that affecting mountain peoples and environments. A unique opportunity, IPROMO allows participants from diverse backgrounds to work together and brainstorm about solutions to food insecurity in mountain regions.Participants will spend a day at EXPO Milan,the 2015 universal exhibition which is dedicated to the theme, “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life,” and run from 31 May 2015 to 31 October 2015 in Milan, Italy. IPROMO participants will attend an event called “Rural mountain: worldwide EXtraordinary Potential.”

The University of Milan has joined forces with the MPS and the University of Turin to co-organize IPROMO.The agricultural practices in Italy’s mountain areas “has generated a large diversity of mountain agricultural and food products as well as different know-how relating to agricultural production and food processing, that could represent an useful suggestion for other mountain areas,” explained Anna Giorgi, Scientific Director for the University of Milan.

“I think it's important for the University of Turin to transfer the results of the research activity on mountain ecosystems to other countries, exchanging and sharing experiences on different topics, such as the effects of global change and natural hazards,” said Michele Freppaz, IPROMO Scientific Director, adding that the eight-year long collaboration between the MPS and the University of Turin has efficiently contributed in developing and implementing competencies of the professionals in sustainable mountain development.

IPROMO was started in 2007 to strengthen the capacities of Mountain Partnership members to address the challenges mountain communities and environments are facing.