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In-person classes resume for IPROMO 2022 mountain course

28.06.2022

30 participants from 20 countries gathered today in Pieve Tesino in northeast Italy to participate in the Mountain Partnership’s two-week IPROMO summer school. After two years of online courses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the training programme will again be held in person.

In celebration of the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development 2022 and the fifteenth anniversary of IPROMO, this year’s course will deal with sustainable mountain development at large rather than focusing on one theme. 

Mountains and their resources are key for a healthy planet. Mountains provide freshwater to more than half of humanity, host about half of the world's biodiversity hotspots and are widely covered by forests (about 40 percent of the entire mountain area). However, the latest study on mountain peoples’ vulnerability to food insecurity found that 44 percent of the rural mountain population, or 243 million people, was vulnerable to food insecurity in 2000. By 2017, this number had increased to 53 percent – the equivalent of 346 million people. 

There is a need to engage an approach to sustainably manage mountain areas and to improve mountain people’s livelihoods. IPROMO will contribute to better understanding the challenges and catalyzing action towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in mountains. 

"We are delighted that, after two years, IPROMO can return to its in-person format. The course represents an opportunity for young professionals to expand their knowledge on sustainable mountain development and to network with like-minded individuals in the field from around the world," said Sara Manuelli of the Mountain Partnership Secretariat. 

The 2022 IPROMO summer school will run from 27 June to 11 July with two weeks of full immersion learning. It will include lectures, practical work and excursions. The first half of the course will take place in Pieve Tesino, followed by a field trip to Valle D’Aosta, and then culminating in Ormea (northwest Italy). The instructors feature a mix of university professors, officers from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, government officials and private sector representatives dealing with sustainable mountain development. 

The annual IPROMO course is jointly organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, the University of Turin, Italy, and the University of Tuscia, Italy, with the high patronage of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Learn more about IPROMO 2022 

Learn about the partnership with the University of Turin 

Photo: ©Mountain Partnership Secretariat