Partnerships key to achieving global goals
26.10.2015
Partnerships play a key role in overcoming hunger and ensuring resilient livelihoods through promoting the sustainable management of mountains in the dryland areas. Speakers at a 20 October 2015 side event at the 12th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP12) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) called on strengthening partnerships and enhancing collaboration to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The side event, entitled “Mountains – a resource for the resilience in dryland areas”, was co-organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat and Turkey’s Ministry of Forest and Water and took place in the Turkish Pavilion.
Opening the event, Sven Walter of the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD and also Mountain Partnership focal point, welcomed participants on behalf of the organizers and highlighted the role of mountains in drylands where 90 percent of fresh water comes from mountains. He also introduced the moderator of the event, Pedro Lara Almuedo of the Global Mechanism, as well as the first speaker, Professor Ibrahim Atalay.
In his presentation, Professor Atalay described the main Turkish mountain ecosystems and the approach taken to protect and restore them. Presenting a successful model of rehabilitating watersheds in Turkish mountains, Bayram Hopur of the Ministry of Foresty and Water Affairs of Turkey underlined the importance of the integrated approach to natural resource management in mountains and improving institutional mechanisms to ensure sustainability.
Grammenos Mastrojeni of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy emphasized the role of partnerships in raising global awareness about fragile ecosystems. He stated that Italy is undertaking a “fragile ecosystems” approach in development cooperation in order to address the most vulnerable ecosystems undergoing climate change, in particular small island states, mountain areas and drylands.
Sven Walter highlighted the importance of sustainable mountain development to achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN), a key topic discussed during COP12. “Mountains should therefore be adequately covered by UNCCD National Action Programmes, related investment frameworks as well as the LDN target setting and implementation process,” Walter said.
Moujahed Achouri, Director of the Natural Resources and Environment, Land and Water Division, at the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), described several global and regional initiatives and partnerships which aim to contribute to the prevention of and combating desertification, land degradation and drought, including the Global Soil Partnership, the Mountain Partnership, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests and the new Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLR Mechanism) and the Global Mechanism Programme on "Liaison - Land, Security and Resilience".
The event was closed with a lively discussion among all participants on the role of mountains to promote resilience and sustainable development of local communities in Turkey and internationally, as well as the challenges and opportunities to upscale successful watershed projects, with a particular focus on the following three aspects:
• The sustainable management of mountain ecosystems promotes the conservation of genetic resources, biodiversity and habitats that are key for supporting traditional land uses of local communities.
• Mountain ecosystems act as “insurance” for downstream population in their watersheds, providing important and often underestimated disaster risk reduction services against landslides, flooding and water scarcity, and increasing resilience against such events.
• Mountains constitute an important source of income for local communities, including through the marketing of high value mountain products (e.g. cherries, honey, cheese, meats, walnuts, etc) and services (e.g. ecotourism, protected areas, etc.)
• The meaningful engagement of local communities in the development and implementation of mountain ecosystem restoration and sustainable management initiatives is a major factor to ensure the success and long-term impact of such initiatives.
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