News

Europe commemorates IMD

24.01.2017

From the Alps to the Apennines to the Carpathians and beyond, International Mountain Day (IMD) was widely observed in Europe throughout the month of December. Celebrating the cultural diversity of the Alps, the Alpine Convention launched the Reading Mountains Festival 2016. Between 5 and 11 December, 134 events took place in ten countries (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Switzerland), eight languages and countless dialects. Book lovers and authors, mountaineers and artists gathered to celebrate Alpine literature and evaluate its meaning, impact and purpose.

In Austria, the Federal Institute for Less-Favoured and Mountainous Areas highlighted mountain areas of Georgia at their IMD event. Experts discussed applying a rural development approach in Georgian mountain areas of the Caucasus and forming sub-regional level partnerships between the public, private and civil sectors.

In Croatia, the Department of Geography at the University of Zagreb, in collaboration with the Croatian Geomorphological Society and Croatian Geographical Society, hosted authors Lara Cernicki and Stašo Forenbaher, who gave a lecture about their latest book "Mountain roads over Mount Velebit". Vanoise National Park held its second annual celebration of IMD at the Méribel Ski Resort in Les Allues, Savoie, France. At the University of Foix, France, students organized a cultural excursion to the Saint-Sauveur to conduct a lecture on "Mountain aerology, landscape and geological formation".

The UNESCO Club of Serres, Greece organized a month-long educational programme for schoolchildren on the 2016 IMD theme, "Mountain Cultures: celebrating diversity and strengthening identity". The programme lasted from 9 December 2016 to 15 January 2017, with lessons held at the Center of National Environment Protection at the Museum of Natural History in Serres.

PHASE Worldwide, a United Kingdom-based charity working in Nepal to empower isolated mountains communities, ran the #MountainToClimb social media campaign. They asked participants to share videos on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #MountainsToClimb about literal or metaphorical mountains they wished to climb in order to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle. In Ireland, Mountain Research Ireland (MRI) granted the “2016 International Mountain Day Award” to mountaineering instructor Lorcan McDonnel for his contributions to MRI's Mountain Plant Survey 2013-2016 and for his service in educating people on the importance of mountain ecosystems.

In Italy, the University of Perugia held a conference to reflect upon the recent earthquakes that severely affected the regions of Lazio, Marche and Umbria. The region of Valle d’Aosta, Italy, organized an Instagram photo contest on the theme “Living in the mountains of Valle d’Aosta” that received nearly 300 submissions from 66 participants. Guide Altopiano led an excursion on Mount Cornon and Sasso Rosso, historically important areas for the Asiago Plateau, Italy. Following a morning hike, participants enjoyed a lunch of typical local mountain products and a visit to the Museum of Foza.

Members of the International Mountain Museum Alliance (IMMA) offered a number of activities free of entrance charge on 11 December. The Museo Nazionale della Montagna of Turin (Italy) led guided visits to the exhibition “Ex Libris delle Montagne”; the Musée Alpin of Chamonix (France) presented “Lire les montagnes”, a reading of texts and mountain guides’ diaries; the Muzeum Tatrzańskie of Zakopane (Poland) held a lecture on the life of Polish mountaineer Żuławski; and the Servei General d’Informació de Muntanya of Sabadell (Spain) inaugurated the exhibition “Les muntanyes: divisoria d’aigues”.

From the mountain island of Pico, Azores, Portugal, MiratecArts announced the programme of its January 2017 Montanha Pico Festival, featuring art exhibitions, a film festival and tea-talk events on the mountain. They also inaugurated an artistic installation at a local winery, followed by a saxophone concert at 2 351 metres.

In Romania, the University of Bucharest highlighted the diversity of mountain cultures and communities in the Carpathians. The preservation of their different traditions and local mountain ecosystems was the focus of the event. At national level, the Romanian Mountain Forum, in cooperation with several Romanian mountain organizations and local governments, organized the 12th Scientific and Informal Conference on ”Mountain Cultures”.

The Russian Geographical Society (RGS) organized a celebration of IMD at its headquarters in Moscow, Russia on 8 December. Presentations were made by Vladimir Kotlyakov, Honorary President of the RGS; Danil Ivanovich, founder and director of Ethno-Nature Park Uch Enmek; Eugene D. Veselovsky, member of the Altai Biosphere Reserve; and Marina Y. Nesterenko, member of the Society for Tourism Commission. Particular attention was drawn to the need to develop a national policy on mountain regions in Russia.

The Parc Natural de la Font Roja in Valencia, Spain led a guided excursion over some of the park’s most cherished mountains and valleys. Hikers made their way toward the peak “Alt de la Teixereta”, where they enjoyed a picnic with a view. The Engineer’s Organization of the Mountains of Madrid, with support from the Provincial Government of Alicante and Radio Litoral – Cadena SER, also organized a hike to carry the flag of IMD to the peak of Sierra Bernia, the tallest mountain in the Marina Alta Region. Sierra Bernia stands as an icon of awareness during a year when the region has been devastated by wildfires. Furthermore, the Hiking Group of the Real Casino of Murcia, Spain held a conference on “The mountains and their inhabitants”, followed by a visit to the nearby archaeological site “La Almoloya”.

In Turkey, the Association of Sustainability and Governance of Mountainous Areas held its fourth annual IMD meeting at Dokuz Eylül University. The Association presented several issues related to mountains and called for a renewal of public policies for the integration of ecological, socio-cultural and economic aspects in mountain administration. In Ankara, the Turkish Mountaineering Federation (TMF) organized a group clean-up and also participated in a seminar about the spiritual importance of Eastern Turkey’s Mount Ararat.

More pictures of IMD celebrations are available on the Mountain Partnership’s Flickr gallery

Photo: Russian Geographical Society