For millions of people living in mountainous areas, hunger and the threat of hunger are nothing new. Harsh climates and the difficult, often inaccessible terrain, combined with political and social marginality make mountain peoples vulnerable to food shortages.

As of 2015, one in three mountain people in developing countries was facing hunger and malnutrition.

The 2015 study Mapping the vulnerability of mountain peoples to food insecurity presents a geographic and demographic picture of the world’s mountain areas and assesses the vulnerability to food insecurity of mountain dwellers in developing countries, based on a specially designed model. The final section presents an alternative and complementary approach to assessing hunger by analyzing household surveys.

The results show that the living conditions of mountain dwellers have continued to deteriorate between 2002 and 2015. Global progress and living standard improvements did not appear to have made their way up the mountains and many mountain communities lagged behind the full eradication of poverty and hunger.

This 66-page publication gives voice to the plight of mountain people and sends a message to policy-makers on the importance of including mountain development in their agendas as well as specific measures and investments that could break the cycle of poverty and hunger of mountain communities and slows outmigration from mountain areas.

Updated information available: see the 2020 publication Vulnerability of mountain peoples to food insecurity: updated data and analysis of drivers

Registering for the MP Global Meeting

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Members of the Mountain Partnership are invited to attend the Mountain Partnership Global Meeting, which will be held at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters on 11-13 December 2017, in conjunction with the International Mountain Day. The Meeting will be followed by a two-day training...

Case studies, climate and hunger in mountains

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Your case studies are invited for the fact sheets currently being created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS) for International Mountain Day (IMD) 2017, which will take place on 11 December. The theme chosen for this year’s celebration is...

Stepping up for mountains: Mountain Partnership Secretariat Annual Report 2016

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The Mountain Partnership Secretariat outlines its key achievements in promoting sustainable mountain development last year in its 2016 annual report. The publication documents the Secretariat’s work in the areas of advocacy, communication and knowledge management, promoting International Mountain Day, brokering joint action and leading capacity development initiatives. The 60-page publication...

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UN days celebrated across the Indian Himalayas

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The Centre for Environmental Education (CEE Himalaya) actively raises awareness about the international days that are observed by the United Nations. In the months of May and June 2017, CEE Himalaya with the support of partners organized celebrations of the International Day of Biological Diversity and World Environment...

Mountain summer course in Italy to open

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Participants of the 2017 International Programme on Research and Training on Sustainable Management of Mountain Areas (IPROMO) will meet on 5 July in Ormea and Pieve Tesino, Italy to begin a two-week training programme on sustainable mountain development. About 30 professionals from the fields of Agriculture, Economics, Forestry, Biology, Geology...

FAO's Work in Sustainable Mountain Development and Watershed Management—A 2017 Update

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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) provides an update on its activities related to sustainable mountain development and watershed management in this 2017 platform statement published in Volume 37, Issue 2 (May 2017) of Mountain Research and Development.

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