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

Solar cookers for families in Tajik mountains

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Thanks to the funds collected by a Norwegian volunteer, nine families, who were affected by the earthquake that struck the Bartang Valley of the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan in December 2015, received solar parabolic cookers. Little Earth can be proud of its volunteers. Several years ago, a woman from...

Newsletter for West Africa mountains

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The Platform of Civil Society Organization for the Safeguard of Mountains (PSM) began a newsletter for green actors in seven countries of West Africa. PSM is a platform for the stability of mountains and the wellbeing of mountain communities in West Africa and includes some Mountain Partnership members.

With the release...

Why is food insecurity rising in mountains?

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There are many interrelated factors behind this troubling trend, explains Andrew Taber of The Mountain Institute, referring to data revealed by “Mapping the Vulnerability of Mountain Peoples to Food Insecurity”, a study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization in collaboration with the Mountain Partnership Secretariat. According to...

Action in mountains vital to global goals

peak to peak

Issue 93 – Month 6 – Year 2016

The June issue of Peak to Peak begins with the coverage of an MPS event where United Nations diplomats called for efforts to address the rising rate of food insecurity in mountainous areas...

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Group for sustainable Himalayan development

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In a bid to mobilize support and commitment to regional cooperation for sustainable mountain development, the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) Partnership for Sustainable Mountain Development was endorsed by ministers and high-level government representatives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan and...

FAO launches funding mechanism for mountains

peak to peak

Issue 92 – Month 5 – Year 2016

The May issue of Peak to Peak opens with a story about the launch of a Mountain Facility, or funding mechanism, to address the rising threat of hunger in the mountain areas of developing countries. The newsletter also reports...