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

Multimedia on policy recommendations for SMD in the Andes

news

During the Regional Workshop Post-Rio +20 "Sustainable Mountain Development: Building the future we need" held on November 12-14 in Lima, Peru, the Consortium for Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion (CONDESAN) launched a multimedia which containing key information and policy recommendations for sustainable mountain development in the Andes.

The...

Eighth Session of the UNECA Committee on Food Security and Sustainable Development (CFSSD-8)

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The UN Economic Commission for Africa's Food Security and Sustainable Development programme aims to strengthen the capacity of Member States to design and implement policies and programmes to reinforce linkages between food security, population, environment and human settlements so as to achieve sustainable development. This meeting is also scheduled to...

Producción orgánica de cultivos andinos (FAO)

publication

Este manual es el producto de la sistematización de los saberes ancestrales que aún se practican en el área de la Unión de Organizaciones Campesinas del Norte de Cotopaxi (Ecuador) y de la revisión de otros valiosos trabajos realizados en los Andes ecuatorianos, donde la FAO, contando con...

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2nd Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change: “Hunger for Action”

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The second Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, will be held from 3 to 7 September 2012 in Hanoi, Viet Nam. The Conference is co-organized by the Governments of Viet Nam and the Netherlands, in collaboration with other partners, including the World Bank and the Food and...

The retreating Himalayas: disaster in slow motion

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If the unprecedented rate of glacial retreat in the South Asian region is not checked, countries in the area are likely to turn highly food-insecure. Pakistan’s latest Climate Change Policy clearly indicates that freshwater resources in Pakistan are dependent on snow and glacial melting and monsoon rains; all of which...

Rivers will generate a quarter of GDP by 2050, study shows

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The world’s 10 most populous river basins (Ganges, Yangtze, Indus, Nile, Huang He Huai He, Niger, Hai, Krishna and the Danube) will be vital for economic growth – but only if water shortage threats are tackled. Rivers are the very “stuff of life”, yet billions of people do not have...