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

Mountain Partnership Global Meeting announced

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The Mountain Partnership Global Meeting, titled “Mountains under Pressure”, will be held on 11-13 December 2017 at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, Italy, announced Mountain Partnership Secretariat Coordinator Thomas Hofer on 24 May. The theme of the meeting will be “Climate,...

Eradicating poverty in mountains

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The Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RANS), a Mountain Partnership member in General Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), contributed a written statement on behalf of the Mountain Partnership to the 2017 ECOSOC Integration Segment on 8-10 May 2017. As the theme of...

Mountains, one year after the Paris Agreement

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One year ago, on 22 April (Earth Day) 2016, 175 of the 197 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York to sign the Paris Agreement, an international treaty to address climate change. As of today, one year after...

Call for papers on shifting cultivation

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Work has begun on a new book, focused on “Farmer Innovations and Best Practices by Shifting Cultivators in Asia-Pacific”. The Editor of the forthcoming volume invites those working with or studying shifting cultivation in the Asia-Pacific region to submit papers and supporting photographs documenting and analysing farmer innovations and best...

Call for applications for IPROMO 2017

peak to peak

Issue 103 – Month 4 – Year 2017

The April issue of Peak to Peak announces the call for applications for the 2017 IPROMO course, to focus on environmental and economic issues to enhance mountain sustainability. The newsletter continues with news of Mountain Partnership member Farmer Cooperative Alysh Dan...

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A UN entity to insure mountains have a voice

peak to peak

Issue 102 – Month 3 – Year 2017

The March issue of Peak to Peak opens with a news about two Mountain Partnership (MP) members presenting an oral statement on behalf of the MP during the 55th Commission for Social Development at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The...