Women and men play key roles with respect to environmental protection and social and economic development in mountain areas. Women are often the primary managers of mountain resources, guardians of biodiversity and the main actors in terms of agriculture, animal husbandry and other small scale economic activities. In mountain communities, women are keepers of traditional knowledge, custodians of local culture and experts in traditional medicine.
However, women mountain dwellers are often invisible and their voices go unheard. They rarely participate in decisions affecting the management and use of local resources; they often lack basic rights, have little access to ownership and land tenure rights, education, health services and training. Since women and girls have less access to household resources, they are at a greater risk of hunger and malnutrition.
As men migrate to lowlands areas or abroad in search of better income, women are left to manage the farm and household and participate in small trade and income-earning activities. Yet lack of access to credit hampers efforts to improve or expand their farm activities and earn cash incomes.Inaccessibility shapes the lives of mountain communities. Further, the challenges men and women face in mountain regions is intensified by altitude, steep terrain and isolation.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution: Sustainable Mountain Development (2010)publicationResolution adopted by the General Assembly on Sustainable mountain development at the 64th Session. A/RES/64/205
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United Nations General Assembly Resolution: Sustainable Mountain Development (2008)publicationResolution adopted by the General Assembly on Sustainable mountain development at the 60th Session. A/RES/62/196
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United Nations General Assembly Resolution: Sustainable Mountain Development (2006)publicationResolution adopted by the General Assembly on Sustainable mountain development at the 60th Session. A/RES/60/198 Download » |
United Nations General Assembly Resolution: Rendering assistance to poor mountain countries to overcome obstacles in socio-economic and ecological areas (2005)publicationResolution adopted by the General Assembly at the 59th Session.
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United Nations General Assembly Resolution: Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions (2004)publicationResolution adopted by the General Assembly at the 58th Session: Sustainable development in mountain regions. A/RES/58/216
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Thimphu Declaration of the Celebrating Mountain Women Conference (2002)publicationIn 2002, ICIMOD organized the international conference ‘Celebrating Mountain Women‘ in Bhutan, as the only global event during the International Year of Mountains to focus on mountain women in the context of sustainable mountain development. It brought together 250 participants from 35 countries...
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