Water
Each day, one of every two people on the planet quenches his thirst with water that originates in mountains. And as the world population swells to an estimated 9.6 billion by 2050, the worldwide demand for freshwater will continue to soar.
More than half of humanity relies on mountain freshwater for everyday life. The ten largest rivers originating in the Hindu Kush Himalayas alone supply water to over 1.35 billion people. Some of the world’s largest cities, including New York, Rio de Janeiro, Nairobi, Tokyo and Melbourne, are dependent on freshwater from mountains.
Climate change is already causing more than 600 glaciers to disappear, resulting in springs and rivers drying up. Greater frequency of extreme weather events, droughts and floods, including flash floods and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), are also expected to increase in mountains, causing imbalance between current water supply and demand.
Given the importance of mountain water resources worldwide, the careful management of mountain water resources is a global priority. Water management practices need to be adapted to different climatic zones, using locally adapted soil and water management techniques. Most importantly, watershed management must take into account the needs of all those who depend on mountain water, including those who have the greatest stake in preserving healthy mountain ecosystems – people who live in mountain areas themselves, who are often marginalized from the decision-making processes.
Ecosystem services of headwater catchmentsnewsThe European Forestry Commission Working Party on the Management of Mountain Watersheds and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have published Ecosystem Services in Headwater Catchments. The book aims to improve the understanding of mountain ecosystem services in a changing world and to promote...
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Call for journalists for 2017 We are Alps tournewsThe Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention invites interested journalists on a crossing of the Alps in early summer, with the aim of raising awareness about the challenges and opportunities of the region and about the Alpine Convention as a toolbox for the balanced development of a territory...
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Call for applications for IPROMO 2017peak to peakIssue 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... Download » |
MRD calls for papers, mountain ecosystem linksnewsThe connections between food, water and energy constitute a complex system that interacts with mountain ecosystems and factors of change. Mountain Research and Development is looking for papers that assess experiences of negotiating synergies and trade-offs among water, energy and food that analyse the dynamic interplay between these...
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A UN entity to insure mountains have a voicepeak to peakIssue 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... Download » |
Mount Kilimanjaro Research Group MeetingeventThe interdisciplinary AfroMont-Mount Kilimanjaro Research Group meeting will bring together researchers working on African mountains. The conference theme will be "African mountain ecosystems under global change: Linking biodiversity, biotic interactions and biogeochemical ecosystem processes". The Mount Kilimanjaro research programme will host the meeting. Sessions for the research meeting will...
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