HLPF 2019: Building Climate Action for Mountains

 

 

2019 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
Building Climate Action for Mountains

Lucas Tavares, Senior Liaison Officer, FAO Liaison Office with the United Nations in New York

 

Excellences,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

On behalf of FAO I would like to thank the co-organizers of this event, the governments of Andorra, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland and UN partners, all of whom are members of the Mountain Partnership.

Today’s event is an important one because Mountains Matter for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Mountains play an important role in reaching different SDGs, including but not limited to SDGs 6 and 15. At the same time, we need to look at mountains if we are to leave no one behind.

But, today, mountains and mountain people are under pressure.

FAO is updating a study on the vulnerability of mountain peoples in developing countries to food insecurity. The data is yet to be officially released but I can anticipate that about 50 percent of mountain dwellers in developing countries, about 345 million people, were vulnerable to food insecurity in 2017. This is a steep increase compared to the 2012 estimate when 45 percent of the rural mountain population was at risk.

The vulnerability of mountain people stems from a combination of difficult conditions including climate change, land degradation, deforestation, natural disasters and unsustainable use of natural resources. These factors make living in mountain areas increasingly difficult and are often adverse drivers compelling people to migrate.

Comprehensive policies are necessary to address this situation. Collective efforts should focus on building resilience, protecting and promoting equitable and sustainable development of mountain peoples to ensure that they remain stewards of ecosystem goods they provide to the whole planet. This needs to be in support of mountain communities, building on their knowledge and culture, and not on their behalf.

These actions include strengthening the adaptive capacity and climate resilience of mountain communities and their livelihoods, the promotion of agro-forestry and agroecological approaches in mountain agriculture and food systems, combining innovation with traditional knowledge, and increasing efforts at all levels and in all regions to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. (We heard from the Chair of IPCC this morning, by the way, a compelling reminder of the benefits of staying below this number).

These actions also include the provision of basic services such as health, education, basic sanitation and access to energy, because sustainable development requires a multidimensional effort.

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

I also want to say that the Mountain Partnership is an important instrument to help us reach the goal of promoting sustainable development in mountain regions. The Partnership is a multi-stakeholder UN alliance that brings together 60 governments and 310 intergovernmental, non-governmental and civil society organizations, academia and the private sector, whose Secretariat is hosted by FAO.

Its Framework for Action, adopted in 2017, is a commitment to integrate strategies for sustainable mountain development and ecosystem conservation in national policies and programmes by 2030.

The Mountain Partnership Products Initiative that my colleague Giorgio Grussu will speak about in a little while, is a good example of how we are working with partners to support sustainable and resilient livelihoods in a context of climate change. And, in a few minutes, you will also hear exciting news on the partnership from Yoko.

I want to add that there are also synergies to explore between sustainable mountain development and the UN Decade of Family Farming, whose New York launch happened earlier this afternoon. We need to seize the opportunities that exist in benefit of mountains and family farming, and to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

To end, I would like to recall that the forthcoming session of the General Assembly will discuss sustainable mountain development in its Second Committee. This will be an opportunity to review the issue and determine actions that we should take to ensure that mountain ecosystems are sustainably managed and that its communities are fully integrated into the 2030 Agenda.

Thank you for your attention.