International Mountain Day event discusses the challenges faced by mountain people with a focus on women

“There can be no doubt that investing in mountain women is investing in sustainable mountain development,” said Carla Mucavi, Director of the FAO Liaison Office to the United Nations, at International Mountain Day celebration at the United Nations Headquarters on 5 December in New York.

Co-hosted by the Permanent Missions of Kyrgyzstan, Austria and Peru, this year’s commemorative event focused on the theme, “Mountains under pressure: climate, hunger and the challenges of women.”

The participants agreed that involving all relevant stakeholders and building on existing successful partnerships—such as the Alpine Convention, which was represented at the event by its Secretary-General Markus Reiterer—was key to addressing the challenges faced by mountain people. The need to invest on mountain women, who are the primary managers of mountain resources and the main actors in agriculture but are often invisible and their voices go unheard, was also discussed at length.

The increasing attention to the importance of mountains led the UN General Assembly to declare 2002 the UN International Year of Mountains. Later, the General Assembly designated 11 December, from 2003 onwards, as “International Mountain Day”.