Welcome to the Web site of the
Second Global Meeting
of the Mountain Partnership,
to be held in Cusco, Peru from 28
to 29 October 2004
For more than a decade, increasing attention has been paid by
the international community and the United Nations to improving
the livelihoods and environmental conditions in mountain regions
throughout the world. This process has seen the adoption of Chapter
13 of Agenda 21 “Managing Fragile Ecosystems – Sustainable
Mountain Development”; the United Nations Resolution 53/24
declaration of 2002 as “The International Year of Mountains” aimed
at increasing awareness of the urgent need to protect mountain
ecosystems and improve the well-being of those living in these
areas; the Bishkek Platform of November 2002 and the basic Concept
Document -- known as the “Bali Document”-- adopted
during the 4th Session of the Preparatory Committee Meeting for
the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Bali, Indonesia, June
2002).
The launch of the Mountain Partnership at the World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD, Johannesburg, September 2002) further
strengthened the commitment to mountain development that has grown
over the last decade and also reflected the priority given to mountains
and mountain ecosystems at WSSD. The Partnership, a Type II outcome
of WSSD, is based on Paragraph 42 of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation
and other related mechanisms and promotes, inter alia, joint initiatives.
By August 2004, 40 countries, 14 intergovernmental organizations
and 48 major groups (e.g. civil society, NGOs and the private sector)
had already joined the Mountain Partnership and the numbers are
growing. An Interim Partnership Secretariat, with financial support
from the governments of Italy and Switzerland, is hosted by the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and
has the direct involvement of the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP).
The First Global Meeting of the Mountain Partnership took place
in Merano, Italy on 5 and 6 October 2003 where it was agreed that
the Second Global Meeting of the Mountain Partnership would be
held in Peru in the later half of 2004.
This forthcoming Second Global Meeting of the Mountain Partnership
will take place in Cusco, Peru on the 28 and 29 October 2004. The
focal points for the organization of the meeting are Mr Miguel
Palomino de la Gala, Minister, Director for Sustainable Development,
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Peru and Dr. Hugo Li-Pun, Deputy
Director General, Corporate Development, International Potato Center
(CIP), Lima, Peru.
To read more about the Mountain Partnership, click here.
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