20 July 2017
Mountain Partnership Tracks SDG Indicators, Highlights Regional Climate and Food Security Initiatives
UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
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The Mountain Partnership serves as the “custodian agency” of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15 (life on land) indicator 4.2, also known as the Mountain Green Cover Index.

Mountains' Week focused on some of the priority issues relating to páramo and mountain ecosystems and discussed the formalization of strategic alliances for the integrated management of mountain territories in the context of climate change.

The Mountain Partnership released its annual report titled, ‘Stepping up for mountains: Mountain Partnership Secretariat Annual Report 2016’.

14 July 2017: Representatives of government, academia, civil society and local communities from eight Andean countries shared their experiences and visions for the integrated management of mountain ecosystems as part of Mountains’ Week, which took place from 10-14 July in Bogotá, Colombia. The event took place under the framework of the Mountain Partnership, which also serves as the “custodian agency” of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15 (life on land) indicator 4.2, also known as the Mountain Green Cover Index.

Mountains’ Week brought together participants from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cost Rica, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. It included an international congress that discussed how to position the Andes in the public agendas of the Andean countries, under the overall theme ‘Towards a Regional Vision of the Andean Mountains.’ Participants focused on some of the priority issues relating to páramo and mountain ecosystems and discussed the formalization of strategic alliances for the integrated management of mountain territories in the context of climate change. Regional stakeholders also discussed the Strategic Agenda for Climate Change Adaptation in the Andes, an initiative coordinated by UN Environment.

During the congress, Rosalaura Romeo of the Mountain Partnership Secretariat highlighted the Partnership’s support in establishing the Andean Mountain Initiative and noted it is evolving into “a fully-fledged mechanism for transboundary cooperation.”

In its report titled, ‘Stepping up for mountains: Mountain Partnership Secretariat Annual Report 2016,’ the Mountain Partnership reflects on progress as well as challenges in promoting the mountain agenda in 2016, with a focus on climate and food security issues. The report outlines progress in tracking the Mountain Green Cover Index, one of two indicators for SDG target 15.4, which focuses on the conservation of mountain ecosystems. Data sources for the Index are primarily derived from Collect Earth, a global land use and land cover monitoring project that is jointly implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and Google, as well as the 2015 global map of mountains produced by FAO and the Mountain Partnership Secretariat.

In other achievements, the report highlight’s the Mountain Partnership’s contribution to the UN Secretary-General’s Report on Sustainable Mountain Development, and the subsequent adoption of a draft resolution on this topic by the 71st session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in 2016. It also discusses the launch of the Mountain Facility, a special funding and planning mechanism implemented in collaboration with FAO, to ensure sustainable development and food security in highland regions, that are estimated to be home to 329 million people at high risk of hunger. The Facility was created in response to the FAO study on ‘Mapping the vulnerability of mountain peoples to food insecurity,’ which sought to ensure the comprehensive assessment of the well-being of mountain communities and ecosystems and provide a basis for developing more accurate monitoring systems.

Other regional and national-level initiatives highlighted in the report include: the launch of a voluntary label to promote access to markets for smallholder mountain producers in developing countries; “AdaptAndes,” a programme to increase the resilience of Andean mountain communities and ecosystems to the effects of climate change; and a programme to increase resilience and reduce emissions in 10 African countries.

Founded in 2002 the Mountain Partnership is a UN voluntary alliance dedicated to improving the lives of mountain peoples and protecting mountain environments around the world. At the end of 2016, the Partnership had a total of 288 members comprising governments, intergovernmental organizations, civil society, NGOs, the private sector and subnational authorities. [FAO Press Release on Andean Initiatives] [Mountain Partnership Press Release on 2016 Annual Report] [Stepping up for mountains: Mountain Partnership Secretariat Annual Report 2016]

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