1 November 2002: This feature event of the International Year of Mountains (IYM) convened from 29 October 2002-1 November 2002 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

The Government of Kyrgyzstan with support from UNEP and other partners organized the first-ever Global Mountain Summit, which was attended by over 600 people from 60 countries. The Bishkek Mountain Platform – the Summit’s main output – is designed to guide governments and other actors involved with mountain issues toward achieving the objectives of improving mountain people’s livelihoods, protecting mountain ecosystems and using mountain resources wisely. The Platform also supports the International Partnership for Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions, agreed to at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), as the framework to provide follow-up to the IYM. The Platform will be forwarded to the United Nations General Assembly by the Government of Kyrgyzstan.

Italy and Switzerland have pledge support to help FAO, the lead agency of the IYM, and UNEP to ensure that follow-up institutional arrangements are made, including support to the proposed creation of a Network of Development Mountain States and Regions, which will form part of the Partnership. Norway announced at the Summit that it would help clean up nuclear waste dumps in Kyrgyzstan’s mountains to prevent a potentially devastating environmental disaster in one of the most densely populated areas of Central Asia.

For more information contact: Andrei Iatsenia, UNEP Mountains Programme Coordinator; tel: +41-22-917-8273; fax: +41-22-917-8036; e-mail: iatsenia@unep.ch; Internet: http://www.globalmountainsummit.org/Home_Page.html