Better Mountain Policies

Background

The GMP mountain policy work in 2006 is embedded in a global project at the FAO by the SARD-M Project of the Adelboden Group. More information can be found on the SARD-M Project at FAO in the following URL (http://www.fao.org/sard/en/sard/754/1254/index.html) Our role has been particularly to support the objective 1. To assess the strengths and weaknesses of mountain policies, including social, economic, institutional and environmental aspects, in relation to sustainable agriculture and rural development principles In April we met with other focal point members of the SARD-M Project in a workshop in Rome. The other members are ICIMOD for the HKH, Euromontana for Northern Europe, PASOLAC in Central America, UNDP for the Caparthian Convention. and CIHEAM-IAM Bari in collaboration with Plan Bleu in the Mediterranean Basin. The SARD-M project is now conducting a global analysis of all the reports on mountain policies. The analysis will be presented to the Adelboden Group in October 2007 where from we hope the results will be taken to various Agenda 21 related committees by donor and national representatives.

Introduction

Mountain resources play an important role in development of countries, providing resources like water, minerals, agricultural products, electricity, human resources, tourist destinations and places for spiritual reflection. Enabling policies, including those for agriculture and rural development, are regarded by some sources as the single most important factor influencing the sustainable development of mountain areas. Only few countries have adopted coherent policies for the development of mountains. The most evident places of failed or non-existent policies are those where there are conflicts over resources or territory, such as water, mining, and forests. In other cases such as soils and cultural, bio and genetic diversity there are wide spread, but less politically visible crises. Often these problems are related to centralized, sectoral, rather than decentralized territorial resource allocations and lack of opportunity for rural populations and a lack of policies that provide incentives for stewardship of resources.

The GMP reported results of a study on mountain policies for mountains in the east African Highlands with AHI, ICRAF and University of Nairobi in 2005 (Ritho 2005). Together with CONDESAN we have been analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of existing policies for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in mountains (SARD-M) in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador in the Andes. The project is part of a global analysis of mountain policies of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Mountains supported through the SARD-M project at FAO.