Global Policy Forum

By Michael Littlejohns

Who would think that Everest, K2, McKinley, Kilimanjaro, McKinley et al., for all their snowcapped magnificence, are actually poor, fragile vessels? Prone to severe erosion of their soil and the loss of protective vegetation. Yet, how many know that almost one-half of Earth's population is directly linked to highland ecosystems?

The UN is aware of the potential for serious economic and social problems and has awarded its Food and Agriculture Organization the task of improving international consciousness of the importance of mountains to the global environment and the need to safeguard them in the mad rush for development, sustainable or not. To almost no fanfare, the UN General Assembly designated 2002 The International Year of Mountains and FAO has decided that it's not too early to begin planning for it.

There's an understandable tendency to stifle a yawn when the UN comes up with yet another "international year." There have been so many, but also so few with what most people might regard as an exciting theme. Unlikely as it may seem, here's an exception. The UN was right to take the high ground.

Mountains and water go together, and the long, wet summer here in the northeastern US notwithstanding, there's a world shortage of pure, fresh water, a fact to which Secretary General Kofi Annan has drawn attention more than once. FAO says that 30 to 60 percent of downstream fresh water in humid areas and up to 95 percent in arid and semi-arid environments are supplied by mountains. Agriculture, industry, hydroelectric generators and homes that need water to drink and for domestic use depend on these resources.

Mountains and their careful management, especially when they occupy territory in more than a single country, are important for peace, says Tage Michaelsen, chief of FAO's Forest Conservation, Research and Education Service. The Nile basin, for example, is considered to be a big challenge because heavily populated Egypt and Sudan rely on water from mountains and highlands in no fewer than eight countries: Burundi, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Satisfying the water requirements of entire industries often takes some fancy governmental footwork. In the Atacama desert of northern Chile, one of the driest spots on earth, there is extreme pressure on water supplies by urban growth and an expanding mining industry. The Chilean government is trying to reconcile their needs with those of indigenous peoples whose communities have relied for thousands of years on Andes water.

There's a serious threat to global biodiversity and food security from the degradation of mountain environments, where a wealth of plant and animal species developed. Potatoes originated in the Andes and the Himalayas and researchers are constantly on the lookout for mountain crops with medicinal potential, not to mention new nutritional sources. "Sustainable mountain development isn't just about natural resources, it's about people" says the FAO's Michaelsen, who adds that a key objective of the International Year will be to promote and defend the cultural heritage of those who dwell on high ground. "Part of our goal is to make governments aware of the social and economic benefits of investing in mountain areas," he says.

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