Statement on the Official Launch of the
International Year of Mountains 2002
United Nations, New York, 11 December 2001
Mr. Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic,
Mr. Chairman,
Mr. Acting President of the General Assembly,
Mr. Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social
Affairs,
Honourable Ministers
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a privilege to be with you today to launch the
International
Year of Mountains. I am honoured to be among
individuals and representatives of organizations
dedicated to conserving the world's fragile mountain
ecosystems and enhancing the well-being of mountain
people.
Just as a mountain is made from innumerable,
individual particles, so too the International Year of
Mountains has come about because of the painstaking
efforts of many women and men. I thank all those who have
already contributed so much time, energy and thought to
making the International Year of Mountains a reality.
In particular, I wish to thank President Akaev of
Kyrgyzstan for his original proposal to designate an
International Year of Mountains. His vision will, I am
certain, result in positive changes in mountain
communities - changes that will extend far beyond
2002.
I also wish to thank the Austrian, Swiss, Italian and
other ambassadors to the United Nations who, as members
of the International Year of Mountains Focus Group,
planned this launch with us and worked so diligently to
make it happen.
As I look around this chamber, I am greatly encouraged
to see the diversity of countries, organizations,
cultures and individuals here today. It is indicative of
an increased awareness that all of us - whether we dwell
at sea level or in the highest altitudes - depend on
mountains for life.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Mountains are not the impenetrable, unchangeable
monoliths of rock as many of us may have imagined.
Indeed, they are as full of life as the oceans, and as
essential to our well-being as tropical rain forests.
More than half of humanity - three billion people -
relies on mountains for safe, fresh water - water to
grow food, to produce electricity, to sustain industries
and, most importantly, water to drink. Yet, as we gather
here today, mountain glaciers - the source of water for
many of the world's river systems and people - are
melting at unprecedented rates - a consequence, many
scientists suspect, of global warming.
Mountains are also islands of biological diversity -
not simply steeper or higher versions of ecosystems found
in lowland areas, but home to a unique and seemingly
infinite variety of plants and animals found nowhere
else. Many of these species have long since disappeared
from flatlands, crowded out by human settlements and
activities.
Mountains are also islands of cultural diversity. Home
to one-tenth of the world's population, they are keepers
of languages and repositories of traditions that enrich
our human experience. Mountain people are the stewards of
these vertical archipelagos of human and natural variety.
They live in, and care for, landscapes that encompass
sharp contrasts. Mountain environments are both fragile
and fierce, beautiful and brutal. In them one can find
sublime spirituality amid the most degrading poverty.
Indeed, as diverse as mountains and mountain cultures
may be, they are exceedingly fragile. Together, we must
find a way to protect and maintain these vital
environments. Together we must strengthen mountain
cultures and eliminate poverty and hunger. This is the
essential challenge of the International Year of
Mountains - to balance conservation and development.
I believe it can be done. The time is right. We have
been building toward this moment for a long time. This
special year evolved from the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in
1992. It was there, at the Earth Summit, that mountain
issues took their place on the global workplan as the
singular focus of Chapter 13 of Agenda 21, the blueprint
for sustainable development.
Since the Earth Summit, much has been accomplished.
Through inter-governmental consultations we have been
developing strategic plans and policies for the
sustainable development of mountain regions. The global
Mountain Forum, founded in 1995 by people present here
today, continues to grow as the network of networks,
providing support, information and advocacy for mountain
peoples and their environments. Further, there are dozens
of research projects already well under way that will
ultimately yield the knowledge we need to solve complex
mountain problems.
I see 2002 as providing an extraordinary opportunity
to reinforce the implementation of Chapter 13, and to
move mountains even higher on the global agenda, by
increasing awareness of the importance of mountain
ecosystems and cultures.
And in September 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in Johannesburg will offer an opportune
checkpoint for taking stock, redefining issues and
developing more effective approaches.
As you know, the Food and Agriculture Organization
serves as the lead agency for the International Year of
Mountains. We do this in collaboration with governments,
UNEP, UNDP, UNESCO and other United Nations agencies, as
well as non-governmental organizations. We at FAO are
honoured to do this, and are proud of our role. We see
this as essential work, and as an extension of our
responsibilities as task manager for Chapter 13. We also
believe that sustainable development of mountains will
help us achieve FAO's goal of alleviating hunger and
poverty so that all people at all times have access to
the food they need for active, healthy lives.
The goal of the International Year of Mountains is
both simple and ambitious: to ensure the well-being of
mountain peoples by promoting sustainable development of
mountain ecosystems. But there are two conditions that
must already be in place if nations are to achieve that
goal. The first is peace. The second is food
security.
Mountain areas are home to most of the armed conflicts
in the world as well as to many of the world's poorest
and least food-secure populations. You cannot reliably
produce food in conditions of war. The needs of people
who are hungry, who do not know where their next meal is
coming from - or if they will live to eat it - must be
addressed first if we are to achieve our goals.
Indeed, as we begin commemorating the International
Year of Mountains, conflict may be the single greatest
obstacle to achieving our goals. Without peace, we cannot
reduce poverty. Without peace, we cannot guarantee secure
food supplies. Without peace, we cannot even consider
sustainable development.
Every United Nations agency and every United Nations
member country has a role to play in promoting peace.
Together, we can make a difference. Already, together, we
have made a difference. This was affirmed in October when
the Secretary General and the United Nations itself were
jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.
I urge you, as individual countries and as nations
united, to seek out your unique role as peacemaker. Once
you establish that role, your role in sustainable
development and conservation of mountains will also
become clear.
On our part, the Special
Programme for Food Security (SPFS), FAO's concrete
action at the level of rural poor, to assist them to
produce their own food as well as generate employment and
improve productivity and incomes, is already working on
the ground in mountainous countries in Africa, Asia and
Latin America. The SPFS, targeted mainly at low-income
food-deficit countries, aims at improving household and
national food security through rapid increases in food
production and productivity, by reducing year-to-year
variability in production on an economically and
environmentally sustainable basis, and by improving
people's access to food. The Programme is currently
operational in 66 countries and under formulation in
17 others.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Wherever we may come from, however high or small the
hills or mountains may be in the land of our birth, we
are all mountain people. We are all dependent on
mountains, connected to them, and affected by them, in
ways we may never have previously imagined.
I invite you to join me today in committing ourselves
to the eradication of both armed conflict and hunger as a
first step in our observance of the International Year of
Mountains.
Together, through this international year, we can move
mountains.
I thank you for your kind attention.
