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May 2003, Rome -- Around 270 million rural mountain
people in developing and transition countries are threatened by
food insecurity. Where these vulnerable populations live, how
they earn their livelihoods and possible solutions to the
problems that confront them are the subject of a new FAO report,
which was prepared using the latest geographic information
system (GIS) technology and many newly available GIS maps and
databases.
The report, Towards a
GIS-based analysis of mountain environments and
populations, contains preliminary results from an
ongoing research project on the use of GIS for mapping poverty
and food insecurity - a collaborative initiative funded by the
Government of Norway. Two FAO units - the Environment and
Natural Resources Service and the Food Security and Agricultural
Projects Analysis Service - joined forces with Italy's
National Institute for Mountain Research (INRM) to carry out the
research for the report.
Prepared in
conjunction with the International Year of Mountains in 2002,
the report breaks new methodological ground and provides
important insights into mountain vulnerability.
New tools, more information
"With this publication, FAO seeks
to apply GIS technology to deepen understanding of conditions
underlying poverty and hunger in the world, with special
reference to mountain environments and populations,"
says Dietrich Leihner, Director of FAO's Research,
Extension and Training Division.
Because
of the unique characteristics of mountain environments, highland
development requires a different approach - mountain-specific
strategies, based on mountain-specific research and knowledge.
The findings presented in this report represent a valuable start
towards assembling that body of knowledge.
Computer-based GIS technology enabled researchers to
organize, combine and analyse vast amounts of geophysical and
demographic information. The FAO study provides a comprehensive
snapshot of environmental conditions, land use patterns and
farming systems in six internationally defined mountain area
classes. Making use of newly released population density data,
it estimates the number of mountain people in each of the six
classes and gives detailed information regarding the various
factors that affect their vulnerability to food insecurity -
information that until now has not been available.
Vital insights into mountain communities
The report provides new insights
into how rural mountain families secure their livelihoods,
highlighting in particular the importance of livestock as a
generally reliable source of income and a cushion against hard
times.
According to the study, some 78
percent of the world's mountain area is considered not
suitable, or only marginally suitable, for crop agriculture. In
developing and transition countries, only 7 percent of mountain
area is currently classified as cropland, whereas grazing is
practised on nearly 70 percent of the area. In all, some 336
million people inhabit mountain grazing lands and depend on
livestock for their livelihood.
"Although most mountain farmers grow some
cereals, raising of livestock and sale of livestock products
such as wool, meat or cheese is often the main economic
activity," notes Barbara Huddleston, one of the FAO
researchers who conducted the study. When the animals are
healthy and the livestock economy is strong, mountain herders
are not vulnerable to food insecurity. But if their herds are
depleted due to poor pastures or disease, their livelihoods are
at risk.
As populations and livestock
numbers increase, the danger of overgrazing presents an
increasingly serious challenge, especially in the lower hills
below 2 500 metres above sea level, where most mountain people
live.
Vulnerable mountain people in
developing and transition countries are largely rural, and 88
percent of them - around 213 million people - live below 2 500
metres above sea level. In high mountain areas, some 70 percent
of the inhabitants are vulnerable, but their numbers are small.
For the far larger number living at lower altitudes, where
livelihood systems are more and more at risk,
"considerations of human equity and environmental
sustainability both call for greater policy attention to their
needs," says the report.
A roadmap for the future
Now, building off the information contained
in the report, policy-makers can tailor development strategies
to address these needs - for example, by providing training for
vulnerable mountain communities in sustainable forest and
rangeland management and by better integration of crop
agriculture, livestock, forestry, aquaculture and local
processing.
The report also suggests that
mountain people might be able to benefit from sustainably
harnessing local water resources. Mountains play a central role
in collecting, storing and distributing water - each day, in
fact, an estimated one of every two people on the planet
consumes water that originated in mountains. But at present, the
economic value of this important resource is not adequately
captured by the people who control access to it. Similarly, the
great natural beauty of many mountain areas represents a largely
untapped resource that could be sustainably exploited through
development of conservation-based tourism.
The UN's designation of 2002 as the International
Year of Mountains focused global attention on the need to
protect mountain ecosystems and improve the well-being of
mountain people. This new report represents an important step in
charting out a future course of action for international work on
mountain development.
It lays the
groundwork for similar studies of other places and topics.
"The geospatial analysis
techniques that FAO's technical staff used for mountains
are also applicable on global and regional scales and can be
used to study other environments where poverty and food
insecurity are affecting communities, including coastal areas
and drylands," notes Jeff Tschirley, Chief of
FAO's Environment and Natural Resources Service. Further
analysis of issues raised by the study is planned.
Contact:
George Kourous
Information
Officer, FAO
george.kourous@fao.org
(+39)
06 570 53168
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