Peace, key to the sustainable development of mountain regions
(A contribution to International Mountain Day 2004 from the Foundation for the Sustainable Development of Mountain Regions)
According to figures published by the International Committee of the Red Cross for the year 2001, 8% of non-mountainous countries are at war, as compared to 26% of mountainous countries. Mountain regions that are already clearly vulnerable in geographic and economic terms, are made more so by the frequency of armed conflicts in those areas. It is clear that achieving peace in these regions is the first requisite of sustainable development. What circumstances specific to mountainous regions can be said to favour the outbreak of conflicts?...

Promoting Healthy Mountain Communities Through Coffee
It’s quite astonishing how far a coffee dollar can go when put directly into the hands of the people who need it. Coffee production has traditionally provided a reliable income for many mountain communities. However, prices for coffee have been falling steadily since the 1990s, putting the livelihood of some 25 million small-scale farmers, most of whom are in developing countries, at risk...

A Ray of Light for the Endangered Cloud Forests in Ecuador
When the Mitsubishi mining subsidiary ‘Bishimetals’ started conducting exploratory mining in the Intag area, an ecologically fragile region in the Ecuadorian Andes, it gave little thought to the local population’s needs – or to their response. And the resistance put up by the communities was as tough as the layers of rock that the mining company hoped to penetrate, in order to get at the large deposits of copper and other minerals...

Building Peace Parks on Troubled Borders
The Siachen glacier between India and Pakistan is the longest mountain glacier in the world. It is also the world’s highest battlefield. The armed forces of India and Pakistan have been fighting for the 77-km long and 3 km-wide stretch for the past 20 years, and more than 15,000 civilians have lost their lives. The conflict is costing both countries almost $2 million a day. What’s more, on the Indian side alone about a ton of human waste is left daily, causing pollution and degradation in the mountain area. All of the debris eventually ends up in the Indus River, on whose waters millions of people depend...