This section provides an overview of the events that took place in several regions of the world on the occasion of the International Mountain Day 2008. It also aims at providing ideas to interested individuals and organizations on how to organize future celebrations of the International Mountain Day. The International Mountain Day 2008 was characterized by an amazing interest and involvement of almost each kind of media world wide: press, radio programmes, web sites, newsletter, etc.

Africa

On 11 December 2008, ADRAR and ALHADAF, two associations of Boulemane region in Morocco,  met to endorse a basic document for the organization of an international symposium planned for June 2009 in Boulemane, on “Development in mountains: reality and perspectives”. During the meeting the participants discussed and analyzed problems and hurdles faced in mountain areas such as scarcity of natural resources and impoverishment of socio-cultural structures, resulting in out migration of the population and low potential for future development. Read the declaration (English, French, Spanish).

In India, theInternational Mountain Day 2008 was celebrated with the villagers in the remote Thajal village of Jammu and Kashmir, by the Centre for Environment Education (CEE). In 2005 this area was severely affected by the earthquake impacting both land and agriculture and CEE’s Himalaya unit has been involved in the rehabilitation and recovery initiatives. In spite of chilling cold and heavy rains, villagers including elders, women and children, gathered at Thajal Tailoring Centre to participate in the celebrations. Prevailing agro-practices in the area and scope for adopting new technologies were discussed. CEE Himalaya is popularizing non-farm based technologies like poly-house cultivation, mushroom culture, apiculture and raising poultry through demonstration and training centres in 10 villages in the area. Local youth, women and farmers are being trained on these technologies in collaboration with local agriculture department. Mountain Day was celebrated for the first time in this area and the participants considered the discussion on food security to be very relevant. Read the complete report (English).

A round table discussion on the topic “Ecotourism – Sikkim’s emerging Scenario” was organized by the WWF-India Khangchendzonga Landscape Programme and the Ecotourism & Conservation Society of Sikkim (ECOSS). The event was held at Hotel Chumbi Residency, Gangtok Sikkim, on 11 December 2008. Around forty representatives of major NGOs took part in the deliberations, including the Mountain Institute, Sikkim Development Foundation, PRIA, Voluntary Health Association of Sikkim, KEEP, KTDC, several Community Based Organisations and the Travel Agents Association of Sikkim as well as Government Departments such as Tourism, Forest Environment & Wildlife Management, Rural Management and Development. The opportunity to link eco-tourism to livelihoods and food security in rural areas was discussed along with many other important issues: markets, infrastructures, waste treatment, capacity building, housing, biodiversity conservation, child labour, abuse of alcohol and drugs, firewood extraction. Read the complete report (English).

In Iran, the country’s Channel 4 broadcasted a series of programmes dedicated to the importance of mountains and the International Mountain Day with guests such as mayor of District One of Tehran Municipality (North of Tehran, at the foothills of Alborz Mountains). In Tehran, a half day gathering with about 300 participants was held on 21 December at the Shahid Beheshti University. The gathering included an opening ceremony, presentations, a panel and declaration. Among the high ranking officials who addressed the audience at the opening ceremony was Mr. Shahid Najam, FAO Representative in Iran. A message from the mayor of Tehran, Dr.Ghalibaf, to the gathering was also read to the participants by his advisor for the environmental issues.  Another presentation was done by the National Coordinator of Zagros Project which is a large-scale GEF Project in Iran. Experts and officials also attended a panel on “Who is responsible for Conservation of Alborz”. The event was supported by the following organizations:

• Mountain Environment Protection Society (MEPS)
• Forest, Range and Watershed Organization (FRWO), Ministry of Jihad-e-Agriculture
• UNDP
• Tehran City Council
• Sustainable Development & Environment Committee, Tehran Municipality
• Department of Environment (DOE)
• Mountain Climbing Federation 

Read the report  on all the activities carried out in Iran on the occasion of the International Mountain Day 2008 (English).

In Lebanon CIFA (Centre pour l'Insertion par la Formation et l'Activite) helped raise awareness of obstacles to mountain life and collaborated with CYCLAMEN, a division of Lebanese tour operator TLB Destinations, to organize a series of themed treks in celebration of the International Mountain Day 2008.

The Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (MoFSC) of Nepal presented the “Mountain Development Award” to one individual and two NGO’s at Dhankuta, on the occasion of the International Mountain Day 2008.
Ms. Chandra Maya Tamang from Tehrathum received the Prize of Excellence, including a certificate and a large cheque for her work as chair of her Forest User Group, and Mr. Netra Bahadur Burja was a winner too, together with his NGO the “High Mountain Medicinal Plant Production and Conservation Organisation”. The winners received the award from Mr. Sudhir Koirala of the Environment Division, MoFSC. At the ceremony, the organizers screened the film “Mountain Matters in New Nepal” reflecting the new government’s views on mountain development, featuring Dr. Madhav Karki and others.
Ms. Chandra Maya Tamang was the first ever forest user group chairwoman in her district and for a long time the only one. In this role, she has taken up endeavours and challenges way beyond her normal duties. She set up women’s groups in five FUGs, all with saving-and-credit schemes, and organized literacy training, including for herself. She invented a scheme to get the groups to support women during pregnancy, which became very successful, and built toilets, promoted bio-briquetting and mushroom farming and other income generating activities. In the name of community forestry, she got involved in building a rice mill, a health post and other development works, at a time when security was at its worst. She is praised for being trustworthy and incorruptible and is a local member of FECOFUN.
Mr. Netra Bahadur Burja too had attracted the attention of several ICIMOD colleagues even before this award. He is a farmer who has done pioneering work in the domestication and conservation of chiraito (Swertia chirayita) and has made with his NGO tireless efforts to train communities in a large number of districts on this topic.

On the thrust of the International Mountain Day, the Municipality of Resende in Brazil, through its Environment Agency, organized a public meeting to discuss and put the basis for the establishment of the municipal natural park of “Pedra Selada”, with the twofold aim of protecting the mountain environment and of fostering eco-tourism opportunities in the zone. 

In Cuba, the International Mountain Day 2008 got a huge attention from the press. Besides, Mr. Lázaro Vázquez, Secretary of the National Committee of Plan Turquino, kindly agreed to give FAO an interview on recent progress and achievements related to sustainable development in mountain regions. Read the complete interview and national  press coverage  (Spanish).

In Ecuador a roundtable was organized in the Faculty of Philosophy of the Central University of Ecuador, on the theme of “Mountains: Shelters for Life”. The event entailed an exhibition of photographs, videos and music related to mountains, being the aim to sensitize the participants on the importance to safeguard mountain ecosystems and prevent environment degradation. Several experts from different institutions took part in the event, co-organized by the Land and Culture Association, FAO, the Central University and Ambien Consul, and talked about retreat of glaciers, food security in mountains, Andean cosmology, volcanoes of the Andes, solid waste and pollution in mountains.
Jenny Valencia, FAO Officer, raised the alarm on the issues of biodiversity, watersheds and soil erosion as the main problems that affect Ecuador’s mountains. “The cultivated areas are expanding more and more in mountains and the chemical products are deteriorating the soil”, she said. In the country many watersheds in the mountains have run dry and this has increased the risk of land degradation. FAO promoted a campaign to raise awareness on the importance of mountains, as well as projects aimed at fostering the balance between agriculture, food security and conservation of this ecosystem.  One of these projects envisages the rehabilitation and the enrichment of indigenous forests in Cotopaxi, in order to increase the capacity of local communities for the implementation of agro-forestry systems.

The International Mountain Day 2008 was observed in Haiti, a mountainous country for some two-thirds of its territory, home to more than 500.000 families vulnerable to food insecurity, who experience disastrous weather events.  For this reason the adopted theme: “Food Security in Mountains” was extremely relevant to the situation of the country.
FAO Representation in Haiti, supported by the Communication Unit of the United Nations Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH), put in motion a multimedia communication program, animated by Mr Ari Toubo Ibrahim, FAO Representative, who participated in the press conference and gave several interviews. Sets of information material were distributed to public and private media, such as radio and television channels, press and newspapers.
The IMD celebration in Haiti was an apt occasion to stress and reflect upon socio-cultural issues. A greater sense of ownership from the Government as well as its direct involvement in future editions of the International Mountain Day is expected. Read the complete report and national press coverage (French).

In Mexico, on the occasion of the International Mountain Day 2008, EcoRutas, a non-profit civil association, organized an ecological campaign to clear away the remains of an old hostel from a peak of Iztaccíhuatl Mountain, 70 km south of Mexico City.

In Peru, The FAO Representation in coordination with the Emergency Operations and Rehabilitation Division, joined the celebration with participation in the radio programme "The Rotating Field", carried out by the highly popular radio station Radio Programas del Peru (RPP). The radio programme has more than three million farmers and rural Peruvian families as listeners. The message to rural people focused on the difficulties they face when affected by phenomena or circumstances such as climate change, increasing vulnerability to disasters and natural emergencies, rise in food prices, inappropriate land use practices, and lack of market access and of public policies for the mountains. On behalf of FAO-Peru, Ms. Jazmine Casafranca, Programme Assistant, participated in the radio program through an interview. Listen to the record of the radio program (Spanish).

In Vienna, Austria, the Federal Institute for Less-Favoured and Mountainous Areas; (Bundesanstalt fuer Bergbauernfragen) celebrated International Mountain Day by informing 400 key actors in Austria via e-mail about the 2008 theme and the issue of hunger in mountains.  In addition, it invited key actors to a "Mountain event" at the institute in the evening of 11 December during which four Austrian mountain climbers made presentations about their experiences in Ladakh during the summer 2008.  

At Pico, a small town in Central Italy, the municipal administration has involved managers and students of primary and secondary schools to think over the mountain and the Regional Park of Aurunci; the students, along with their teachers, have responded with enthusiasm.
The Mayor of Pico, the Headmaster and the President of the Park opened a bright and beautiful exhibition of drawings, designed by young students from six to fourteen years, in the atrium of the elementary school. Meanwhile, older children read some essays devoted to the relationship between the Park and Tommaso Landolfi, a well known writer of the Twentieth Century born at Pico, who wrote about Pico and its mountains.

In Poland, the Regional Development Committee of the Lower Silesia Parliament met on Monday 11 December, in Bystrzyca Klodzka (Sudety Mountains) and the main theme of the plenary session was "NGOs’ role in planning strategies of sustainable mountain development". Lower Silesia is one of the biggest Polish provinces (20 000 square km and over 3 million inhabitants) and Sudety Massif is situated along its southern part. Lower Silesian Councillors discussed problems related to the importance of Sudety Mountains for the social and economic development of Lower Silesia. Mountain Elected People Association, the co-organizer of the conference, prepared for the occasion a file with documents resulting from a mountain seminar for NGOs held in Bystrzyca, in May 2007, and financed by FAO. NGOs present at the meeting addressed the highest authorities of the province with an appeal to create a system that would ensure a formal and substantial participation of non-governmental organisations in drawing up and formulating a development strategy of the region. Amongst the principal lecturers, there were two experts from the FAO/TCP project on Sustainable development of Sudety: Prof. J. Waszkiewicz, who presented a SWAT analysis of the socio-economical situation in the region, and R. Malarski, who focussed on different barriers blocking the development of Sudety Mountains.
Two topics in particular are worthy of mention: transportation through Sudety Mountains (road and railway infrastructures have been planned in the region since 2001) and the 200th anniversary of Marianna van Oranje (a Dutch princess whose great merits for the developement of the area are highly recognized). A special resolution, declaring 2010 as the Year of Marianna van Orancje, was adopted. Different possibilities for strengthening mountain lobby were also discussed.