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IMD celebrations in Africa

13.01.2020

Governments and organizations throughout the African continent honoured International Mountain Day (IMD) 2019. Mountain lovers in Malawi, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda celebrated the day with outdoor activities, like hiking and tree planting, and inclusive discussions about the future of each country’s mountains.

The Government of Malawi held a comprehensive celebration of IMD on 11 December. The Mulanje District marked the day with the hiking of Mount Mulanje, which, at 3 000 metres, is the country’s highest peak. The day included art performances and competitions, presentations by youth groups, a press briefing and a roundtable discussion. The day was important for raising awareness about the value of Malawi’s mountains to local communities and the national economy, and the threats that they currently face.

Kenya Development Training and Research Africa (DETRA-Africa), the Centre for Research in Environment in Kenya and their co-organizers held an event centred on mountains’ importance as sources of fresh, clean water and as homes to biodiversity hotspots – particularly focusing on Mount Kenya and the Mount Kenya Forest. The IMD event included a lecture on these topics and a tree planting activity.

In Nigeria, the Mandara Community Development Network (MACDEN) commemorated IMD 2019 with a symposium in Yola, Nigeria. The symposium included presentations on the various mountain communities of northeast Nigeria, with the participation of youth and women’s groups. MACDEN's IMD event kicked off the organization's work plan for 2020, which includes extensive capacity building programmes for mountain communities in the region.

For IMD 2019, Makerere University in Uganda celebrated by embracing this year’s theme, “Mountains Matter for Youth”. The Mountain Resource Centre of the university organized an excursion to the Kween district, one of the remote districts in Mount Elgon, Uganda. The hikers engaged with local youth to understand their successes and challenges in their various initiatives, including tree nurseries, riverbank tree planting and agriculture. The university also held a round-table discussion on youth initiatives both in rural mountain areas and at the national level. Makerere students were part of the global video mountain research conference hosted by Western Colorado University in the United States of America.

Photo from Macpherson Nthara - Malawi

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