Celebrating International Mountain Day this year?
07.08.2014
This year on 11 December, the annual celebration of International Mountain Day (IMD) will highlight the valuable contributions of mountain family farming to livelihoods. IMD will be one of the concluding events of the International Year of Family Farming, as 2014 was proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
“Here we have an opportunity to raise awareness about how mountain agriculture, which is predominantly family farming and has been a model for sustainable development for centuries,” said Thomas Hofer, Coordinator of the Mountain Partnership Secretariat.
IMD 2014 provides an occasion to recognize the rapid transformation that family farming in mountain regions is undergoing due to world population growth, economic globalization, urbanization and the migration of men and youth to urban areas. At the same time, recent trends provide opportunities for local development. People who reside in mountain areas can diversify their incomes by engaging in non-farming activities, such as tourism and high value handicraft production.
While Mountain Farming is the theme suggested for 2014, countries, communities and organizations may choose another theme for their IMD events.
In the coming months, communication materials, such as fact sheets and posters, will be made available in all six UN languages by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the coordinating agency of the annual observance.
The United Nations General Assembly designated 11 December “International Mountain Day”. Every year since 2003 it has been an occasion to raise awareness about the importance of mountains to life, to discuss the opportunities and constraints in mountain development and to build alliances that bring positive changes to mountain peoples and environments around the world.
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