Mountains and highlands have always played an important role in the history of humankind. They have been sources of valuable resources - freshwater arguably the most important, refuges, natural barriers, spiritual sanctuaries, and so on. Yet, for the most part, they have been viewed as peripheral to the rest of the global ecosystem, with an associated paucity of attention to their sustainable development. The fragile natural resources of the mountains have been mined rather than managed for the benefit of the low-lying areas, and the one-tenth of the population that derives its sustenance directly from mountains has tended to be among the world's poorest.