Durante siglos, los agricultores, pastores, pescadores y silvicultores han desarrollado sistemas agrícolas diversos y adaptados localmente, y los han gestionado con técnicas y prácticas ingeniosas que han perfeccionado con el paso de los años. Han sido los responsables de aportar a la humanidad una combinación esencial de servicios sociales, culturales,...

La agricultura de montaña adopta muchas formas -tan diversas como los paisajes de montaña del mundo– pero continúa siendo en gran medida una agricultura familiar. Estas actividades agrícolas de montaña han alimentado y sustentado tradicionalmente a familias individuales aunque, hoy en día, han comenzado a expandirse cada vez más hacia...

Durante milenios, comunidades de agricultores, pastores, pescadores y poblaciones de los bosques han desarrollado sistemas agrícolas complejos, diversos y localmente adaptados. Estos sistemas han sido manejados con combinaciones ingeniosas de técnicas y prácticas de eficacia comprobada, que usualmente han llevado a alcanzar la seguridad alimentaria de las comunidades y la...

Society is increasingly aware of the strategic nature of food. The agri-food sector is postulated as one of the pillars of our democratic societies, due to its leading role in the production of healthy, safe and sustainable food. However, farmers and ranchers suffer serious problems that make their profession difficult....

Tribal farmers in the Himalayas are vulnerable to climatic changes, as their rain-fed cultivation systems, practiced on steep, sloping terrain, are susceptible to changes in rainfall while at the same time being the primary means of livelihood. Soil and water conservation practices (SWCP) can improve the resilience of these cultivation...

Coffee is one of the most important smallholder cash crops in Papua New Guinea. It accounted for $156 million of export earnings, 13% of agricultural export revenues, and 1.4% of total export revenues in PNG in 2021. According to the PNG Rural Household Survey 2023, approximately 55% of sampled households in the...

In the Changthang region of Ladakh, India, pastoralism serves as the cornerstone of both the local economy and the local way of life. However, recent socioeconomic shifts and environmental constraints put this economic structure, which has been expertly adapted to the difficult trans-Himalayan geography, in danger of becoming unsustainable. To...

The earth is warming, and the frequency of extreme weather events have been rapidly growing globally with unprecedented consequences to farming communities. In principle, weather and climate information services (WCIS) can help farmers better manage their activities and farm level outcomes by supporting their decision-making with relevant and usable information...

Les oasis de montagne d’Afrique du Nord subissent de plein fouet les effets du changement climatique, qui amplifient l’ensemble des contraintes agronomiques : foncier exigu, aridité structurelle, etc. Dans cette étude, l’objectif est d’analyser les différentes dimensions du couplage entre cultures et élevage et leurs effets sur le fonctionnement des systèmes de...

Euromontana kicks off the year with the publication of its annual booklet of good practices for sustainable mountain development. This publication showcases 10 inspiring initiatives from across Europe (EU and non-EU) collected by Euromontana throughout 2023 to promote initiatives that drive sustainable change in mountain areas. The booklet covers key issues for...

Mountain ecosystems, including rangelands, wetlands, peatlands and both alpine and temperate forests, are unique habitats characterised by complex geography and rich biodiversity. These ecosystems are integral to the cultures and traditions of diverse Indigenous communities, providing essential goods and services such as food, water, climate regulation and cultural aesthetics. Despite their high economic...

W ildfires have raged across the mountains of the Hindu Kush Himalaya this year. The Indian state of Uttarakhand lost over 1,500 hectares of forest while Nepal saw hundreds of forest fires in March and over a thousand in April. As frightening and destructive as these fires have been, for over 10,000 years, everywhere from the Central...

The journey of coffee from farm to cup involves numerous intricate steps, each crucial in determining the quality and price of the final product. At the heart of this process is the grading and pricing of green coffee, a task undertaken by professionals known as Q Graders. Anete Dinne, a...

Born and raised amidst the lush landscapes of the mountain provinces of the Philipines, Daniel Jason Maches and Jaymar Garcia, two Indigenous youth, have always been connected to the land. They’ve witnessed their parents tend to the earth, cultivating crops that sustained their families for generations.  

Natural covering (NATC) has spread on hillside vineyards of central Italy as a replacement for tillage to reduce soil erosion, although it increased nitrogen and water needs. Therefore, in the current context of global warming, using cover crops (CCs) that require less water and provide nitrogen becomes crucial. The effects...

Saddle up and prepare for a journey through the picturesque northern mountains of Puebla, Mexico. After ascending 1,000 meters, you arrive at Rancho La Victoria, a historic coffee farm nestled amidst the mountains...

It was among the indigenous cultures of the mountains of Thailand, that the social enterprise idea was born. Hence Akha Ama Coffee, a coffee roastery and shop in Chiang Mai that only sells coffee from indigenous communities, with whom it trades directly. The manager, Lee Ayu, is not just a...

Using multi-stakeholder platforms offers a promising approach for sharing agricultural innovation, reducing transaction costs, and catalyzing development through stimulating stakeholder engagement in the innovation process to accelerate food systems transformation. Agriculture-related multi-stakeholder platforms (AMSPs) are major players to intervention strategies of agricultural development programs. However, AMSPs face multiple challenges that...

Community-based natural resource governance is increasingly valued by the leading international organizations that promote environmental conservation and sustainable development. At the same time, the ecosystems of the northeastern Andalusian mountains are intrinsically related to the long-standing presence of pastoralism and its different communal forms that have favored a very particular...

This article examines how social innovations influence the economic growth orientation of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in mountain regions. Social innovations can help mountain regions solve local challenges by creating novel ideas to improve the situation. This, in turn, can have various effects on the mountain economy. However, there...