Key messages

• Covering around 27 percent of the earth's land surface, mountains play a critical role in moving the world towards sustainable economic growth.
• Mountains are home to almost 15 percent of the world’s population.
• Forests cover more than 40 percent of the global mountain area.
• Mountains not only provide sustenance and well-being to 1.1 billion mountain people around the world but also indirectly benefit billions more living downstream.
• One in two rural mountain people in developing countries is vulnerable to food insecurity.
• Indigenous and local populations in mountains have unique and valuable local knowledge, traditions and cultural practices that can contribute to effective land management strategies.
• Mountains provide freshwater, energy and food - resources that will be increasingly scarce in coming decades.
• More than half of humanity relies on mountain freshwater for everyday life.
• Some of the world's largest cities, including New York, Rio de Janeiro, Nairobi, Tokyo and Melbourne, are dependent on freshwater from mountains.
• Mountains contribute to food and nutrition security by providing land for crops, grazing for livestock, watercourses for inland fisheries, and non-wood forest products such as berries, mushrooms and honey.
• Of the 20 plant species that supply 80 percent of the world's food, six originated and have been diversified in mountains: maize, potatoes, barley, sorghum, tomatoes and apples.
• Mountains are places of tourism and cultural trails. Mountain tourism accounts for about 15–20 percent the global tourism industry.
• Mountains have a key role to play in providing renewable energy, especially through hydropower, solar power, wind power and biogas.

Videos

 More videos  

Publications

 More publications

Goodwill ambassador interviews

Expert interviews

Press releases and editorials

More press releases