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IPROMO: MP training course on landscape approach in mountains

02.07.2019

The landscape approach for enhancing mountain resilience was under discussion at the 2019 International Programme on Research and Training on Sustainable Management of Mountain Areas (IPROMO) in Ormea and Pieve Tesino, Italy, from 2 to 18 July.

Some 30 officers, development experts and technicians from around the world took part in the intensive training course, which included lectures, seminars, group work and field trips conducted by instructors from FAO, universities, and international organizations working in sustainable mountain development.

An integrated landscape approach to the management of mountains is essential to maintaining ecosystem services, such as water supplies and food crop diversity, while enabling vulnerable local communities to adapt to climate change. By considering the situations, needs and objectives of multiple sectors and stakeholders, a landscape approach can optimize land use and management practices to contribute to goals at local, subnational and national levels and to the achievement of many of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The course aims to strengthen the capacity of countries and institutions that belong to the Mountain Partnership, a United Nations voluntary alliance of partners dedicated to improving the lives of mountain peoples and protecting mountain environments around the world.

This year's IPROMO theme focused on the landscape approach to managing mountain areas, with topics ranging from the conservation of biodiversity to watershed management to food security.

"There are still only a few universities in the world that offer courses devoted to the study, understanding and promotion of the development of mountainous areas, which are often a forgotten ecosystem despite their key role for the health of our planet," said Rosalaura Romeo, programme officer of FAO's Mountain Partnership Secretariat. "The purpose of IPROMO is to develop the capacity of those who attend the course to integrate mountain issues into their work and to share what they have learned with others."

The twelfth IPROMO course was jointly organized and funded by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat/FAO, the University of Turin (Italy) and the University of Tuscia (Italy) plus the city of Ormea.

Course activities in Ormea were organized by the University of Turin (DISAFA-NatRisk), in collaboration with the Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection (IRPI), a division of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and the Aosta Valley's Regional Agricultural Institute (IAR). In Pieve Tesino, the course was supported by the Centre of Alpine Studies of the University of Tuscia, the city of Pieve Tesino and the community of Valsugana and Tesino.

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Photo from Sunder Subramanian