News

Mountains cited five times in key COP 28 final document

18.12.2023

Following the efforts of many Mountain Partnership government members, mountains were included in the global stocktake text. The document includes five mentions of mountains and an official request for dialogue on mountains and climate change at the 60th session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice in June 2024.

The first-ever global stocktake, an assessment of progress since the 2015 Paris Agreement, was launched at the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 28). It looks at everything related to where the world stands on climate action and support. The document is intended to inform the next round of nationally determined contributions, to be put forward by 2025.

The document encourages the protection, conservation and restoration of nature and ecosystems, including mountains, noting the economic, social and environmental benefits this could offer. It furthermore notes that ecosystem-based approaches in mountain regions can reduce a range of climate change risks and provide multiple co-benefits.

Calling for action, the global stocktake urges Parties and invites non-Party stakeholders to increase ambition and enhance adaptation action and support towards reducing climate impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity and accelerating the use of ecosystem-based adaptation and nature-based solutions, including through their management, enhancement, restoration and conservation and the protection of mountains, among other ecosystems.

"This progress is a testimony to the unwavering commitment of Mountain Partnership members to the mountain agenda. It marks a significant step forward in recognizing mountains on a global scale and catalyzing action for a resilient future for mountain environments and communities," said Rosalaura Romeo, Coordinator of the Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS) at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

A historic COP for mountains

The news of mountains' prominent inclusion in the first global stocktake comes at the end of what has been a momentous COP for mountains.

A forum on the role of mountains within the context of the Nairobi Work Programme – a workstream of the UNFCCC – was held on 2 December at COP 28. The forum resulted in mountains, high-latitude areas and the cryosphere being declared a priority thematic area for 2024 within the Nairobi Work Programme.

A roundtable titled "Call of the mountains: who saves us from the climate crisis?" hosted by the Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, on 2 December was attended by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, Prime Minister of Andorra Xavier Espot Zamora, and Kyrgyzstan Foreign Affairs Minister Jeenbek Kulubayev, among other high-level delegates.

The closing of COP 28 coincided with International Mountain Day 2023, offering an opportunity to celebrate progress made and reflect on the work still to be done to ensure that mountains are not left behind in international sustainable development processes. As the lead UN agency on mountain issues, FAO hosted a high-level event in the Food and Agriculture Pavilion on the 2023 IMD theme "Restoring mountain ecosystems", which launched a joint publication on the topic develop by the MPS at FAO together with the United Nations Environment Programme.

Several other events and exhibitions on mountains were held throughout the COP in locations such as the Central Asia, Just North, Nepal and Peru pavilions.