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Lucerne World Mountain Conference: Closing and Call for Action

13.10.2011

The Lucerne World Mountain Conference closes with a "Call for Action" to bring a conjunct strong message to Rio+20 in June 2012. Twenty years after the Rio 1992 meeting, over 100 participants joined to meet in Lucerne, Switzerland to make a compelling case for mountains in international development discussions. A source of fresh water for half of the earth’s population, mountains open the way for concrete means to reduce poverty, overcome food insecurity and enhance international - often transboundary - cooperation with benefits for all. “If the Earth was one country, would we accept such pollution? If the Earth was one country, would we accept such inequalities? If the Earth was our country: that is the Rio spirit.” Brice Lalonde, former Minister for Environment in France and Executive Coordinator for Rio+20, thus inspired the two-day discussions in Lucerne. “At an international level, Rio+20 will provide a great momentum for the world to share common aspirational goals and visions”, explained Mr Lalonde. “Since mountains are transboundary and interdisciplinary, the key entry in Rio+20 could be about cooperation in mountain regions at all scales”, he said. As shown in a number of regional reports - ranging from the Andes to the Hindu-Kush-Himalaya - presented at the Conference, mountains could fuel the debate in all the relevant sectors of Rio+20: water, energy, food security, planet monitoring, social issues (with employment, education and culture) and disaster risk preparedness. Read the full Call for Action on the conference website.