The seventeenth annual IPROMO training course successfully concluded on 8 July 2024 after two weeks of immersive learning dedicated to sustainable mountain development on-site learning in Ormea and Val d'Aosta, in the Italian Alps. The 2024 course, which emphasized promoting agrifood systems and mountain products, brought 28 practitioners from 20 countries to participate in the course. To recognize their dedication, each attendee received a diploma during a closing ceremony in Biella, Italy, along with 40 credit hours for completing the course.

Lecturers included university professors and experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and other organizations from Italy, Finland, Nepal, Peru and Switzerland. The 28 participants came from Bhutan, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Malawi, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, Rwanda and Tajikistan.

On 7 July, a visit to the pastures and high-altitude environments of Gressoney La Trinité and Alagna-Valsesia was organized in collaboration with the Institut Agricole Régional of Val d'Aosta. On 8 July, the course moved to the Biellese area to explore local mountain products, including visits to production facilities such as Acqua Lauretana, the Botalla Formaggi 4.0 cheese factory, and Birra Menabrea, along with the MeBo - Menabrea and Botalla Museum.

Participants left the experience of IPROMO enriched with newfound knowledge and an invaluable network of mountain experts and peers from across the globe.

IPROMO 2024 was jointly organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, the University of Turin, Italy, and the University of Tuscia, Italy, with the high patronage of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The course was chaired by Danilo Godone of the National Research Council – Research Institute for Hydrogeological Prevention and Protection, a member of the Mountain Partnership.

The sustainable management of mountain areas is crucial to protect mountain ecosystems and ensure that they continue to support our life with the essential goods and services provided.

The youth and children of today will be the stewards of the planet tomorrow. For the first time, this IPROMO course is targeting exclusively young practitioners under 35, mainly from developing countries. The participants will be asked to contribute to promoting awareness about the challenges faced by mountains and to engage in supporting the mountain agenda globally.

The relevance of mountains has been recently confirmed by the decision of the United Nations General Assembly to declare 2022 as the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development (IYM2022). Moreover, 2021 marked the first year of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, reiterating the importance of preventing, halting, and reversing the degradation of ecosystems worldwide.

The 2023 course focused on three main topics: a) understanding the sustainable management of mountain forests, b) identifying specific policies that can support sustainable mountain forest management, c) and understanding how to involve youth in the effort better.

Mountains and their resources are critical for a healthy planet. Mountains provide freshwater to more than half of humanity, host about half of the world's biodiversity hotspots, provide habitat to 25 percent of terrestrial biodiversity and distinctive human communities, and are widely covered by forests (about 40 percent of the entire mountain area).

The role of mountains as a refuge and reservoir for biodiversity is expected to increase as lowland species migrate to cooler highlands in response to rising global temperatures. This could pose a threat to flora and fauna in mountain areas, but at the same time, mountains will be vital to support lowland species' survival.

Mountain landscapes are increasingly exposed to hazards such as floods, accelerated soil erosion, landslides, avalanches, wildfires and are subject to land-use conversion and the unsustainable use of resources. These multifaceted challenges threaten the integrity of mountain landscapes and the resilience of their biodiversity as well as the livelihoods of mountain communities. The loss of ecosystem integrity often means increasing poverty and hunger for mountain peoples who are already amongst the world's poorest and food insecure. Furthermore, as resources become scarce, resource-use conflicts arise, forcing many communities to migrate elsewhere, often with severe negative implications for their social fabric, such as their traditional knowledge, cultures, and languages.

The sustainable management of mountain areas is crucial to protect mountain ecosystems and build the resilience of communities. This was confirmed by the decision of the United Nations General Assembly to declare 2022 as the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development (IYM2022). The resolution was proposed by the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, and supported by 94 governments: a clear recognition of the global relevance of mountains and the services they provide to our planet.

In consideration of the IYM2022 and of the fifteenth IPROMO anniversary, the 2022 course dealt with sustainable mountain development at large rather than focusing on one theme.

Mountains and their resources are key for a healthy planet. Mountains provide freshwater to more than half of humanity, host about half of the world's biodiversity hotspots and are widely covered by forests (about 40 percent of the entire mountain area).

A 2020 study on mountain peoples’ vulnerability to food insecurity found that 44 percent of the rural mountain population, or 243 million people, was vulnerable to food insecurity in 2000. By 2017, this number had increased to 53 percent – the equivalent of 346 million people.

Vulnerability to food insecurity is not the only challenge mountain communities face. Mountain peoples are often marginalized. Natural hazards, climate change, conflicts and land degradation as well as limited access to infrastructures, markets, education and capacity building opportunities contribute to poverty and inequality, reducing mountain people's ability to cope with food shortages and other shocks. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are yet to be fully studied, but preliminary findings indicate that many mountain communities have been severely hit given the sharp decrease of tourism and remittances.

We must re-think our approach to sustainably manage mountain areas and to improve mountain people’s livelihoods. IPROMO 2022 was a contribution to better understanding the challenges and catalyze action towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in mountains.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an incredible loss of life worldwide and posed an unprecedented challenge to public health while disrupting economies.

The pandemic and the restrictions adopted by countries to respond to it amplified the existing vulnerabilities and marginalization of mountain communities. Mountain livelihoods – which rely mostly on agriculture, tourism and remittances – were particularly affected by the global lockdowns. The prolonged recession that unfolded requires special attention to ensure that the most vulnerable among mountain people – particularly women and youth – are not pushed further into poverty and deprivation, and that pressure on natural resources does not increase.

A 2020 study on mountain peoples’ vulnerability to food insecurity found that in 2000, 44 percent of the rural mountain population, or 243 million people, was vulnerable to food insecurity. By 2017, this number had increased to 53 percent – the equivalent of 346 million people. While the number of vulnerable rural mountain people has increased in all regions, some suffered more than others. In Africa, almost 7 out of 10 were vulnerable to food insecurity, and Africa accounted for half of the increase in the number of vulnerable rural mountain people observed worldwide between 2000 to 2017. As the study only assessed the vulnerability of people living in rural areas, the total number of mountain people that do not have safe and regular access to food for healthy lives is presumably even higher, regardless of their location.

Vulnerability to food insecurity is not the only challenge mountain communities face. Mountain people are often marginalized. Natural hazards, climate change, conflicts and land degradation as well as limited access to infrastructures, markets, education and capacity building opportunities contribute to poverty and inequality, reducing mountain people's ability to cope with food shortages and other shocks.

The IPROMO 2021 summer school focused on several aspects, tools and skills that contribute to an integrated management of mountain areas through the many aspects involved in recovery plans and the concept to “build back better.”

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the definition of climate change is: "A change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g. by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer.” Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcing, or to persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use.

Because of its impacts on a wide array of human activities and environments, climate change must be considered in any local, subnational or national framework in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Climate change adaptation strategies inherently focus on connecting people, sectors, production systems, and more, and therefore facilitate the targeting and harmonization of policies and achievement of results.

Mountains are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Temperatures are rising faster at high elevations, with some areas experiencing global warming at a rate twice as fast as the global average. Glaciers are melting, more people and infrastructures are exposed to natural hazards, water resources and agriculture are being negatively impacted, and biodiversity is being lost. An integrated climate change approach in mountains allows for more effective sustainable management policies, adaptation and mitigation measures, which can prevent and mitigate the negative effects of climate change on mountain environments and communities. Sustainable management of mountains is essential for sustaining ecosystem services such as freshwater supply and food crop diversity, but also for combating the threats posed to local communities that are vulnerable to food insecurity and poverty.

Climate change is just one of the many challenges faced by mountains. Mining, deforestation, unsustainable agriculture and land use change are other key issues that must be considered when creating a sustainable development strategy in mountains. Improving livelihoods and sustaining ecosystem services requires fostering innovation, knowledge exchange and co-learning across mountain regions to scale out successful ‘seeds of innovation’. It requires partnerships between institutions, governments and communities, linking science and traditional knowledge and merging research with practice.

An integrated approach in mountains allows for different stakeholders - government officials, civil society and community members, including indigenous peoples - to adopt a holistic planning and implementation scheme that involves both bottom up and top down processes, integrating traditional knowledge and innovation. Moreover, such approaches must be adopted globally and across sectors in order to effectively mitigate the impacts of climate change and prevent it from further escalating at the local, regional and global scale. However, adaptation and mitigation measures are just one part of the solution. The main goal must be to take urgent actions to reduce greenhouse emissions and to achieve the goals set by the Paris agreement.

The 2020 IPROMO summer school focused on several aspects, tools and skills that contribute to an integrated management of mountain areas through the many lenses of climate change.

Landscape approaches systematically consider the situations, needs and objectives of the multiple sectors and diverse stakeholders in an integrated way. For this reason, they can be used to optimize land use and management practices to contribute to local, subnational and national goals and thereby to help achieve multiple Sustainable Development Goals.

Landscape approaches inherently focus on connecting – people, sectors, production systems, etc., - and therefore facilitate the targeting and harmonization of policies and achievement of the desired results.

Mountains are transboundary landscapes that require integrated approaches to sustain the ecosystems services they provide.  Mainstreaming an integrated landscape approach in mountains allows for more effective sustainable management and better conservation especially in protected areas, corridors and heritage territories, including agrobiodiversity management, sustainable forest management and soil and water conservation. Sustainable management of mountain landscapes is essential for sustaining ecosystem services such as water and food crop diversity, and for enabling climate change adaptation by vulnerable local communities.

Mountains face multiple challenges, such as climate change, mining, deforestation and unsustainable agriculture and over grazing. Improving livelihoods and sustaining ecosystem services requires fostering innovation, knowledge exchange and co-learning across mountain regions, to scale out successful ‘seeds of innovation’. It requires partnerships between institutions, governments and communities, linking science and traditional knowledge, merging research with practice.

An integrated approach in mountains allows for different stakeholders, from different ministries, civil society and local community, including indigenous peoples, to adopt a holistic planning and implementation that involves both bottom up and top down processes as well as traditional knowledge and innovation. It requires a participatory approach in order to involve every community member and every other concerned stakeholder with the purpose of achieving transparent and fairly negotiated decision-making processes. Full participation helps ensure that the rights, roles and responsibilities of all individuals and institutions involved are clearly defined and facilitates conflict resolution when needed.

Objectives

The 2019 IPROMO summer school focused on several aspects, tools and skills that contribute to an integrated management of mountain areas through a landscape approach, ranging from environmental conservation, water supply to income generation and food security. Particular emphasis was placed on the importance of a participatory approach where local communities and authorities closely cooperate. The field trip to Aosta Valley (in cooperation with the Institut Agricole Régional and the Municipality of Gressoney la Trinité) allowed participants to discover different examples of sustainable mountain resources management. The interrelations between climate change, poverty reduction and food insecurity and other global challenges in mountain areas was discussed during the course and working groups were formed, allowing participants to share their knowledge and build a network of experts.

Structure and venue

The summer school was held in two charming Italian alpine venues – Ormea, NW Italy, and Pieve Tesino, NE Italy – with field trips to the surrounding area. Activities began on 2 July 2019 with an overview of the course and ended on 18 July 2019 with the closing ceremony; the course included lectures, seminars, group work and field trips. The lecturers were experts from the UN system, universities, international organizations and NGOs.

The activities in Ormea were organized by the University of Turin (DISAFA-NatRisk), in cooperation with the CNR-IRPI, the Institut Agricole Régional and with financial support from the Town of Ormea.

The activities in Pieve Tesino were organized by the Centre of Alpine Studies of the University of Tuscia, the City of Pieve Tesino and the Community of Valsugana and Tesino.

According to the European Commission, bioeconomy “encompasses the production of renewable biological resources and the conversion of these resources and waste streams into value-added products, such as food, feed, bio-based products and bioenergy.” This topic is particularly relevant to mountain areas, where the marginality and fragility of systems pushes the communities living there to cope by implementing optimized energy systems, processing fluxes and managing natural resources.

Bioeconomy brings together various sectors of the economy that produce, process and reuse renewable biological resources, such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries and bioenergy production. In order to better accomplish the aims of these sectors, adequate policies are needed to face the current socio-environmental challenges (e.g. growing food demand, climate change) with the new – or renewed – approach of bioeconomy by applying the principles of circular economy, waste recycling and green industrial policies.

In addition to societal and economic aspects, environmental issues such as waste reduction, soil protection and climate change mitigation are a main focus of the bioeconomy discussion. A sustainable bioeconomy cannot be conceived without the proper management of biological resources, respecting the regeneration levels of all natural resources. In this context, soils are a fundamental factor in the transition towards a sustainable bioeconomy. Society depends on fertile soils and their long-term maintenance because of the various ecosystem services they provide.

Bioeconomy is complex and involves several scientific disciplines, industry sectors and policy areas. Because of this complexity, research and surveys supporting the monitoring of bioeconomy and the analysis of its impact are necessary in order to better adapt its principles to a continuously changing society and world.

The IPROMO summer school focused on several aspects that contribute to the fruitful management of mountain areas in the framework of bioeconomy, ranging from environmental conservation and water supply, to income generation and food security. The course emphasized the importance of a participatory approach whereby local communities and authorities closely cooperate. A field trip to Aosta Valley (in cooperation with the Institut Agricole Régional) allowed participants to discover different examples of mountain resources management. The interrelations between climate change and other global challenges and mountain areas was discussed during the course and working groups were formed, allowing participants to share their knowledge and build a network of experts.

The 2017 IPROMO course marked the tenth anniversary of the programme since the first course took place in July 2008. The 2017 course provided an overview of the key themes pertaining to sustainable mountain development (SMD) and benefited from the support of a new partner - the University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy - who joined the two founding partners, the Mountain Partnership Secretariat of FAO and the University of Turin, Italy.

Mountain ecosystems are increasingly affected by global challenges such as food insecurity, climate change, land degradation and natural disasters. The extreme vulnerability of these ecosystems puts their natural resources under increasing pressure, which heavily affects the mountain peoples who depend on these resources for their livelihoods by exacerbating poverty and triggering social tensions, out-migration and depopulation.

Lowland as well as highland communities depend on mountains. In fact, over half of the human population depend on mountains for water, biodiversity, forests and clean energy. Yet in spite of this clear evidence of their global importance and of their disproportionate vulnerability to global challenges, mountains still do not receive the required attention in international negotiations and national policy-making.

The summer school was held in two Italian charming alpine venues – Ormea, NW Italy, and Pieve Tesino, NE Italy – with field trips to the surrounding area. IPROMO 2017 provided an overview of the main issues related to SMD, ranging from watershed, natural resources and soils management to disaster risk reduction, climate change, economic development, mountain forestry and governance. These key challenges and opportunities related to mountains were discussed during the course and working groups were formed, allowing participants to share their knowledge and build a network of experts.

The field trip to Aosta Valley, in cooperation with the Institut Agricole Régional (Valle d'Aosta Region), allowed participants to discover various examples of sustainable economic activities in mountain areas, while the field visits near Pieve Tesino focused on mountain forestry and wood production for musical instruments.

The activities in Ormea were organized by the University of Turin (DISAFA-NatRisk), in collaboration with the CNR-IRPI and with financial support from the City of Ormea. The activities in Pieve Tesino were supported by the Centre of Alpine Studies of the University of Tuscia, the City of Pieve Tesino, the Community of Valsugana and Tesino and the Autonomous Province of Trento.

About one third of all protected areas are located in upland and mountain areas and are characterized by a diversity of landscapes, land-cover types and land-use systems. Mountains host about 25 percent of terrestrial biodiversity and have cultural, spiritual and recreational values for many different populations around the globe.

The benefits of protected areas extend far beyond their immediate environs. These areas serve as natural gardens, safeguarding and cultivating biodiversity, including the wild plant relatives of crops. Protected areas also provide ecosystem services, such as pollination, pest and erosion control, with mountain areas playing a special role through their contribution to clean water and decreased disaster risks.

Upland watershed and mountain ecosystems are extremely vulnerable to global changes such as climate change, increasingly frequent natural disasters, population growth, the expansion of unsustainable agriculture, and urbanization, which compromise the role of these ecosystems. Protected areas have an important role to play in facing the increasing stress of a growing population in need of food security, and of environmental degradation and climate change, reducing the availability of land, fisheries and forests. The livelihoods of many mountain communities depend on access to and control over land and other natural resources.

At global level, millions of people depend on protected areas as a means of subsistence and although protected areas promote conservation, they can also result in increased hunger, poverty, displacement and social conflict when their establishment weakens or extinguishes legitimate tenure rights of local communities whose livelihoods depend on access to natural resources.

Mountain protected areas can contribute significantly to the livelihoods and food security of mountain peoples while conserving universally important environmental services such as clean water and biodiversity resources. In order to ensure that these functions are maintained, the sound and integrated management of mountain protected areas is essential. A management approach is required which addresses, on the one hand, the protection and wise use of natural resources, and, on the other, the improved livelihoods of the local communities who are the custodians of the resources. The management of these protected areas requires a participatory approach in which the needs and indigenous experiences of local populations are taken into account and their access rights to land and resources are respected.

The 2016 IPROMO summer school was held in the city of Ormea, Italy, providing a technical and scientific overview of the role of protected areas in mountains. It focused on several aspects that contribute to the fruitful management of mountain protected areas, ranging from sustainable environment conservation to governance rights, income generation and food security. The course emphasized the importance of a participatory approach where local communities and authorities closely cooperate. A field trip to Aosta Valley (in cooperation with the Institut Agricole Régional) allowed participants to discover different examples of mountain resource management in protected areas, while the excursion to the Istituto Scientifico Angelo Mosso (Alagna Valsesia) focused on real examples of soil and geology valorization within the Alta Valsesia Natural Park. The interrelations between climate change and other global challenges and mountain protected areas were discussed during the course and working groups were formed, allowing participants to share their knowledge and build a network of experts.

As in previous years, the activities were organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and the Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences and the Interdepartmental Research Centre on Natural Risks in Mountain and Hilly Environments of the University of Turin, with financial support from the City of Ormea and international organizations.

Food insecurity is possibly the main threat faced by mountain peoples and one of the main obstacles to achieve sustainable development. Even though mountains often house freshwater, agrobiodiversity and livestock that can contribute to food security, for millions of people who live in mountain areas, hunger and the threat of hunger is a daily reality.

Many people who live in mountain regions are food insecure and their diets lack key nutrients. A  study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) in 2002 showed that about 40 percent of the mountain population in developing and transition countries is estimated to be vulnerable to food insecurity. Nearly all of those people, 90 percent, live in rural areas and almost half are likely to be chronically hungry. This study is currently being updated but the preliminary findings show that the situation in mountain areas has not significantly improved.

Mountainous terrain, with its steep slopes and frequently harsh climate, presents farmers and herders with challenging conditions to live and work in. Crop growth is slower at high altitudes, so many mountain farmers have only one harvest per year. In addition, mountain soils are often degraded and do not provide enough nutrients for plants to grow well. Climate change, if not timely addressed, is likely to worsen the living conditions of many mountain farmers who are already food insecure. All this, combined with political and social marginality, expose mountain people to food shortages.

Traditional mountain diets were quite balanced, providing various nutrients and adequate levels of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Nowadays, globalization and changes in lifestyle have led to diets characterized by low diversity,  entailing low levels of micronutrients and an abundance of carbohydrates. No or difficult access to basic health services increases the risk of illness already exacerbated by malnutrition. Infant mortality and maternal mortality rate in mountains are also higher than in the lowlands. For many households, permanent or seasonal migration in search of complementary income has become an integral part of the livelihood system.

It is important to understand that hunger and malnutrition are not merely a symptom of poverty in mountain communities – they contribute to perpetuate poverty and increase the gap between the livelihoods of highland and lowland communities.

Policies must foster equitable growth, employment, social protection, infrastructure and investments to ensure that both poverty and hunger in mountains are eradicated.

The 2015 IPROMO course was held in Ormea and Edolo, both in northern Italy, providing a technical and scientific overview of the issues related to food security and nutrition in mountain areas. It focused on several features of food security in mountains, looking at the prevailing mountain economic systems, the impact of global changes, the role of soils and water, gender, governance and land tenure issues.

As EXPO2015's focus was on nutrition and was held in Milan, the participants spent a day visiting EXPO and taking part in an event called “Rural mountain: worldwide EXtraordinary Potential”. The closing ceremony of the course also took place at EXPO2015.

As in previous years, the activities were organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat,  FAO, the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Turin and the Centre of excellence "Mountain University " – (GESDIMONT) - DISAA - Milan University, with the logistic support of the Edolo management and training group and the financial support of the Cassa Rurale Alta Val di Sole e Pejo. 

In observance of the United Nations International Year of Family Farming, the 2014 IPROMO course focused on sustainable farming in mountain areas. After all, mountain farming is largely family farming.

Throughout the centuries, mountain farmers have developed sustainable farming techniques  by diversifying crops, integrating forests and husbandry activities, protecting the soils, applying conservation practices, using water resources wisely and respecting the carrying capacity of the land. Mountain agriculture has a low carbon footprint even if it has evolved in an often harsh and difficult environment. Mountain communities have farmed seeking sustenance from the land but also conserving the natural resource base and ecosystem services vital to downstream communities, both rural and urban.

Global trends have started reducing the resilience of mountain ecosystems. Increasing population or outmigration, climate change, deforestation, desertification, market integration as well as changes in human values and aspirations are all affecting mountains and mountain communities.

Nevertheless, in a world increasingly aware of “green” quality and organic products, mountain agriculture can provide high-value and high-quality products that cater to increasing market demand and generate income for local communities. This growing attention to family farming presents an opportunity for mountain farmers to receive greater support and specific policy interventions. Several members of the Mountain Partnership are working on this topic at different levels. We hope that this course will be a step forward in promoting a better understanding of the value of family farming in mountain areas and will foster the development of appropriate policies and laws.

The 2014 IPROMO course was held in Ormea, Italy, providing a technical and scientific overview of the multi-faceted world of mountain farming. It focused on several features of small-scale agriculture in mountains, ranging from the economic and social aspects to environmental aspects, such as coping with climate change and landscape issues. It emphasized local products with a field trip to Aosta Valley (in cooperation with the Institut Agricole Régional), where participants saw real mountain farming enterprises in action. The effects of natural hazards and extreme events on mountain farming were also discussed during the course and working groups were formed, allowing participants to share their knowledge and build networks of researchers/technicians.

As in previous years, the activities were organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat,  the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Turin, with financial support from the City of Ormea and international organizations.

The sixth edition of the IPROMO summer school was devoted to understanding the role of upland watershed management. By providing high-quality freshwater, regulating discharge and run-off, and hosting fertile arable land and huge forests resources, watersheds play a pivotal role in the ecology of our planet and contribute significantly to the wealth and welfare of human societies.

Over centuries, upland cultures have developed sophisticated livelihood practices that allow local people to make a sustainable living in the special (and sometimes harsh) environment of watersheds. The socio-economic importance of watersheds is twofold: for local inhabitants and for lowland users of watershed produce.

Increasingly, an integrated, collaborative watershed management has become widely accepted as a promising approach for conserving water, land and biodiversity, enhancing local livelihoods, improving the economy of upland inhabitants and people living in downstream areas, and ensuring sound sustainable natural resources management overall.

The 2013 IPROMO course was held in Ormea, Italy. The overall purpose of course was to provide post-graduate students, researchers and technicians with scientific knowledge and understanding of the importance of upland watershed management and the approaches and methods for a new generation of watershed management.

The summer school focused on the main features of watershed management in resource management and land use systems. It looked at linkages with climate change, disaster risk management, food security and nutrition, and improving livelihoods and economic activities in a watershed. It will included lectures on governance, institutions and gender issues.

Activities were organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat at FAO and the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Turin, with the financial support of the local institutions (in particular the “Comune di Ormea”) and international organizations.

Since 2008, the IPROMO programme has been contributing to enhancing knowledge on mountain conservation and development issues, with a specific focus on climate and global changes, encouraging cross-regional cooperation among high-level technicians and decision-makers involved in promoting sustainable mountain development in their own regions.

The fifth edition of the IPROMO course “Understanding and Adapting to Climate Change in Mountain Areas” will be linked to the Strategic Initiative on Mountains and Climate Change (SIMCC), which is a joint initiative of the World Bank, FAO, ICIMOD and UNEP, in the context of the Mountain Partnership. This Strategic Initiative, recognizing that mountain regions are among the poorest and most underdeveloped areas in the world, aims at enhancing awareness about climate change impacts and development challenges in mountain regions at the international/regional levels and about the related international processes, as well as promoting capacity building for politicians, scientists, and practitioners as regards to climate change adaptation in mountains and negotiations in international fora.

The 2012 IPROMO course was held in Ormea, Italy. The participants learned about climate change effects, vulnerability and carbon emission negotiations, and their implications for mountain regions. The course also focused on enhancing participants' negotiation skills.

Activities were organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat at FAO and the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Turin, with the financial support of the World Bank, local institutions (in particular the “Comune di Ormea”) and international organizations.

Mountains are hazardous places. Many mountain communities live under the threat of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions caused by shifting tectonic plates. Gravity pushing down on sloping land compounds the destructive power of storms and heavy rains, producing avalanches, landslides and floods. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios, it is very likely that heavy precipitation will become more frequent and that future storms will become more intense. These outcomes will make mountain regions even more hazardous to live in.

Mountain ecosystems are increasingly degraded also for socioeconomic reasons. As mountain populations have grown and the expansion of commercial agriculture has reduced the availability of arable land for small-scale farming by local communities, impoverished farmers have had to clear marginal lands on steep slopes unsuited to agriculture. More and more animals graze on mountain pastures and forested land. This overgrazing destroys ground cover and compacts the soil. Traditional agricultural systems have been abandoned or become unsustainable. Commercial logging interests and market-driven agricultural production have also put dangerous pressure on mountain ecosystems. All of this can lead to permanent deforestation and irreversible environmental degradation. The loss of forest cover deprives mountain communities of a protective barrier against landslides and avalanches and further contributes to increased soil erosion and water run-off.

The overall purpose of the 2011 IPROMO course was to provide post-graduate students, researchers and technicians with scientific knowledge about natural hazards in mountain areas, the high vulnerability of mountain communities and to enhance their ability to assess potential ecological and social impacts of disaster risk management policies.

The summer school focused on specific hazards (e.g. slope instabilities and landslides, shallow soil movements, floods including glacial lake outburst floods, wildfires, avalanches and snow hazards and earthquakes) and examples of natural hazard protection (e.g. sustainable agriculture, pasture and forestry practices, policies on disaster risk management, early warning systems capacity building and awareness raising) as well as emergency and rehabilitation. It will also focus on how policy makers, UN negotiation processes and others involved in disaster risk management cannot afford to neglect mountains.

Mountains are among the world's greatest sources of biodiversity, providing refuge to a variety of plants and animals. Many of these species have disappeared from lowland areas, crowded out by human activities. Many others exist nowhere else but on mountains. 

Isolation and relative inaccessibility have helped protect and preserve species in mountains from deer, eagles and llamas to wild varieties of mustard, cardamom, gooseberry and pumpkin.

These precious reserves of genetic diversity are our insurance for the future, particularly as the global economy continues to turn lowland habitats into fields of high-yield food crops monocultures that feed many of the world people but are vulnerable to evolving pests and pathogens.

Up until now, mountain ecosystems and mountain people have received inadequate attention from governments and organizations worldwide a disparity that threatens not only mountain life but the richness of lives everywhere.

For the reasons stated above and also as a contribution to the observance of the International Year of Biodiversity 2010, the 2010 edition of the IPROMO summer school focused on how to protect mountain biodiversity.

The overall purpose of the third summer IPROMO course was to provide post-graduate students, researchers and technicians with scientific knowledge and better understanding of the importance of protecting mountain biodiversity and to enhance their ability to assess potential ecological and social impacts of different management policies. It was particularly aimed at those coming from areas characterized by degraded and overexploited mountain ecosystems in particular from developing countries.

The course focused on the significance of mountain biodiversity, land use and climate change effects on mountain biodiversity, large scale patterns (latitudinal and altitudinal) of mountain biodiversity (including invasive species, recent facts and research results on mountain biodiversity and protected areas, biological corridors and transboundary agreements and their role in protecting mountain biodiversity.

The course was held from 9 to 23 July 2010 with 15 days of full immersion learning. It included lectures, practice, labs, and field trips. The course wa held in various locations in the Italian Alps, representing different aspects of biodiversity: the first period in the higher Alps (Chisone Valley), then the group moved to Sesia Valley close to the Mount Rosa, and the third period to the South-western Alps close to the Mediterranean sea (Tanaro Valley).

Lecturers included university professors, UN officers and professionals from different parts of the world.

The overall purpose of the second summer IPROMO course was to provide professionals working on mountain development related areas with an overview of traditional and innovative tools for promoting the sustainability of mountain economy and improving the livelihood of mountain communities.

The first week of the course provided an overview of the key issues to be considered for enabling a sound development of mountain economic activities; it included lectures and case studies on governance, policy and laws, value chain approaches, etc. Three separate topics were topics of the second week: 1) mountain eco-tourism; 2) mountain agriculture; 3) mountain forestry.

The course was held from the 17 July to 1 August 2009 with 15 days of full immersion learning. It included lectures, practice, labs, and field trips. The lectures were held in research institutes in Monte Rosa and in Grugliasco (Piedmont region of Italy). Field activities were held in the Alta Valsesia Natural Park, Monte Avic Natural Park and the Montmars Natural Reserve.

Lecturers  included university professors, UN officers and professionals from different parts of the world.

Following an agreement between the University of Torino, Faculty of Agriculture, DI.VA.P.R.A. Department, Piedmont Region, UNESCO, FAO Mountain Partnership Secretariat, Alta Valsesia Park, Vercelli Province, Comunità Montana Valsesia, Alagna Municipality, Varallo Sesia CAI Section, on the IPROMO Project, the international post-graduate course "Mountain Environment and Global Change" for the academic year 2008/09, was founded at the Faculty of Agriculture - Department of Reclamation and Protection of Agro-forestry Resources DI.VA.P.R.A. The course has been conceived within the framework of the "UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014)" coordinated by UNESCO.

The overall purpose of this course is to provide the participants with knowledge of the main control and feedback mechanisms of climate change in mountain forest environments. The main objectives are to:

• focus on technical and scientific topics related to global change, and their influence on the environment at different levels;
• increase the candidates' experience in the evaluation of ecosystem responses to environmental and global change variables;
• record, interpret and assess critically the main scientific literature on these topics; and
• evaluate critically the consequences, both predicted and not, of alternative environmental strategies.

The course took place from the 23rd of July to the 6th of August 2008, with 15 days of "full immersion". It included lectures, practice, labs, and field trips. Part of the lectures took place at the Istituto Scientifico Angelo Mosso at Col d'Olen (L.N.S.A. high altitude snow and soil lab DI.VA.P.R.A.), the rest at the Faculty of Agriculture in Grugliasco. Lab activities were held in the DI.VA.P.R.A. - LNSA lab and meteorological observatory at Col d'Olen, and in the DI.VA.P.R.A. labs in Grugliasco. Multidisciplinary activities were carried out in the Alta Valsesia Natural Park, Mont Avic Natural Park, the Montmars nature reserve and in the paleoglacial study site in the Italian and Swiss Alps.