©Evgeni Dimitrov

Sustainable management of natural resources in mountain areas

The project "Sustainable management of natural resources in mountain areas" operates globally to improve the livelihoods of rural communities through sustainable management of natural resources with a focus on mountain areas. The countries and institutions involved include Albania, Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro and Pakistan as well as the Kabul University of Afghanistan.

The project is financially supported by the Government of Italy through the Directorate General for Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The University of Rome “La Sapienza” is the main implementing partner responsible for the national-level capacity development activities, and it will provide guidance and support in the focus areas to each of the project countries.

Main objectives

  • Enhance institutional and technical capacities of selected countries in managing natural resources
  • Raise awareness at international level of the challenges faced by mountain peoples due to the changing environmental and socioeconomic conditions
  • Promote and strengthen ecosystem services for the local populations to support rural livelihoods and sustainably manage natural resources

Main activities

The initiative includes capacity development activities focused on the application of appropriate methodologies to analyse environmental and socio-economic conditions and identify effective approaches to address related problems.

The plan articulates in three capacity development phases:

  • National level analysis of key environmental and socio-economic conditions and main potential environmental and livelihood threats
  • Provincial and local level analysis of socioeconomic context and risk of upcoming threats due to the declining environmental conditions on identified mountain communities
  • Review of implementation options to address the issues identified as a result of activities 1 and 2, through stakeholders’ consultation
  • Awareness-raising activities: Towards the end of the project, an international workshop will provide the opportunity to present the results of the activities and serve as final consultation forum to raise awareness at national and international levels of the need to support vulnerable communities and halt land degradation in the mountains.

In the news

Flickr albums
Assessment trainings

2023-2024

Mountain vulnerability assessment

Kyrgyzstan 2026

Consultative workshop on mountain vulnerability

Kyrgyzstan 2026