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International Mountain Day being Marked Today

Web Desk(December 11, 2017): International Mountains Day is being marked today across the world, including Pakistan, to raise awareness about the importance of mountains to life.

The day highlights the opportunities and constraints in mountain development and to build alliances that will bring positive change to mountain people’s and environments around the world.

International Mountain Day 2017 provides an occasion to highlight how climate, hunger and migration are affecting highlands and to ensure that sustainable mountain development is integrated into the 2030 Agenda and in the implementation of the Paris Agreement.Image result for International Mountain Day being Marked TodayThis year’s theme is Mountains under Pressure: climate, hunger, migration. Almost one billion people live in mountain areas, and over half the human population depends on mountains for water, food and clean energy.

Yet mountains are under threat from climate change, land degradation, overexploitation and natural disasters, with potentially far-reaching and devastating consequences, both for mountain communities and the rest of the world.Mountains are early indicators of climate change and as global climate continues to warm, mountain people — some of the world’s hungriest and poorest — face even greater struggles to survive.

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The rising temperatures also mean that mountain glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates, affecting freshwater supplies downstream for millions of people.

Mountain communities, however, have a wealth of knowledge and strategies accumulated over generations, on how to adapt to climate variability.Image result for International Mountain Day being Marked TodayClimate change, climate variability and climate-induced disasters, combined with political, economic and social marginalization, increase the vulnerability of mountain peoples to food shortages and extreme poverty.

Currently, about 39 percent of the mountain population in developing countries, or 329 million people, is estimated to be vulnerable to food insecurity.Image result for International Mountain Day being Marked TodayAs the vulnerability of mountain populations grows, migration increases both abroad and to urban centres.

Those who remain are often women, left to manage the farms but with little access to credit, training and land tenure rights.Various activities are organized on and around International Mountain Day. These aim to increase awareness and knowledge around the role of mountains and mountainous regions amongst the general population and professionals.Image result for The International Year of Mountains was launched at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York on December 11, 2001The International Year of Mountains was launched at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York on December 11, 2001. On December 20, 2002, as the International Year of Mountains drew to a close, the UN designated December 11 as International Mountain Day and encouraged the international community to organize events to highlight the importance of sustainable mountain development on this date.Related imageInternational Mountain Day was first observed on December 11, 2003. Each year International Mountain Day has a particular theme.

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