Happy International Mountain Day! (December 11)

Five years ago, the U.N. General Assembly Declared December 11 “International Mountain Day.”

The celebration is part of an ongoing effort by the U.N. to increase people’s awareness about the importance of mountains to life on this planet, and to build partnerships that will “bring change to the world’s mountains and highlands.”

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations notes:

Mountains are crucial to life. Whether we live at sea level or the highest elevations, we are connected to mountains and affected by them in more ways than we can imagine. Mountains provide most of the world’s freshwater, harbour a rich variety of plants and animals, and are home to one in ten people. Yet, each day, environmental degradation, the consequences of climate change, exploitatative mining, armed conflict, poverty and hunger threaten the extraordinary web of life that the mountains support.

The year’s International Mountain Day focuses on food availability, says Jose Antonio Prado, director of FAO’s Mountain division. He notes that:

The problem of hunger in mountains is getting worse. Harsh climates and the difficult, often inaccessible, terrain combined with political and social marginality make mountain people vulnerable to food shortages. Indigenous knowledge about local foods and traditional agricultural practices in mountain areas is eroding and agricultural diversity as well as productivity are declining, further increasing the vulnerability of mountain people.

Recent studies indicate that mountain populations suffer from high rates of micronutrient deficiencies, which is one of the contributing factors to the significantly higher infant mortality rates in mountain regions.

Now food prices are soaring worldwide and increased transportation costs to remote mountain areas mean mountain communities are paying that much more for their food.

International Mountain Day 2008, with its theme of Food security in mountains, is an apt occasion to reflect on how hard it is for mountain people to consistently get adequate and nutritious food to lead healthy and active lives.

FAO has identified 22 countries that are especially affected by rising food costs. Many have large mountain-dwelling populations, including Haiti, Botswana, Kenya and Zimbabwe. South American countries have been hard hit, too:

In Andean countries, which are net food exporters (except for Venezuela), the crisis has increased hardship for the most disadvantaged communities. In Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, the percentage of the population living in extreme poverty has increased between three to six percent. In Bolivia, there has been more than a ten percent increase.

FAO notes that hunger and malnutrition are on the rise in mountain regions. To help local communities nourish themselves, FAO advocates for mountain dwellers to return to growing indigenous produce, make mountain livestock production more sustainable, improve mountain soils and build markets for mountain produce.

For more information on International Mountain Day and the challenges faced by mountain people, visit the FAO.

Click here to download free International Mountain Day posters in your choice of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Russian.

–Barbara R. Drake