This
meeting marked the beginning of the formal attempt to put mountain problems
on the world environmental agenda.
Mountain
Environments in the 1992 UN Conference (UNCED)
Report on informal meeting
held in Berne Sept 14, 1990
Present:
Dr Rudolf Hogger (RH) Prof Bruno
Messerli (BM) Mr. Peter Stone (PS)
The various contacts made with Mr. Maurice Strong,
Secretary General of UNCED, were reviewed.
2) These were:
a) a World Mountain Conservation Action proposal put to Mr Strong
by PS on April 18, 1990
b) a meeting between RH and Mr Strong in June to discuss the possible
role of ICIMOD in preparatory work for the 1992 Conference
c) a meeting between Mr Strong and PS later in June in which Mr Strong
discussed, inter alia, the possibility of cooperation with "Climb for the
World" especially in raising public awareness of the increasingly serious
mountain problematique.
4) It was agreed that the original April project for Mountain Conservation
Action was not now practicable for reasons of time if not expense, and
that it was more realistic to think in terms of a one year period of activity
beginning in 1991.
5) Several approaches were discussed and it was agreed that a mountain
initiative would have to compete in the international arena with other
areas of concern which had often proved superfically more compelling in
the past. Accordingly any mountain-related texts would have to be attractively
presented, immediately relevant and short, but carrying with them thorough
research and widely gathered testimony to underpin propositions for action.
6) It was further agreed that a mountain initiative should not burst
on the political constituency suddenly but should been seen to be in preparation
well in advance, with a demonstrated dimension in popular awareness and
concern. It should also be elaborated with an eye to items likely to be
of topical concern to delegates at Rio in 1992. These might be, for example;
global warming, agricultural liberalization, a continued vision of environment
as something opposed to development, energy conservation, and, maybe, the
continued growth of tourism. Such themes would only become clearer with
the passage of time.
7) A three or four level presentation was discussed. BM focussed the
discussion on the volume of documentation envisaged. In the first level,
it was felt, there should be no more than one or two pages of a manifesto
expressing the reasons for alarm and the basic priciples which should underly
and inform action at both governmental and citizen action level.
8) Then should follow, secondly, no more than five pages of specific
recommendations of a kind immediately useful to those undertaking or seeking
support for action, whether in the third world or in richer countries.
9) At the third level, there should be a solid compendium of peer-reviewed
study and research material which would show the deep roots and solid foundation
to the concerns shown above. This up-to-date material should come from
all parts of the world and should not be limited to the work of academics
and experts but should, if possible, present popular opinions where these
could be gathered. The total volume of this should not exceed 200 pages
and it too, should be designed and edited to be read and discussed before
the conference and also to be available as official conference documentation.
10) References above to pages are understood to refer to printed pages
of between 700 and 1,000 words — ie 4 pages of A4 typescript each.
11) A comprehensive bibliography, fourth level, should be provided to
support the above material and should draw from all languages — not necessarily
just UN official languages.
12) The above is a distillation of the main axis of thought as to what
might appear as conference documentation.
13) The question of how such material should be procured was also discussed.
It was agreed that it was already too late to commission new position papers.
In this connection a suggestion of templates or common forms had been advanced
and RH suggested that putting 10 key questions to each author might serve
the same purpose. It was clear that editing published material from diverse
sources would be easier if the authors were to chose material which addressed
areas which corresponded to a limited number of common questions. However
it was agreed that the formulation of the questions was in some sense the
blueprint for the whole enterprise. Accordingly great attention should
be paid to the formulation of the questions and a wide range of advice
should be drawn upon. In this regard it was felt that ICIMOD could play
a most helpful role.
14) Parallel to the above approach, several possible initiatives in
pre—conference sensitization of public opinion were discussed.
15) Regional workshops (opened by a notable, politically significant
personality, and accompanied by attendent publicity) were clearly essential
to make sure that regional slants were distinguished and given due prominence
in proposed recommendations. Workshop participants should be high level,
few in number and their discussions should be focussed on what was likely
to be feasible and practical in the context of UNCED in 1992. Highlights
from their debates and their principal conclusions should appear in the
final material to be submitted to the conference. Such regional workshops
should be held in the public eye and given media exposure.
16) BM remarked on the way in which public hearings around the world
had contributed to the authority of the Brundtland process and on how extracts
from them had contributed to the readability of the final document. Could
anything similar be done in the context of the mountain environment worldwide
but in a much less expensive way?
17) PS mentioned one nascent network of which Mr Strong was global patron
and to which Mrs Thatcher had lent national support, that was Climb for
the World — a worldwide group of leading climbers. It was planning simultaneous
climbs of national peaks to publicize some of the aims of the UN. It might
conceivably be helped to organize a widely dispersed series of public hearings
during 1991 from which reports might add credibility and weight to the
overall process.
18) At the practical level all agreed on the need for a focal point
to organize and coordinate the work and to ensure it was executed in a
manner compatible with UNCED's diplomatic constraints and timetable. It
was felt that Geneva would be at least as justifiable as Berne as the location
for such an initiative but that a decision would have to await the completion
of several other steps.
19) The 10 questions should be addressed without delay. BM undertook
to canvas the idea at a meeting in Morocco to which he was going shortly.
RH suggested the concept be explained to ICIMOD and the views of members
of the staff be sought. PS said he would produce some tentative outlines
as a base for discussion in time for the next meeting.
20) To reduce the danger of duplication and overlapping initiatives
BM undertook to contact Prof Jack Ives and inform him of the contacts made
and discussions held.
- PS undertook to produce a draft account of the meeting for amplification
and modification by the other two participants.
- ENDS
The
pioneer environmentalist, Professor Nicholas Polunin, was founder
and Editor in Chief of this learned quarterly headquartered in Geneva
and distributed world -wide. It continues since his death and is
now edited out of Newcastle U.K. by his son Dr.Nicholas Vladimir Polunin.
Article
in "Environmental Conservation"
The United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development {UNCED} will open on June 1, 1992 in Rio de Janeiro 20 years
after its predecessor, the landmark Stockholm Conference (officially the
United Nations Conference on the Human Environment) of 1972, put environment
on the world's political agenda. Interestingly the Secretary General for
1992 is the same man who propelled the Stockholm Conference to such a remarkable
success, Maurice F. Strong of Canada.
Now, as then, there is a rush for influence. There
is also a widespread apprehension that anything missing from the conference
agenda will be at a disadvantage in the years to come. The ambitions of
the conference are not modest. The principles which bear on environmental
and developmental concerns are grouped in the so-called Earth Charter
and the assembly of action resolutions is referred to as the planetary
management agenda for the next century or Agenda 21
The Stockholm Conference necessarily chose to highlight
the more pressing concerns of the time. Mountain ecosystems did not feature
nor did acid rain, ozone, or climatic change. Indeed the concept of planetary
management was regarded in political circles as hardly serious. The twenty
years that have passed since Stockholm have changed all that.
Why should mountain ecosystems feature at Rio? Rather
like the trio above - acid rain, ozone, and climatic change, at the time
of Stockholm, mountain ecosystems were known to some people to be a matter
of urgent concern. They were rapidly degrading under pressure from growing
populations and their various demands.
They cover 20 per cent of the earth's land surface
and directly provide the life support base for about 10 per cent of global
population. Indirectly mountains are a source of water and energy, timber
and minerals, spiritual inspiration and recreation for more than half the
world's population
The people whose life support base is in mountain
regions amount to nearly 500 million. They are mostly poor, subject to
high population growth, politically marginal and yet they are the stewards
of regions whose degradation will adversely affect the conditions of life
of three to four times as many people on the plains below.
Mountains are the storehouse of a great wealth of
biodiversity; they also shelter a greater treasure of cultural diversity,
together with the associated indigenous environmental knowledge, than any
other major ecological division. These two characteristics are the direct
consequences of the extreme range of natural and cultural niches which
has been generated by the unique, extra, vertical dimension of the mountain
landscape, the global vegetational belts and the climatic zones. On one
mountain massif alone, these bio-climatic divisions may range from tropical
rain forest to permanent ice and snow.
Because of political and socio-economic marginality,
fragmentation of jurisdiction among nation states, and because of steep
slopes and fragile vegetation cover, the very diversity of the milieu renders
mountains highly susceptible to environmental degradation, as well as to
climatic change.
Global warming and climatic change are likely to
have immediate repercussions in the mountains in terms of the availability
of water and hydro electricity for the surrounding lowlands, the shifting
of vegetational belts and thus surface reflectance with its meteorological
consequences, the success or failure of winter recreational investments
to name only a few.
These problems are rendered all the more intractable
simply because insufficient knowledge is available on which to base appropriate
countermeasures.
The Mountain Agenda UNCED 1992 initiative
seeks to use the occasion of UNCED to publicize the mountain problematique.
It began with individuals from the UN University (UNU), the International
Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) based in Kathmandu
and the network constituted by the International Mountain Society (IMS).
They have sought to provide channels for contributions
from as wide a variety of people as possible.
The core of the activity is, first, a 200,000 word
status report on the environmental and developmental condition of
the world's mountains; next an appeal document presenting the case
for action in a shorter, illustrated format and introducing a plan for
immediate action; and last a two-page manifesto. These three documents
will be published before the conference next year. The IMS Newsletter No.2
of February 1991 carried a detailed account of the initiative and a comprehensive
checklist for the guidance of contributors to the status report.
In parallel there is a call for public hearings and
other media events around the world to raise public expectations and prepare
the ground for the reception of the documents. This second strand of activity
is less advanced than the primary one of preparing a convincing case to
secure action by governments at Rio. but will, it is hoped, gather pace.
Financial support so far has been given by the Governments of Switzerland
and Germany.
Further details may be obtained from:- Mountain Agenda,
c/o Institute of Geography, University of Berne, Hallerstrasse 12, CH-3012
Berne.
Editor's note: The Manifesto
of just two pages mentioned above proved to be unwritable.
Mallory´s
body found, Knoydart
rescued, Himalayan
glaciers-alarm grows, Everest
Forests-a Sherpa's view,
The
epic of Mt. Everest, The state of the world mountains, My first summer in Sierra
Poems
and Belles letters, The Yellow brick Road
- Polemic, Paradise fishing at Autannes, Traditional
Solar Science,Dogs
on high, Obituary, Esme Percy,
Web-sites for browsing
Prince
Sadruddin Aga Khan on sustainable mountain tourism
P.B.
Stone on mountains under pressure (general overeview of so-called Mountain
problematique
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