Nitin Desai was Chef de Cabinet to the Secretary General of UNCED and, since the mountain proposal had not come from governments either directly or through a UN Specialized Agency, its entry into Rio preparations had to route through the secretariat and the preparatory committee of governments - the so called Prep Coms. Four meetings of this body supervised the organization of the Conference during 1991 and 1992. This note began the process in 1991 which led to the elaboration of Chapter 13 on mountains in Agenda 21.

Draft of note to Nitin Desai of UNCED- two to five pages of justification as requested. Initiating group of Mountain Agenda please comment and return.

Why should mountains be a special focus in UNCED?

THE FIRST UN CONFERENCE on the environment found itself exploring new ground in international affairs against a background of undisguised scepticism on the part of many governments. The primary drive was to establish that environmental concerns affected both rich and poor countries, and that they were real and likely to grow.

Twenty years of history have shown the validity of the Stockholm Conference approach which necessarily had to highlight the more striking of the environmental concerns of the time. Mountains did not feature, nor did acid rain, ozone or global climatic change. Views on several issues were in the process of transition. For example, a focus on species conservation was only just giving way to a realization that habitats were more fundamental.

UNCED 1992 has different concerns. It is not now utopian to talk of planetary management since global systems have demonstrably been disturbed. Today a more comprehensive approach to environment questions is being taken. The attempt to establish an agenda for the 21st Century implies in itself that all significant environmental problems must be addressed.

Mountains matter BECAUSE THEY ARE ONE OF THOSE PROBLEMS.

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 and even on the most restricted definition of what constitutes a mountain they outnumber the inhabitants of say, the Soviet Union. 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 down on the plains below. Mountain development needs to be sustainable not just for the sake of the mountain dwellers themselves but for the sakes of the economies of the many other surrounding regions

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

The combination of physical, cultural, and spiritual attributes provides an unparalleled richness of resources. The most striking of these resources is probably water. Thus many large regions which surround mountains depend heavily, if not absolutely, on the water supplied by mountain rainfall and/or melting snow and ice. Without such resources many populations in the plains could not survive.

Because of the political and socio-economic marginality of many mountain peoples, because of fragmentation of jurisdiction among nation states, and because of steep slopes and fragile soil and vegetation cover, the very diversity of the milieu renders mountains highly susceptible to environmental degradation, as well as to climatic change. Mismanagement of mountain lands and mountain people is setting in motion not only irreversible damage to the mountains , but actual and perceived devastation to the surrounding plains where live populations far larger than those in the mountains themselves

These problems are rendered all the more intractable simply because insufficient knowledge is available on which to base appropriate counter measures. It does not particularly matter, for instance, whether catastrophic flooding in densely populated plains is actually caused by mismanagement in the mountains, or is merely believed to be so caused. The tensions will remain, the dangers of inadequate, wasteful, or even counter productive measures will still threaten until uncertainties can be either replaced by sound knowledge or recognized as such.

The spiritual values and tourist potentials can be of enormous benefit to both mountains and lowlands if there is a well based mechanism in place that will facilitate sustainable development. Without such a mechanism cultural and natural losses will continue to multiply. And the possibility of near term climate change can exacerbate all of these problems.

It is both remarkable and unacceptable that mountains and mountain people should remain deprived of their rightful high priority position in the world environmental agenda. Just as certainly as water flows down the mountainside so catastrophic consequences will flow from continued neglect and impact a far greater of the world's land area and population than today.

Mountain Agenda UNCED 1992, however, shows the way to reverse this process, to enlarge upon the scattered but significant successes, and to realize a much larger proportion of the world mountain potential for the benefit of all.

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 superficially 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 focused 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 principles which should underlie 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 — i.e. 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 attendant 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 focused 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.

21. PS undertook to produce a draft account of the meeting for amplification and modification by the other two participants.
22. 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 Katmandu 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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