Let's preserve mountains to combat climate change

Ranjan K Baruah *

Hills and mountains are important for all living being directly or indirectly as we get most of the resources from mountains and from nature. We depend on mountains for most essential resources like drinking water.

Almost one billion people live in mountain areas, and over half the human population depends on mountains for water, food and clean energy.

Mountains cover around 22 percent of the earth's land surface and are home to 13 percent of the world's population. It provide sustenance and well-being for 915 million people, but also indirectly benefit billions more living downstream.

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

Already we are facing threat due to climate change and mountains are directly linked with the impact of climate change.

Currently, about 39 percent of the mountain population in developing countries, or 329 million people, is estimated to be vulnerable to food insecurity due to climate change and climate variability.

Due to disaster in low lying areas we could see migration of people from low lying areas to other places similarly there are migration from mountain region to urban and other areas which is indirectly affecting our bio diversity.

11th December is observed as International Mountain Day (IMD) and IMD 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.

This year, the theme is also linked to the Mountain Partnership Global Meeting, to be held on 11-13 December at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, which will focus on the challenges and opportunities in sustainable mountain development and will launch a Framework for Action to support concrete actions and establish policies that strengthen the resilience of mountain peoples and environments.

IMD has its roots in 1992, when the adoption of Chapter 13 of Agenda 21 "Managing Fragile Ecosystems: Sustainable Mountain Development" at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development put a milestone in the history of mountain development.

The increasing attention to the importance of mountains led the UN General Assembly to declare 2002 the UN International Year of Mountains. On this occasion, the UN General Assembly has designated 11 December, from 2003 onwards, as "International Mountain Day".

FAO is the coordinating agency for the coordinating this celebration (IMD) and is mandated to lead observance of it at the global level.

While "Mountain under Pressure: climate, hunger, migration" is the suggested theme for 2017, countries, communities and organizations are welcome to celebrate International Mountain Day through the choice of a different theme that might be more relevant to them.

In spite of its importance and knowing that mountains are important yet mountains are under threat from climate change, land degradation, over exploitation and natural disasters, with potentially far-reaching and devastating consequences, both for mountain communities and the rest of the world.

These fragile resources must be preserved for human being and for all other living being. We must remember that mountains provide 60-80 percent of the worlds freshwater – without which sustainable development that aims to eliminate poverty and hunger would not be possible.

All of us must take part in protection and conservation of mountains and resources available here. Sustainable means of exploration should be encouraged but communities living around mountains should not be hampered in the name of exploring resources.

As mountains are also source of hydro power and other resources everyone should follow 'do no harm' to communities and indigenous people living around mountains.

(Inputs from UN publication )