Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
To address these issues, Ives et al. (1997a: 456) proposed an “agenda for sustainable
mountain development,” with “seven prerequisites for a twenty-first century mountain
agenda”:
1. Mountain Perspective: The characteristics of mountain people and their envir-
onments must not be stereotyped, especially by outside/lowland experts or in-
stitutions; development processes must integrate mountain specificities, and
mountain people must be respected as equal partners in development, possess-
ing key cultural and physical resources;
2. Mountain Reciprocity: Lowland people have vital needs for the resources of the
mountains and should compensate and work with mountain people to ensure
the long-term provision of these resources, with benefits to both lowland and
mountain communities;
3. Mountain Devastation: International organizations and states must work togeth-
er to bring an end to warfare, the greatest obstacle to SMD—a goal that the
authors recognized as possibly Utopian;
4. Mountain Hazards: Mountain people are vulnerable to natural and human-in-
duced hazards, as well as those deriving from warfare and associated risks to
welfare, and these vulnerabilities vary greatly with respect to “age, gender, eth-
nicity, affluence, and political influence” (p. 457). Socioeconomic factors are at
least as important root causes of these risks as geophysical factors, and there-
fore inter- and transdisciplinary approaches are needed;
5. Mountain Awareness: “United Nations and national governmental agencies,
private foundations, universities, non-governmental organizations worldwide,
are proclaiming the importance of mountains as vital to world security” (p. 457);
but will the benefits outweigh the costs, and how will the mountain perspective
be included in institutional agendas?
6. Mountain Knowledge and Research: Basic, applied, and participatory re-
search—and particularly the dissemination of results, which often remain in
the “gray” literature—are all needed; inter- and transdisciplinary approaches
are essential and perhaps a “policy-sensitive science of montology” (p. 460) is
needed;
7. Mountain Policy: Workable policies informed by the best possible science are
needed, sensitive to the trade-offs of sustainable development and open to in-
novations; both “grassroots-focused” policy directions, complementing indigen-
ous resources, and “macro-focused” policy directions, based on “equitably-ori-
ented ecological economics” (p. 461), may be appropriate.
Reflecting an increasing emphasis on policies for SMD, in 2002, Mountain Agenda
produced a report as a contribution to both IYM and WSSD, outlining seven key prin-
ciples for policies to foster SMD (Mountain Agenda 2002):
1. Recognition of mountains as important and specific areas of development: In
contrast to the typical political marginalization of mountain areas, in which
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