Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
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Creation and coordination of national working groups for Green Belt;
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Preparation of the projects for sustainable development of the regions in
Green Belt.
Realization of the initiative for mountainous regions is connected with devel-
opment of two general structures - Centres and programmes and Source of
financing.
22.4.4.1 Centres and Programmes for Education
There are centres for investigation and education connected with inventory, analy-
sis of mountain tendencies and directions, new ideas for development, education in
research and recourse management in countries with wide mountain regions. These
centres are very important for development and realization of the politic on moun-
tain regions. Using the important information they encourage the innovations and
conditions of the management of mountain resources. Investigation centres are solid
in Austria, France, Italy, Norway and Switzerland and also in some new member
countries as Romania and Slovakia. There are similar instruments in more of Alpine
countries. Education centres are oriented towards agriculture, mountain guiding and
skiing. Strong politic connected with mountain regions is a part of investigation
centres. We need effective regional or national institutions and centres for educa-
tion, investigations and training for development of the understanding of questions
connected with mountain regions in different countries - members or nonmember
of European Community.
22.4.4.2 Funding
Mountain development funding is still inadequate. This is despite the increasing
awareness of the importance of mountains and the persistently high incidence of
poverty, food insecurity and vulnerability of mountain populations, particularly
in the developing world. Traditional funding sources and approaches are impor-
tant, but these can fail to recognize and address the specificities of mountains and
mountain people. There is also undoubted potential to tap newer, more innovative
financial mechanisms for mountain development, such as debt-for-nature swaps,
payment for environmental services and microfinance opportunities. Payment for
environmental services, which compensates local land-users for environmental ser-
vices, has increasingly been used to manage biodiversity in mountains in recent
years. For example, the Regional Integrated Silvopastoral Approaches to Ecosystem
Management Project, initiated by local NGOs and financed by GEF, uses payment
for environmental services to encourage Silvopastoral practices in degraded pas-
tureland in the mountains of Colombia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Participating
land-users receive direct annual payments for the environmental services they
generate. Initial results show that payment for environmental services has induced
positive land use changes such as improved water quality and increased bird and ant
species diversity.
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