News
Call for a more strategic approach to mountain area development
Oct 25, 2007
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alpMedia
At a meeting of the Adelboden Group held in Rome on 3 October over 60 representatives from governments, civil society and international organisations from mountain countries across the globe called for a more coherent approach to sustainable development in mountain areas.
An official statement issued at the close noted that a disproportionate number of world's 840 million chronically undernourished people live in highland areas. Governments were therefore urged to undertake systematic evaluations of their mountain-relevant policies and to integrate mountain areas more effectively into national economies. The Group also stressed the need to address new challenges such as climate change, growing levels of internal and regional migration, and issues of gender equity in these regions. The Adelboden Group, which was established in Switzerland in 2002, serves as a forum for discussion of policies, exchanges of experience, and co-ordinated planning. It also acts as an advisory board for the FAO's project on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Mountain Regions (SARD-M), which works to improve the quality of life of people living in mountain areas. Source: www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000670 (fr/it/en)