Mountain Watch provides a new map-based synthesis of information on environmental change, and its implications for sustainable development in mountains. It is designed to assist achievement both of the Millennium Development Goals, which aim to ensure environmental sustainability and improve people's livelihoods, and the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, agreed in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2002.
Mountain Watch profiles methods to assess mountain ecosystems, the pressures that affect them and the services they provide to people. A new analysis of global data is supplemented by regional and local case studies drawn from around the world. Tools are provided for decision-makers to ensure that development sustains mountain environments and the people who depend on them.
The report is designed to support an assessment process, launched at the Bishkek Global Mountain Summit during the International Year of Mountains, 2002. This will involve a series of regional workshops, bringing together many stakeholders living in and visiting mountain regions, and will lead to the production of a World Atlas of Mountain Environments.
Mountain Watch was compiled by UNEP-WCMC and the UNEP Mountain Programme, in collaboration with the GEF, UNEP Regional Offices, UNEP GRID Centres and other partners, as a contribution to the International Year of Mountains, for which FAO is the lead UN agency, in collaboration with governments, UNEP, UNDP, UNESCO and other partners.