Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions

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1 WSSD Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions 1. Setting priorities a) The key importance of mountain regions for sustainable global development The importance of the world s mountain regions has been internationally recognised since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992; Agenda 21 contains a chapter specifically devoted to mountains. Mountains constitute 25% of the Earth s surface. Together with their peripheral areas, they provide a habitat for 26% of the world s population and are the source of fresh water for almost half of humankind. Mountains are characterized by a high degree of biological and cultural diversity. Although they have great economic potential in many parts of the world in terms of water resources and tourism, for example most mountain regions are politically and economically marginalized and at a clear disadvantage by comparison with other regions. In concrete terms, sustainable management of mountain resources means enabling mountain populations to earn a livelihood, providing protection against natural hazards, enhancing conservation of natural resources, safeguarding social and cultural traditions, and supporting development that takes account of the special features of mountain regions and ensures that the interests of both mountain and lowland populations become equal parts of a fundamental social contract. In 1998 the United Nations General Assembly declared 2002 the International Year of Mountains. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) was assigned the task of coordinating efforts to raise public awareness throughout the world of the central role of mountains in sustainable global development. Political, development, economic and scientific organisations at the national and international levels are being called upon to become more aware of the concerns of mountain regions. Many international, regional and national events will be held for this purpose. Concrete programmes and actions are foreseen to foster medium- and long-term development in mountain regions. b ) The role of Switzerland For Switzerland as a mountain country par excellence, mountain development represents a major national and international opportunity: it offers a chance to incorporate time-honoured principles such as federalism, subsidiarity and local self-government and accountability, as well as relevant experience in these areas, into the framework of foreign policy. Sustainable development in mountain regions has a long tradition in Switzerland. For centuries local people have employed land and forest management methods that are adapted to local conditions for example, by instituting strict rules regarding the use of pastures and forests. There have also been periods when mountain resources were ruthlessly exploited. Today sustainable development of mountain regions and the balance between the many and often conflicting interests of tourism, transit traffic, industry and agriculture constitute the central task of policymaking. This balance can only be guaranteed by solidarity among the entire population, including economic centres in the lowlands. Switzerland is committed to a national political and institutional framework that enhances development and self-determination in mountain regions. Development of mountain regions at the international level has long been an issue of central concern to Switzerland. Support for mountain regions has a high priority in Switzerland s official development programmes. Within Europe, Switzerland supports sustainable development in the

2 WSSD Alps as a signatory of the Alpine Convention. Therefore, sharing our own experience, cooperating in adapting this experience to the needs of other mountain regions, and showing solidarity and engaging in partnership with mountain people throughout the world constitute an opportunity as well as an international obligation. c) Mountain development as a key interface of sustainable development Sustainable development in mountain regions is a pervasive issue. It touches on all the priority areas to which Switzerland is committed in the framework of Rio+10, i.e. freshwater resources, international environmental issues especially sustainable management of fragile ecosystems, global climate change, biodiversity, and sustainable forest management poverty alleviation, and trade-related issues, especially market access for marginal regions. Other important issues are questions of governance, especially decentralisation and subsidiarity, as well as the participation of civil society, the private sector and the scientific community in political decision-making processes. 2. Political positions taken by Switzerland in support of sustainable development in mountain regions a) Mountains an environment for learning about and implementing principles of sustainability Nature has always played a dominant role in the mountains. Despite the advances of modern technology and civilisation, economic and social conditions are more directly affected by natural phenomena in mountain regions than in any other environment, and people living in mountain regions are more intensely and immediately affected by natural conditions than people elsewhere. Switzerland therefore believes that sustainable development in mountain regions constitutes an area of endeavour that is fundamental to learning about and implementing the principle of sustainable development, which must give equal consideration to natural, social and economic conditions the thee main components of sustainability. This will involve fostering integration of different sectors and policies and applying resulting concepts and approaches appropriately in other development contexts. b) Recognition of mountain regions as important, specific areas of development The driving forces of mountain development are very often dominated by the interests of political and economic centres and densely populated urban centres; moreover, these forces are usually not beholden to principles of sustainability. Hence if sustainable development is to be possible in mountain regions at all, the political status of the world s mountain regions must be enhanced, especially at the national level. Switzerland is committed to national political frameworks that enable mountain regions to advocate their interests as equal partners, especially vis à vis centres of political and economic power. Federalism, decentralisation, subsidiarity, local self-government and accountability, acknowledgment of local rights to resources and targeted economic development are the core concepts in such frameworks. Ultimately, these concepts must be concretely expressed in a national policy for mountain regions. Switzerland supports exchange and collaboration among mountain regions within national borders as well as international cooperation among mountain regions, with the aim of enhancing the political significance of these regions at the national and regional levels. c) Compensation for services rendered to surrounding areas

3 WSSD Mountain resources with economic value are not only developed largely as the result of external intervention and investment, but are also exploited primarily by external interests. In most cases, compensation for use of mountain resources is inadequate. The consequences for mountain regions are lack of capital, minimal economic power, widespread poverty, degradation of natural resources and migration. Hence Switzerland is firmly committed to adequate compensation for services provided by mountain regions to surrounding areas. This includes the strengthening of local rights of resource use; fair concessions for use of mountain resources such as drinking water, water used for irrigation and hydropower, mineral resources and timber; and promotion of forms of tourism that allow for conservation of resources and foster local economic development. Compensation must also be provided where it is in the general public interest to refrain from resource use, e.g. in the case of establishing nature reserves. The overall aim is to ensure that adequate income is returned to mountain areas as part of a comprehensive arrangement in which financial resources are balanced within closely linked highland-lowland systems. In order to relieve pressure on mountain resources, Switzerland supports efforts to promote development that conserves resources in mountains and surrounding areas. At the domestic as well as the international level, Switzerland advocates the polluter pays principle, according to which those who waste or degrade resources must bear the costs. d) Diversification and the benefits of complementarities Most of the world s mountain regions are areas characterised by sensitive ecosystems with little potential for human use. The disadvantage of limited potential for use can be partly overcome through diversification of resource use in different altitudinal belts and climatic zones as well as in different sectors such as agriculture, pastoralism and forestry; through integration of business, industry and tourism; and through seasonal migration. Accordingly, Switzerland is carefully monitoring the impacts of current global trends such as globalisation, promotion of economies of scale, specialisation and monofunctional use, and concentration of public services, in light of possible threats to diversification and sustainable development of mountain regions. Switzerland thus supports diversified and multifunctional forms of agriculture. It thereby acknowledges the central role of agriculture in many of the world s mountains as a local source of food, employment, income and value-added production, as well as the key role played by agriculture in ensuring decentralised settlement and maintaining biodiversity. To strengthen the economy in mountain region, Switzerland supports the development of opportunities to generate local income in the business, industrial and service sectors (e.g. tourism). This involves exploiting complementarities with other economic areas, as well as targeted support for mountain-specific products and services for example, through better-quality advice and improved access to markets, quality labelling, or the use of new information technologies. Switzerland believes it is important to integrate the business community in mountain development much more closely than previously. To further this objective, it supports development of decentralised infrastructure especially with respect to land development (including roads, water, electricity, etc.), education, health care, and provision of financing and credits. e) Taking full advantage of local potential for innovation Switzerland considers local potential for innovation a key prerequisite for sustainable development in mountain regions. This potential must be the focus of much more committed and specific support in future than until now. As a prerequisite for achieving this aim, Switzerland envisions the

4 WSSD creation of a decentralised educational system, consisting of primary schools as well as vocational schools and institutions of higher learning, which would focus far more than previously on the specific requirements and problems of respective mountain regions without neglecting development and interconnections at the global level. Close collaboration among business, government and educational institutions at all levels, as well as the creation of appropriate policy frameworks that include features such as credit on favourable terms and tax incentives for business start-ups, will also play a decisive role in exploiting the potential for innovation. f) Cultural change without loss of identity Population pressure, resource scarcity and labour migration, and the global dominance of urban values transmitted by the mass media, educational systems, tourism and seasonal migration to the most remote corners of the globe are responsible for rapid social and cultural change in many of the world s mountain regions. Major processes of global transformation are also taking place in mountain regions; this is having a levelling effect on the richness and diversity of cultural heritage. Switzerland intends to counteract threatened loss of cultural heritage, the widespread threat of cultural dissolution and loss of identity, and loss of local knowledge about resources, appropriate resource management and natural hazards. To this end it is making increased efforts to call attention to the value of local culture through education, the media including new information technologies such as the Internet databanks, exhibitions and museums, as well as by fostering new forms of culture characterised by local ownership. g) Conservation of mountain ecosystems and early warning mechanisms Owing to their climatic diversity, mountain regions are biodiversity hotspots. In many places these biodiversity hotspots are endangered by internal and external pressure on resources and by the impacts of global climate change. Switzerland is contributing to efforts to maintain the biological potential of mountain regions to the greatest extent possible, both as a natural heritage and as a resource for possible future use. It supports efforts that are designed to achieve this in collaboration with local populations. In so doing, Switzerland acknowledges that biodiversity is usually maintained rather than threatened by appropriate forms of resource use. Mountain regions are extreme habitats and with highly fragile ecosystems. As such, they register environmental degradation earlier and more clearly than less sensitive systems. Hence mountain regions serve as early warning systems for natural as well as anthropogenic forms of environmental change such as global climate change (glaciers). Switzerland is working to ensure that this early warning function is maintained and used for the benefit of all humankind. Switzerland supports long-term monitoring programmes and awarenessraising campaigns for this purpose, and calls upon the international community to give special attention to the preservation of fragile mountain ecosystems. h) Institutionalising the issue of sustainable development in mountain regions. Despite its crucial importance to the continued existence of humankind, the question of development in mountain regions has not been firmly established as an international issue. The International Year of Mountains 2002 offers a unique opportunity to anchor this issue more firmly at the international level.

5 WSSD Switzerland is therefore determined to take decisive action in order to help ensure that the question of development in mountain regions becomes more institutionalised. It aims to promote such institutionalisation through advocacy, lobbying, exchanges of professional and technical expertise, and formulation of policies that foster development in mountain regions. Switzerland regards the UNCSD and the FAO as institutions that can guarantee this institutionalisation at the global level. They must be effectively assisted by a network of governmental and non-governmental organisations that function as pressure groups and work in non-bureaucratic, creative, constructive, stimulating and supportive ways. In some major mountain regions Switzerland supports concrete regional institutions and bilateral agreements, such as conventions that address and institutionalise the question of sustainable development. 3. Project proposals to be considered for support/implementation IYM2002 as an opportunity for institutionalising the issue of sustainable development in mountain regions Switzerland is working to ensure that the topic of mountain development appears regularly on the agenda of appropriate international organisations such as the UNCSD and the FAO, and assists these organisations in creating the capacity to address this topic. It helps to determine the form, the frequency and the overall content of forums and agreements concerned with this topic and works actively to implement them. Switzerland believes it is important that mountain issues and concerns also be incorporated in relevant bodies as cross-sectoral topics and addressed in technical aspects of sectoral activities. a) Awareness, advocacy and networking Switzerland continues to regard awareness, advocacy and networking that address the concerns of mountain regions, and especially mountain people, as one of its central tasks. It calls upon members of the international community to become more actively involved in these areas at the global, regional and local levels. Switzerland advocates support for networks concerned with mountain issues, such as the global Mountain Forum (MF) and its various continental branches, media such as the journal Mountain Research and Development, and other relevant and complementary programmes and initiatives. b) Regional cooperation In many of the world s mountain regions national borders divide areas that constitute economic or ethnic units, have complementary features, or share common problems. Switzerland is committed to fostering regional cooperation among countries in these areas. This can be done, for example, in the framework of conventions or charters that aim to take advantage of economic complementarities, support and optimise sustainable resource management, deal jointly with environmental problems, and address and mitigate social and political conflicts and tensions.

6 WSSD c) Political support, legislation and administrative instruments Basic political decisions and laws can provide frameworks that have a decisive influence in fostering sustainable development in mountain regions. Switzerland supports political processes of negotiation as well as legal frameworks (such as national policies on mountain regions or spatial development policies) and laws (e.g. to promote investment) that would help to strengthen the political and economic power of mountain regions in a national context. Switzerland is also committed to adequate implementation, for instance by assisting in institution building to promote these measures. Switzerland believes that the development and implementation of new forms of political participation at the community level are especially important. This should include decentralisation, transparency, and more active involvement by people at the local level. d) Institutional capacity, education and training Institutional capacity and human capital are the core elements of development in resource-poor areas such as mountain regions. Switzerland continues to support institutions concerned with international mountain development (specific international and regional organisations, development cooperation projects, and mountain partnerships in the framework of the National Centre of Competence in Research North-South and the Swiss National Research Programme on Landscape and Habitats in the Alps). Switzerland also calls upon other countries to become more active in supporting such institutions. Together with like-minded partners, Switzerland strives to develop and support institutions in the mountains such as universities and vocational schools that engage in research, teaching and above all implementation of innovations adapted to mountain regions. Support for boarding schools that have an international reputation, such as those that have long existed in Switzerland, is a further option. e) Information systems and exchange of information on mountain issues Switzerland supports exchanges of information on mountain issues at the regional, national and international levels concerned with policy, administration and economic issues as well as science and technology. It encourages both institutions and individuals in these areas to make their experience accessible and supports them in their efforts to do this. Switzerland also supports institutions that are capable of coordinating these exchanges of experience and compiling globally coordinated databanks on mountain-related topics, such as the glacier inventory which provides data that give early warning about negative environmental trends at the global level. f) Involving the private sector in mountain development Important stakeholders such as the business community (trade, industry, mining, hydroelectricity, mass tourism and additional services such as banking and credit services) are rarely if ever represented in existing (international) networks concerned with mountain issues. Switzerland would welcome the opportunity to join like-minded partners at the international and regional levels in encouraging initiatives that are open to these stakeholders, make them aware of mountain development issues, and mobilise their support. Local and regional business forums and councils such as a World Business Council for Sustainable Mountain Development, in which the tourist industry and other financially influential sectors of the business community could take part,