FO:NEFC/02/9  |
| FO:NEFC/02/9 |
NEAR EAST FORESTRY COMMISSION |
Item 10 of the Provisional Agenda |
FIFTEENTH SESSION |
Khartoum, Republic of the Sudan, |
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF MOUNTAINS, 2002 |
Information Note |
COORDINATION OF IYM PREPARATIONS
ENHANCED COLLABORATION AMONG MAJOR IYM GLOBAL EVENTS
LINKAGE BETWEEN THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF ECOTOURISM (IYE) AND THE IYM
1. In 1998 the United Nations General Assembly declared 2002 the International Year of Mountains (IYM) and invited FAO to be the lead agency to prepare and coordinate observance of the Year. Under the overall goal of ensuring the well-being of mountain populations by promoting sustainable development of mountain regions, IYM objectives are to:
2. FAO is now implementing the lead agency role to prepare and coordinate observance of the Year. An IYM coordination unit has been established in the Forestry Department at FAO headquarters. Additional staffing has been procured, mainly through extra-budgetary resources, to cover the various responsibilities related to this work. In addition, a temporary professional post in watershed management has been established and a senior consultant recruited to ensure that, in spite of the time and resources absorbed in IYM preparation and observance, FAO's technical programme in watershed management is maintained at a high level of activity, including both field and normative aspects. This strength will be sustained through the establishment of a new Regular Programme professional post in the Forestry Department in Sustainable Mountain Development in the 2002-2003 biennium.
3. An IYM Focus Group of Permanent Representatives to the UN in New York has been established to provide support and guidance to the IYM observance. The group has been closely involved in preparations for the official launch ceremony held in December 2001 at UN headquarters. The IYM Focus Group includes representatives from Austria, Bhutan, Bolivia, Ethiopia, France, Guatemala, Iceland, Italy, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Lesotho, Peru, Slovenia and Switzerland.
4. Communication tools to support and guide national participation, including information and promotional packages, have been developed and are being disseminated to a wide variety of partners, including IYM national committees. The IYM coordination unit at FAO has launched the official IYM logo and made it available for public use, while the dedicated IYM web site (www.mountains2002.org) has undergone further development and is currently available in English, French and Spanish. Cooperation is being sought through bilateral arrangements to expand the language coverage. An official slogan for the IYM, "We are all mountain people", is also now available to the public.
5. As one of the most important objectives of the IYM will be to raise awareness on mountain issues, the IYM coordination unit has prepared its communications plan. The plan defines the overall strategy and approach to raising awareness, promoting and mobilizing action on the IYM. It indicates key audiences, main messages, means and opportunities to inform through a comprehensive public awareness campaign. It is being made available to a wide variety of potential users, including all national committees.
6. The main focus of attention and support for IYM observance is at country level. Although many global and regional mountain events are planned for 2002, awareness raising and mobilising interested stakeholders at national level are viewed as the key to long term success of the IYM, particularly in terms of ensuring sustained action toward development and conservation in mountain regions. By October 2001, 38 countries had established or were in the process of establishing a National Committee responsible for the preparatory activities and celebration of the IYM; 53 countries had established a focal point for the IYM; and among member countries of the Near East Forestry Commission, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen had established national committees. Through extra-budgetary resources, FAO is able to provide modest financial support (US$5,000) to each interested country to assist with national observance efforts.
7. Significant rearrangements of Regular Programme resources, largely regarding staff time, have been made to support preparations for IYM so far. Extra-budgetary resources are required to support the work being carried out directly by the IYM coordination unit to prepare help prepare the IYM at national, regional and global levels. Resources are also needed to support the observance being organized within countries through direct support to National Committees and to assist countries in the formulation of national strategies and programmes for their mountain areas. To this end a comprehensive fund-raising and resource mobilisation strategy has been formulated within FAO and a multi-donor trust fund has been set up to raise the approximately US$ 6 million needed to carry out the activities defined in the IYM project proposal. In the period leading up to October 2001 approximately US$1,000,000 had been contributed by donor countries (Italy, Switzerland and Austria) to the trust fund.
8. FAO, as lead agency, convened a meeting in July 2001 with representatives of the major global events currently scheduled for the IYM. The meeting, hosted by the Swiss Government, was held to establish closer collaboration among the major events to ensure a well coordinated and coherent overall approach to the IYM. The aim is to ensure that each of the major global processes and events has the opportunity and is encouraged to build on the results of the other processes that precede it, and that all the results are fully considered and duly recognised at the final IYM conference. Global IYM meetings include:
9. In view of the coinciding observance in 2002 of the International Year of Mountains and the International Year of Ecotourism (IYE) (website: http://www.world-tourism.org/ sustainable/IYE-Main-Menu.htm), member countries of the Committee on Forestry, who met in March 2001, urged FAO to collaborate with organizers of the IYE to ensure that both Years are fully synchronised. The World Tourism Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) are co-lead agencies for the IYE. Since a large portion of tourist activities occurs in mountain areas, simultaneous observance of both international years in 2002 provides an important opportunity to jointly build awareness and new synergies. A World Summit on Ecotourism will be held in Quebec, Canada, in May 2002.
10. The Near East Forestry Commission at its last meeting in 2000 in Teheran stressed the importance of action at the national level and welcomed FAO's lead role. It noted the importance of highland/lowland interaction and the importance of mountains for water and food security, as well as in economic, ecological and cultural terms.
11. Today cooperation between FAO and countries of the region should gain some renewal in the implementation of chapter 13 of Agenda 21 and the observance of the International Year of Mountains. Morocco and Tunisia are presently already developing mountain focussed programmes, and in Yemen a nation-wide project on watershed management and forestry has a strong potential for supporting and enlarging the country's initiatives to implement chapter 13 and observe the International Year of Mountains.
12. FAO envisages developing a process that focuses on Near East mountains. A networking process will be encouraged and supported to increase regional awareness of the mountain ecosystems in the region, and develop cooperation for the conservation, management and development of mountain resources. This will also build a philosophy and willingness to exchange information on technologies, approaches and experiences in tackling resources conservation and development in mountain systems in the region.
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1 Further details on these events are available on the IYM website (www.mountains2002.org).