UN Environment has celebrated International Mountain Day with the launch of a pioneering report on the challenges and solutions for waste management at high altitudes as well as an awareness-raising event in Vienna.

The Outlook on Waste Management for Mountain Regions sheds light on sources of waste in mountain regions generated by tourism, extractive industries, urbanization and natural disasters for example, and points to successful examples for dealing with difficulties.

Tourism is seen as a double-edged sword. The number of visitors to the Mount Everest region ballooned from 20 in 1964 to 26,000 in 2012, bringing in vital income for local populations, but also 140,000 kilograms of leftover waste. Bring-your-waste-back policies are shown to help, while schemes for recycling park fees into bins and ecolabels are also recommended.

Meanwhile, during a panel discussion held as part of the report’s launch event, experts working in tourism and waste management underlined how local communities lacked awareness on how to handle modern waste - such as plastic and e-waste - and its impact on health.

Waste prevention, disposal and treatment is a shared responsibility between mountain communities, the tourism sector and private businesses, the experts agreed, while also sharing personal stories and experiences from their home mountains regions such as the Indian Himalayas and Austrian Alps.

The tourism sector can also play an active role in waste management, stressed the Alpine Association – especially with 2017 being the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017.

The Mountain Waste Outlook report is part of a regional and thematic outlook series currently developed by UN Environment, its International Environmental Technology Centre and partners.

It was launched during an event on 13 December by UN Environment in collaboration with GRID-Arendal, the International Solid Waste Association and the Austrian Alpine Association.

For more information please click here or contact matthias.jurek@unvienna.org

The First Caucasus Mountain Forum took place at the end of last year – providing countries, academics and scientists with the tools needed to make sure that the region is sustainably managed.

The Caucasus is a unique mountain area situated at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, spanning six countries and bursting with forests, roaming wild fauna. The region, home to about fifty ethnic groups, is one of the world’s hotspots for biodiversity, providing a wide range of ecosystem services to local people and to lowland communities.

Cooperation across borders, sectors and fields of research is therefore needed to ensure the region’s people and environment are protected. To further this aim, the first ever Caucasus Mountain Forum was held from 27 November to 1 December 2016 in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Co-organised by UN Environment, the forum brought researchers and practitioners together from across the region. Scientists, academics and government experts discussed and flagged a range of topics to policymakers including hazard risk management, climate change, tourism, biodiversity conservation, water resources and hazard mapping.

The event was organised in cooperation with University of Geneva, the Swiss National Science Foundation, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and Caucasus Network for Sustainable Development of Mountain Regions.

Meanwhile, a new knowledge sharing platform created by UN Environment and the Carpathian Convention also serves to build regional ownership for the Caucasian mountains. The tool contains case studies from the region whereby a range of economic sectors have contributed to mountain biodiversity, including forestry and transport, and allows visitors to add their own positive examples.

The platform was presented at the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity in December.

For more information please write to matthias.jurek@unvienna.org

Central Asia’s mountains are recognised as a biodiversity hotspot supporting a diverse range of endemic flora and fauna. Its mountain ecosystems act as water towers, providing freshwater to mountain and downstream communities, while its tourism industry increasingly empowers people across the region.

Yet climate change is becoming more and more visible. For instance, scientists warn about the melting away of Central Asian water towers, while Kazakh media have recently reported the premature blossom of snowdrops in mountain regions due to an unusually warm winter, which could be a further sign of severe changes to mountain ecosystems.

In response, UN Environment - together with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and other partners - organized a workshop on the adaptation of Central Asian Mountains to climate change in sectors such as forestry, water, energy, biodiversity and disasters to better protect vulnerable mountain populations.

The event was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 19-20 December and was attended by various experts from Central Asia and beyond as well as governmental representatives. There, a joint approach for the region’s economies and communities to adapt to climate change was discussed, with a particular focus on mountain regions. Water resources in the mountains require focused attention, Central Asian experts agreed for example.

Preliminary findings from a draft ‘Outlook on Climate Change Adaptation in the Central Asian Mountains’ were also presented. Coverage of this and the threats posed by climate change were covered by local and regional media thanks to the Internews organization.

The outcomes of the workshop will feed into new regional strategic guidance planned to be presented at a Regional Environmental Forum in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan in June this year.

The workshop was organized under the UN Environment-led project titled ‘Climate Change Action in Developing Countries with Fragile Mountainous Ecosystems from a Sub-regional perspective’.

The project has a particular focus on Central Asia, but also seeks to promote the role ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change can play in mountain regions in East Africa, the South Caucasus, Tropical Andes and Western Balkans.

For more information please write to matthias.jurek@unep.org or vanessa.burrows@unep.org

Prowling snow leopards, polar bears and Siberian tigers roam across the largest country in the world, honouring the Russian Federation’s Year of Ecology and Protected Areas.

Covering 10 percent of global terrestrial land, Russia’s diversity is immense – it is home to icy tundra, Europe’s tallest mountain (Mount Elbrus), arid deserts and deep lakes. In December, UN Environment Moscow office co-organized a round table in the KostRoma region on ‘Conservation of environmental infrastructure of protected areas and their role in environmental education and awareness raising’.

The two main conclusions drawn from this event were the need to increase environmental education and to inform decision-makers about successful sustainable practices. Plans to film and document the Kostroma Agriculture Research and Development Institute and ‘Sumarokovsky’ State National Reserve are now in motion.

Having reached a huge milestone – celebrating over 100 years of land protection – Russia continues to look after its natural environment. According to Vsevolod Stepanitsky, Deputy Director of the country’s Department of State Policy and Regulation for Environmental Protection, Russia plans to open 11 new national parks by 2020.

UN Environment’s Patron of the Ocean, Lewis Pugh, has also joined efforts to protect the country’s natural landscape. For instance, in September last year he swam in the icy depths of Lake Baikal to raise public awareness of the need for its protection. The event reached national newspapers and amplified the message that the Russian Federation’s lakes are extremely important.

This year, the Russian Federation is hoping to increase the number of visitors to their National Parks to celebrate nature and its beauty. This ties in with this year’s theme for UN Environment’s World Environment Day - connecting people with nature.

For more information please get in touch with ekaterina.tegina@unep.org