Together with the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea and the Italian Presidency of the Alpine Convention, the Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention organized two side events at the UNFCCC COP20 in Lima, Peru.

The first side event was about “The role of mountain forests to climate change adaptation: which perspective from sustainable forest management?" took place in the pavilion of the European Union on 8 December 2014. A representative from the Czech Presidency to the Carpathian Convention from the Ministry of the Environment, participated to this event and made an opening speech.

Furthermore, the representatives of the Italian Presidency of the Alpine Convention and the Czech Presidency of the Carpathian Convention jointly presented the Joint Alpine - Carpathian Statement on Adaptation to Climate Change. The Statement was welcomed with interest by the South American delegation attending the meeting.

The second side event was entitled "The challenges of local adaptation planning and initiatives for communities" and was organized by Italy together with INBAR – International Network for Bamboo and Ratan, CARE International – Poverty Environment and Climate Change Network (PECCN) and FARN – Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales. This side event took place on 9 December.

During this meeting, the guidelines for local adaptation in the Alps were presented, as well as some experience sharing with other regions of the world and case examples from South America and Asia. A live discussion on how to strengthen synergies between mountain areas of the world followed.

Also, UNEP (ROE Vienna Office and ROLAC) organized together with CONDESAN a side event entitled: “Climate Change and adaptation in the Andes mountain region – Towards a (sub)-regional approach” in the Mountains and Water Pavilion Auditorium. This event was organized to underline the importance of mountain ecosystems in the Andes region and their vulnerability towards climate change. This event aimed to 1) take account of past and current interventions at regional/transboundary level to promote CCA in the Andes mountain region and 2) provide a gap analysis to identify recommendations and further priorities. The event was co-organized in the context of UNEP’s inter-regional project “Climate change action in developing countries with fragile mountainous ecosystems”

The Albertine Rift Conservation Society (ARCOS) in cooperation with the Government of Uganda, the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), the East African Community (EAC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) and the Mountain Partnership organized a high-level side event on African mountains entitled: “Mountains and Water: From Understanding to Action African Water Towers in a Changing Climate” in the Pavilion for Water and Mountains at the occasion of the International Mountain Day, 11 December 2014.

The objectives of this session were to highlight recent efforts in promoting sustainable mountain development in Africa, based particularly on the recently concluded Africa Regional Mountains Forum, to discuss on-going national and sub-regional efforts in building climate resilience and sustainability in African mountains and to call for further support for Africa’s Sustainable Mountain Development agenda, building on the recent African Mountain Forum organized in Arusha in October. High level speakers included HE Dr Eng. Binilith Mahenge, Chair of AMCEN and Minister for the Environment of Tanzania, HE Ms. Jesca Eriyo, Deputy Secretary General, EAC, HE Ms. Flavia Nabugere, Minister for the Environment of Uganda and HE Mr. Andrä Rupprechter – Austrian Federal Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management . At the event, UNEP presented the forthcoming African Mountain Atlas to be released in 2015.

More information: http://bit.ly/1C3CODp

On the occasion of the International Mountain Day (11 December) the synthesis publication “Mountains and Climate Change - A Global Concern” was presented by the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) and UNEP in the Mountain and Water Pavilion. UNEP (in particular the adaptation to climate change programme) was involved in and contributed to the publication. The publication features a joint foreword of Ambassador Manuel Sager, Director - General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and of Jan Dusik, Director and Regional Representative, UNEP Regional Office for Europe. Moreover, the new publication features an article by Sandor Szalai and Matthias Jurek on "Climate Change in the Carpathian Region". The article summarizes main findings of an initiative by the European Parliament and funded by the EU, consisting of three projects: Preparatory Action on Climate in the Carpathian Region (CARPATCLIM), Climate Change in the Carpathian Region (CarpathCC) and Carpathian Integrated Assessment of Vulnerability to Climate Change and Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Measures (CARPIVIA).

Download the publication under: http://www.carpathianconvention.org/news-details-195/items/carpathians-highlighted-in-lima-on-international-mountain-day.html