UN study aims to help tailor development strategies for mountain people

Mountain people - the guardians of some of the world's most valuable natural resources - are the focus of a pioneering United Nations survey intended to help policy makers tailor development strategies to provide vulnerable communities the ability to deal with a host of agricultural and environmental issues.

Around 270 million rural mountain people in developing and transition countries are threatened by food insecurity. Where these vulnerable populations live, how they earn their livelihoods and possible solutions to the problems that confront them are the subject of a new report by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) entitled, Towards a GIS-based analysis of mountain environments and populations.

The survey, prepared using the latest geographic information system (GIS) technology and many newly available GIS maps and databases, enabled researchers to organize, combine and analyze vast amounts of geophysical and demographic information. It also uses the latest global mapping technology to study the effects of climate change, overgrazing and deforestation on the people and economies of these mighty but fragile eco-regions.

The survey provides a comprehensive snapshot of environmental conditions and provides new insights into how rural mountain families secure their livelihoods, highlighting in particular the importance of livestock as a generally reliable source of income and a cushion against hard times.

"With this publication, FAO seeks to apply GIS technology to deepen understanding of conditions underlying poverty and hunger in the world, with special reference to mountain environments and populations," said Dietrich Leihner, Director of FAO's Research, Extension and Training Division.

According to the study, some 78 per cent of the world's mountain area is considered not suitable, or only marginally suitable, for crop agriculture. In developing and transition countries, only 7 per cent of mountain area is currently classified as cropland, whereas grazing is practiced on nearly 70 per cent of the area. In all, some 336 million people inhabit mountain grazing lands and depend on livestock for their livelihood.