The new Forest and Water Programme

Approximately 75% of freshwater comes from forested watersheds (Shvidenko et al 2005), providing water for domestic, agricultural, industrial, and environmental uses downstream. Many of these watersheds are headwater catchments in mountain areas, and thus mountains are often referred to as “water towers,” supplying freshwater to over 50% of the world's population (Ariza et al 2013). After launching Forests and Water—A Five-Year Action Plan (FAO, 2015a) in September 2015 at the 14th World Forestry Congress in Durban, South Africa, FAO announced a Forest and Water Programme during the International Day of Forests (21 March 2016). The program is committed to advancing an integrated approach to forest and water resources management and is aligned with the goals of the Action Plan, as well as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6 (water) and 15 (life on land). It strives to enhance the strategic management of forests and trees within landscapes for water-related ecosystem services, emphasizing the importance of upstream–downstream linkages. In doing so, the program supports countries in achieving the 2 mountain-related SDGs.

The Forest and Water Programme currently has 3 priorities: the development of a forest and water monitoring framework to support the collection of data to inform policy and practice (Box 1; Figure 1); capacity building of stakeholders to take into account water-related ecosystem services in forest and land management; and advocacy. Over the next 2 years, the program will pilot the monitoring framework and capacity-building activities and develop an interactive monitoring tool; stakeholders are invited to express interest in engagement as technical experts or potential beneficiaries.

FIGURE 1 

Experts brainstorm to develop indicators for forest–water relationships during an FAO workshop at the Stockholm International Water Institute in Sweden. (Photo courtesy of Stockholm International Water Institute/Nayereh Rajabi)

Working Party on the Management of Mountain Watersheds

FAO also hosts the Secretariat of the Working Party on the Management of Mountain Watersheds, a technical body under the European Forestry Commission. The Working Party and FAO have published Ecosystem Services in Headwater Catchments (Krecek et al 2017), which aims to improve the understanding of mountain ecosystem services in a changing world and to promote inclusive stakeholder dialogue in headwater regions. The annual steering committee meeting is scheduled to take place in May 2017, and the next biennial session of the Working Party, with a focus on the management of municipal watersheds in mountain regions, is set for 4–6 September 2017 in Prague, Czech Republic.

The Mountain Partnership

The Mountain Partnership (MP) is a UN voluntary alliance of governments, intergovernmental organizations, and civil society organizations dedicated to improving the lives of mountain peoples and protecting mountain environments around the world. Founded in 2002 during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, the MP has steadily grown and, as of March 2017, has more than 290 members.

The Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS) was established to support and serve the MP members and raise the mountain agenda worldwide; work consists primarily of advocacy, communications, capacity development, and brokering joint activities between MP members. Currently, the MPS is financed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture, and FAO.

In September 2015, the UN adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which included 3 SDG targets related to mountains: targets 6.6, 15.1, and 15.4 (1 on water and 2 on life on land). This was the result of an intense advocacy campaign carried out by MP members over 2 years, involving strategic events and meetings to create political support for including specific language on mountains in the SDGs. As the appointed custodian agency of target 15.4, the MPS/FAO has developed the official indicator for monitoring progress toward the achievement of this target (Box 2).

In December 2015, on International Mountain Day, FAO released the report Mapping the Vulnerability of Mountain Peoples to Food Insecurity (FAO 2015b). The only comprehensive global overview on the subject in over a decade, the report highlighted the rising level of food insecurity in the world's mountain regions (Box 3). Throughout 2016, the MPS widely disseminated the results of the study at events in Rome, Italy; Washington, DC; and New York, NY.

As part of a project supported by the Italian Development Cooperation, the MPS, in collaboration with Slow Food, is promoting more sustainable value chains for selected high-quality mountain products. A voluntary label for these mountain products (Figure 2) has been developed to improve access to markets for small mountain producers in developing countries. The label enables consumers to identify products from mountain areas and allows producers to obtain fair compensation for their products. It is being piloted in Bolivia, Cuba, India, and Kyrgyzstan. The Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture is contributing to the project by sponsoring an associate program officer for 2 years.

FIGURE 2 

Mountain Partnership Products labels. (Photo courtesy of FAO/Alessia Vita)

Every year since 2008, the MPS has trained midlevel government and nongovernmental organization staff to better understand different sustainable mountain development issues through the International Programme on Research and Training on Sustainable Management of Mountain Areas, commonly referred to as IPROMO. The program will celebrate its 10th anniversary in July 2017.