The World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) share the common aim of protecting mountain biodiversity and ensuring that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. Hence, in the summer of 2002, IUCN and UIAA worked in partnership to demonstrate the importance of mountain protection for cooperation and peace. Between 24 and 29 August, a team comprised of Harish Kapadia and Mandip Singh Soin from India, Sher Khan and Nazir Sabir from Pakistan, quadruple amputee Jamie Andrew from Scotland, and Julie-Ann Clyma and Roger Payne representing the UIAA, climbed several peaks in the Swiss Alps, including the Mönch (4099 m). The purpose of the climbs was to underline the importance of protecting mountain environments and highlight the success of the Swiss Government in achieving UNESCO natural World Heritage status for the Jungfrau–Aletsch–Bietschhorn region. The climbs also promoted the creation of transboundary protected areas, in particular the Siachen Glacier between India and Pakistan, the scene of the longest-running military conflict in the world.
One of the greatest obstacles to sustainable development is warfare, and a high percentage of armed conflicts take place in mountain regions. The significance of these conflicts was pointed out at the launch of the United Nations International Year of Mountains 2002 by Jacques Diouf, Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, who said: “Without peace, we cannot reduce poverty. Without peace, we cannot ensure food supplies. Without peace, we cannot even consider sustainable development.”
The Siachen Glacier is the longest mountain glacier in the world. Since 1984, the armed forces of India and Pakistan have fought over the Saltoro Ridge, with advanced posts up to 6700 m. This is the highest battlefield in the world and the longest-running military armed conflict, costing an estimated US$1 million per day on the India side alone. The conflict has become a military and political stalemate (see Aamir Ali's article in Mountain Research and Development 22(4), Nov 2002). All the spent munitions and waste from the 2 armies drains into the glaciers and eventually into the Indus River. Initiating an environmental cleanup operation on the Siachen Glacier could help resolve the dispute over the mountain border and establish a peace park to protect the glaciers and rivers, which provide water to millions of people, from further pollution.
During the IUCN–UIAA Swiss Summit, the team met with Adolf Ogi, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General on Sport for Development and Peace. Mr Ogi, who has twice been President of Switzerland, said: “As mountaineers you have shown the way that I hope others will follow to promote peace through sport.” Mr Ogi has been leading a special UN task force that has been looking at how to support development and help create a better world through sport. With the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Swiss Federal Office of Sports, Mr Ogi organized the first international conference on Sport and Development in Magglingen, 16–18 February 2003. Highlighting the potential of sport to promote development, Dr Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee, said of the IUCN–UIAA Swiss Summit, “This project in itself is a true demonstration of values inherent to sport such as courage, friendship, respect, peace, and universality. We can only praise such a commendable project and achievement.”
The success of the Swiss Summit also was recognized by the International Institute for Peace through Tourism, which presented an achievement award to IUCN–UIAA, collected on behalf of the team by Jamie Andrew, the Scottish climber who lost both hands and feet to frostbite in 1999.
Under the leadership of Larry Hamilton of the World Commission on Protected Areas, IUCN created an ad hoc group for the Siachen Glacier Peace Park. In 2001, IUCN published Best Practice Guidelines for Transboundary Protected Areas for Peace and Cooperation. These guidelines highlight the benefits of such areas and provide an approach for establishing peace parks. Transboundary protected areas will be one of the focuses of IUCN's Vth World Parks Congress to be held in Durban, South Africa, 8–17 September 2003. To promote conservation and peace, the UIAA is coordinating a global series of youth climbs in 2004 under the title “Global Youth Summit.”
A report about the Swiss Summit, with photographs and the views of the team, is at www.uiaa.ch/iucn/ and http://iucn.org/themes/wcpa/biome/mountain/mountain.html. More information on IUCN's World Parks Congress is on www.iucn.org/wpc2003 the International Conference on Sport and Development is documented on www.sportdevconf.org and information on the “Global Youth Summit” is available from roger.payne@uiaa.ch.
