A. Introduction
Twenty years after the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992, also popularly known as the Rio Conference or Earth Summit, the world community is convening another important meeting, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also to be held in Rio, from 4-6 June 2012. The conference, dubbed ‘Rio+20’, is expected to do serious stocktaking of the progress made, experiences gained, and unfulfilled commitments in implementing various programmes and initiatives since the 1992 conference. It will focus on lessons learned and emerging opportunities, which will help in developing a roadmap for the future to ensure that human civilisation is preserved and human beings learn to live in harmony with nature and with each other.
Although the earlier Rio meeting formally recognised the significance of sustainable mountain development (SMD) in the environment and sustainability debate, through the inclusion of Chapter 13 in its Agenda 21, it is increasingly realised that little has been achieved in this area. Accordingly the members of the Mountain Partnership Consortium (MPC), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the Swiss Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE) are together developing a state-of-art review report on SMD challenges and opportunities in mountains and global policy briefs which will be shared with the participants at Rio+20. Selected MPC members working in different regions are tasked with developing regional assessment reports as the basis for developing these global reports and briefs; these regional reports will be presented at the Global Conference on Sustainable Mountain Development: Challenges and Opportunities for Rio+20, to be held in Lucerne, Switzerland in October 2011. With input from the member, then the MPC will prepare global assessment report as well as policy briefs to influence the Rio +20 process.
B. Objective
The objective of the Regional Assessment Report on SMD in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) –Asia pacific region is:
• To take stock of what has, and what has not, been achieved in promoting sustainable mountain development since 1992 in different parts of the region
• To learn what has worked and what has not -- and why
• To identify current and future challenges and to explore pathways and opportunities on how these can be addressed in the context of the HKH mountains
• To identify the role of different stakeholders and to propose a ’plan of work’ towards the preparation of a draft regional report by September 2011
C. Proposed activities and process
To ensure balanced representation of achievements, challenges, opportunities and future priorities in the report, the following six steps were envisaged:
I. Reach a general agreement on the concept, framework, process and method for the assessment among the national and regional stakeholders
II. Identify national and regional focal points
The task of these focal points is to coordinate the collection of relevant material and to analyse and describe the achievements and current status of sustainable mountain development. The focal points mainly include members of government organisations (GOs), NGOs, and academia with a history and commitment of working on the SMD agenda or related topics. They can be seconded by additional interested and competent partners who can be associated via suitable arrangements. Key actors and stakeholders will be identified by drawing on the network of all national focal points. (For fair representation, key actors should be taken from each of the following fields: government; academia and research; sub-national, national and international/multilateral (donor) agencies and institutions; civil society, NGOs, and INGOs; the private sector)
III. Collect information on the status and challenges of mountain development
This step will be done by the national and regional focal points based on 1) and 2) above. A global synthesis will be compiled based on the regional/topical reports by a team of international experts.
IV. Synthesise, present, and validate key findings at an international conference
Global and regional experiences, lessons learnt, and challenges will be presented and discussed at a global symposium in Lucerne, Switzerland in October 2011. The output will be a pre-synthesis providing a global outline. Gaps to be filled relating to status and challenges will be identified, key messages for policy makers discussed and extracted, and a final global synthesis report prepared after the event.
V. Finalisation of the regional assessment reports by including the outputs and recommendations of the Lucerne symposium reflecting the views of the regional and global stakeholders, especially those expressed by the senior policy makers and political and development leaders from around the global mountain countries and regions.
VI. Produce and disseminate final global status report in view of Rio+20 in 2012
This will be done in the three months following the Lucerne symposium. Work on validation and review will be coordinated by a small editorial team involving interested and competent individuals.
D. Expected outputs
The expected outputs are:
• A regional pre-synthesis report on status and challenges of mountain development and research immediately following the Lucerne Conference in October 2011, for discussion and circulation to interested stakeholders in sustainable mountain development.
• A final global status report which;
- documents the progress and key lessons learnt relating to sustainable mountain development; this includes an overview and critical assessment of programmes, strategies, and tools that have been applied by various stakeholders, or in different mountain regions of the world;
- presents an overview of emerging challenges in sustainable mountain development, and innovative ways how these could be tackled, including promising strategies, policies, economies, technologies, institutional arrangements, and innovative research;
- A synthesis of key findings including policy recommendations which may be published as a standalone document for Rio+20 and used for briefings such as by the MPC members to the representatives of state delegations to Rio 2012.
The global status report will be a narrative document. It will be produced in a user-friendly format and accessible text with graphs, tables, maps, and pictures. It will contain both qualitative and quantitative information relating to local, regional, and global mountain contexts. The international journal Mountain Research and Development (MRD) will be used for publishing key elements of the report in greater detail after the Rio+20 Conference.
Summary of activities implemented in the HKH-AP region
Started in early 2011 in the Asia Pacific region, this preparatory process is managed by ICIMOD together with partner organisations and individual experts contributing to SMD process in the region. An MPC meeting in February 2011 outlined the structure of the global as well as regional assessment reports, identified lead partners, and defined the process. Following guiding documents and inputs received from MPC, ICIMOD together with the partners organised several activities which can be broadly categorized into following five headings;
I. Electronic conferences:
a. The e-discussion on Sustainable Mountain Development in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region: From Rio 1992 to Rio+20, 2012 and beyond’ was organised from 4-24 April 2011 aiming at policy makers and development practicians in the ICIMOD Regional Member Countries. The e-discussion was successful in attracting over 200 contributions from 296 registered users representing over 20 countries in Asia, Europe, North and Latin America. More at http://www.icimod.org/?q=3193 .
b. The South and Central Asia regional virtual consultation on youth perspectives on Rio +20, 9-29 May 2011 was attended by 550 participants from 38 countries, who made 400 contributions in total. Managed together with the Small Earth Nepal (SEN) and the Environmental Challenge Organisation (Eco-Singapore) the consultation was also successful in developing 12 case studies from South and Central Asia on the issues relevant to Rio +20 priority areas. Aimed at youth and early and mid-career professionals and researchers, this event was particularly successful in sensing and mainstreaming youth perspectives on SMD in the Rio +20 process. More at http://www.icimod.org/?q=3374 .
c. The e-conference on Sustainable Mountain Development in the Southeast Asia, June 1-30, 2011 was attended by more than 160 participants from 20 countries, largely from Southeast and South Asia. With over 200 contributions the event was useful in developing mountain interest in the South East Asian countries and in capturing some very specific issues pertinent to this region. More at http://dgroups.org/groups/Rioplus20inSEA
II. Case studies preparation:
There are 14 case studies prepared by mountain development experts representing Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Vietnam. The case studies represent diver issues like Institutional/Governance model of SD or even NRM, Community/Van Panchayat Forestry, Organic Production, Biodiversity conservation/MAPs/NTFPs, Biogas, Watershed management as CDM, Micro-hydro as CDM, CBNRM/NR Management Groups in the Northeast India (as an answer to Shifting cultivation) etc.
III. Desk research:
Intensive desk research is done to compile relevant information, identify active players and keep track of global and regional events and processes taking place contributing towards Rio +20 processes. There special knowledge digests were prepared during organisation of the -discussion on Sustainable Mountain Development in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region.
IV. Regional Sharing Workshop on Assessment of Challenges and Opportunities in the Asia Pacific region for Rio +20:
Scheduled from 23-25 August 2011, the workshop will bring together 40 participants from the HKH and AP region to discuss further on the issues identified through above processes.
a. Purpose of the workshop
The information collected through the above process will be further discussed, critically assessed, and refined during the Regional Sharing Workshop on Assessment of Potentials and Opportunities in the Asia Pacific Region for Rio+20, to be held at ICIMOD from 23 to 25 August 2011. The workshop will bring together around 40 experts from the Asia Pacific region, including the case study developers, active contributors to the virtual debates, government authorities, and representatives of major groups, international and UN agencies, and donor communities, to:
• discuss and refine the case studies, virtual debate syntheses, and draft regional report prepared for the workshop;
• identify good practices and missing links;
• prioritise environmental issues in the region, and collect and consolidate issue-specific suggestions;
• finalise the content and shape of the regional assessment report; and
• facilitate sharing of SMD-relevant information and knowledge in the region and promote regional cooperation.
b. Expected Outputs of the Workshop
• Wide sharing, extensive discussion and rigorous validation of information and knowledge on SMD in the context of Rio+20, including validation of facts and figures
• Regional priorities and recommendations to include in the final regional assessment report;
• Formation of a responsive subgroup of people with good awareness of SMD, Chapter 13, and Rio +20 who are committed to contribute to the process
V. Assessment Report preparation
Based on knowledge input received during the Regional Sharing Workshop on Assessment of Challenges and Opportunities in the Asia Pacific region for Rio +20 in August 2011, the report will be finalised and submitted to the MPC Steering Committee in Early October 2011. Key highlights of the report will be presented at the Global Conference on Sustainable Mountain Development: Challenges and Opportunities for Rio+20, to be held in Lucerne, Switzerland in October 2011.
