INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR
INTEGRATED MOUNTAIN DEVELOPMENT
On the occasion of the
International Year of MOUNTAINS 2002
presents the:
HIGH SUMMIT VIDEOCONFERENCE
day three, Economy
(Factors of Development)
PRESS RELEASE No. 4
Kathmandu, 08 May 2002
The mountains of Asia cover 75% of
its landmass. Yet the people of these magnificent landscapes
remain in large part statistically invisible. As the Asia High
Summit in the third day of its deliberations emphasized, there is
a glaring scarcity of data and limited analysis on poverty,
inequality, and development specific to mountain regions.
Existing research does however suggest that mountain economies
are quite diverse, and include both those with lower poverty and
higher development than their national economies, as well as
those who have more poverty and lower development than their
country averages. It is also notable that if the overall economy
is growing, mountain regions also do well. Today's experts thus
challenged generalizations that mountain economies are
necessarily poorer than non-mountain ones. Long-term growth and
poverty alleviation prospects in mountain regions are clearly
closely linked to the growth and expansion of their respective
economies.
Mountain
communities and their ecosystems are interlinked
- the trees, forests and grasslands, soil and
water -form the core of livelihoods for local
people. In ensuring sustainable livelihoods,
however, mountain economies face significant
constraints. They often have difficult terrain,
vulnerability to natural disasters, fragile
soils, low productivity agriculture, poor
infrastructure, low human resource development
and often little political voice or clout. At the
same time, mountain economies also have a special
potentials and comparative advantages, such as in
'mountain ecological niche products' like
tourism, horticulture, NTFP, medicinal herbs and
plants, organic products, etc. Mountain
communities are also rich in social capital -
norms of reciprocity, trust and social support
networks still exist - which provide the basis
for community cooperation for infrastructure
improvement and collective ventures.
To take advantage of these
potentials, however, the experts noted that mountain economies
need capacity building, better infrastructure, information
communication technologies, and overall government support for
market access and for building a competitive edge.
Also in the distribution of benefits
stemming from mountain development special attention
needs to be paid to equity concerns. Mountain communities
are not homogenous. They are often characterized by high
levels of gender, class, caste and ethnic inequalities.
Women in particular, while being the backbone of mountain
economies are often excluded from the benefits of
development, and from having a voice in decision making.
In building capacity special attention is thus needed to
ensure the economic inclusion of women and socially
marginalized groups.
There was consensus among
the experts that poverty was not just about improvement
in incomes but also enhancement of basic capabilities
through improved health, education, access to water, etc,
as well as aspects such as human dignity, citizenship
rights, and political voice.
Finally,
the participants recommended the building of an
appropriate database to measure and monitor development
in mountain regions, and to build a data bank on
biodiversity resources. The potential role of the State,
NGOs and the private sector were emphasised in this
regard.
Professor Bina Agarwal from Delhi
chaired the day's deliberations. The paper authors
included Dr. Mahesh Banskota, Dr. Dev Nathan, and Dr.
Mevlut Duzgun.
or contact:
Ms. Armila C. Shakya, Coordinator International Year of
Mountains/Overall
Coordinator Asia High Summit
Ms. Moushumi Chaudhury, Assistant Coordinator Asia High
Summit
E-mail: ashakva@.icimod.org.np mchaudhurv@.icimod.orgl.np
Phone: 525317 (ext. 677/688)
ICIMOD
INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR INTEGRATED MOUNTAIN DEVELOPMENT
Mail: Po 0. Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal
Office: Jawalakhel, Lalitpur (Kathmandu)
Cable: ICIMOD, Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel: 977-1-525313
Fax: 977-1-524509/536747
e-mail : icimod@icimod.org.np
Homepage: www.icimod.org
released by Anju Shrestha ashrestha@icimod.org.np
Public Relations and Outreach Officer ICIMOD
