It’s the Year of the Mountains

The United Nations (UN) has lined up a number of activities to mark a year-long celebration of the International Year of the Mountains (IYM).

Lead agency for the celebrations is the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with other UN organizations, governments and NGOs collaborating. In the Philippines, the lead agency is the Makiling Center for Mountain Ecosystems in UP Los Baños, Laguna.

Actitivies include on-the-spot painting, seminar on mountain protection and coservation, national mountain clean-up campaign, Easter events in Makiling, summer youth camps, exhibit and sale of local mountain products and mountain vegetation, restoration and improvement.

The celebration will be capped with the second National Conference on the Science and Management of the Mountain Ecosystems.

IYM aims to ensure the well-being of the mountain populations by promoting sustainable development in the mountains. It is consistent with Agenda 21, the global blueprint for sustainable development of 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, classifying mountains in the same order of importance as other global environmental concerns.

Mountains are stupendous landmasses rising in different altitudes and with varied shapes and sizes. In our country, they are homes of more than eight million Filipinos who depend on its natural resources for survival. These people are commonly called upland dwellers. They used to practice "kaingin" or slash and burn as agricultural method destroying the forest cover. As such, they were the major factor in forest destruction. With the paradigm shift of DENR in managing them, this practice was greatly minimized, if not totally put to a halt. Former kaingineros are now partners in forest development through community-based projects.