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Web Coverage/ Summary
IISD Reporting Services (IISD RS) has produced web coverage and a summary report of this meeting. To download our report, click the HTML or PDF icons below.
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Mountain Day 2

Highlights for Monday, 3 December 2012

Mountain Day 2, “Mainstreaming Rio+20 outcomes in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) processes for prosperous, resilient, and sustainable mountain ecosystems and communities,” was held in Doha, Qatar, on 3 December 2012, on the sidelines of the 2012 UN Climate Change Conference. It was organized by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS)/Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), in the context of the Strategic Initiative for Mountains and Climate Change funded by the Development Grant Facility of the World Bank. Other sponsors and partners included the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Water and Climate Coalition (WCC), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the ICIMOD-based Himalayan Climate Change Adaptation Programme (HICAP) and the Government of Nepal. More information.
Panel during the closing session (L-R): Ksenija Skrilec, Minister Plenipotentiary, Directorate for Global Issues and Multilateral Political Relations, Slovenia; Krishna Gyawali, Ministry of Industry, Nepal; Gabriela Seiz, Head of International Affairs Division, Federal Office of Metereology and Climatology, Switzerland; Alfredo Guillet, Italy; Pema Choephyel, Director, Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation, Bhutan; Keshab Man Shakya, Chair, Minister of Environment, Science, and Technology, Nepal; and Maria Fabiana Loguzzo, Minister Director General for Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Argentina.
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Opening Session


Madhav Karki, Deputy Director General, International Centre
for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
David Molden, Director General, ICIMOD

Thomas Hofer, Interim Coordinator, Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS), Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO)
Gyan Chandra Acharya, Under Secretary
General and High Representative for Least Developed,
Landlocked and Developing Small Islands States, UN

Keshab Man Shakya, Minister of Environment,
Science, and Technology, Nepal
Marco Onida, Secretary-General, Permanent
Secretariat of the Alpine Convention


Stories on Climate Change Impacts and Local Responses from Different Mountain Regions of the World


Thomas Hofer, MPS/FAO, highlighted hydrological trends in small watersheds in the Fouta Djallon highlands in West Africa, emphasizing that it is difficult to differentiate between climate variability and climate change, as some changes could be driven by land use.
Madhav Karki, ICIMOD, highlighted key messages, including the need to: improve the value chain and watershed management to build the resilience of local communities; improve communication between researchers and local communities, as often they are not aware of why certain weather events happen; and establish early warning systems to increase preparedness of local communities.

Jose Luis Balmaceda, ambassador of Chile, highlighted the severity of glacier melt in his country mainly caused by climate change.
Gonzalo Beker, Peru, noted that the capacity to respond to climate change is present among local people and traditional knowledge should be harnessed.

Parallel Session: Knowledge Café - Mountain Agenda in Post Rio+20 Scenarios



May Zin Taw, Myanmar youth ambassador, ICIMOD
Moderator Anja M. Rasmussen, ICIMOD

Group discussion chaired by Sameera Zaib, youth ambassador from Pakistan, ICIMOD.

Group discussion chaired by Timila Dhakwa,
Asia-Pacific Youth Ambassador, ICIMOD.


Integrated Management of Water and Other Mountain Ecosystem
Services for Meeting Adaptation and Resilience Goals


Karin Lexen, Water and Climate Coalition, noted that local knowledge is critical to the success of measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Mats Eriksson, Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), suggested that that there are examples of lessons on regarding infrastructure development, particularly for flood mitigation, that are overlooked.

Fred Boltz, Conservation International and the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation, noted how often infrastructure and water resource management has been designed for a single climate and that in the future multiple climate scenarios should be considered.

Pervaiz Amir, Global Water Partnership (GWP), discussed mountains and water in Pakistan, noting that very little from local experiences is mainstreamed into policy-making.
Alfredo Guillet, Directorate General for Development Cooperation (DGCS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy, stressed that key to mobilizing the global mountain agenda is to engage at the national level.

Bai-Mass Taal, Executive Secretary, African Ministers’ Council on Water, stressed the importance of finding the “bridge” between negotiators.

Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in Mountains
for Food Security, Livelihoods and Ecosystem Services


David Molden, Director General, ICIMOD
Suman Bisht, gender specialist, ICIMOD, highlighted that “women are important game changers.”


Virendra Pal Singh, Regional Coordinator, HICAP/ICIMOD, presented on climate smart agricultural practices for food security, drawing from experiences in India and Bhutan.
Nand Kishor Agrawal, HICAP/ICIMOD, argued that adaptation cannot "wait until knowledge is perfect."

Asuncion St. Clair, Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO), emphasized the need to place adaptation “between resilience and vulnerability.”
Dietrich Schmidt-Vogt, ICRAF, stressed that the agroforestry approach allows greater resilience against environmental stresses, as it allows for diversification.

Panel Response and Discussion


(L-R): Asuncion St. Clair, CICERO; Virendra Pal Singh, Regional Coordinator, HICAP/ICIMOD; Dietrich Schmidt-Vogt, ICRAF; Nand Kishor Agrawal, HICAP/ICIMOD; Suman Bisht, gender specialist, ICIMOD; and David Molden, Director General, ICIMOD

Ministerial/Policy Makers’ Roundtable Panel Discussions


Virendra Pal Singh, ICRAF, said that climate change remains poorly understood due to the lack of capacity-building and limited knowledge.
Sameera Zaib, youth ambassador from Pakistan, ICIMOD

Maria Fabiana Loguzzo, Minister Director General for Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Argentina
Mats Eriksson recalled the centrality of water when approaching climate change and mountains, stating that local knowledge needs to be "brought on board."

Alfredo Guillet, Italy and Pema Choephyel, Director,
Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation, Bhutan


Ksenija Skrilec, Minister Plenipotentiary, Directorate for
Global Issues and Multilateral Political Relations, Slovenia
and Krishna Gyawali, Ministry of Industry, Nepal
Gabriela Seiz, Head of International Affairs Division, Federal Office of Metereology and Climatology, Switzerland and Alfredo Guillet, Italy

Representative from Qatar
Keshab Man Shakya, Chair, Minister of
Environment, Science, and Technology, Nepal

Thomas Hofer, Interim Coordinator, MPS/FAO
Madhav Karki, Deputy Director General, ICIMOD

Group photo of some of the panelists and participants following the closing session.

Around the Conference



Keshab Man Shakya, Minister of Environment, Science, and Technology, Nepal and Marco Onida, Secretary-General,
Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention
Your IISD Reporting Services Team:
Tanya Rosen, Brad Vincelette, and Nicole de Paula
Related Links
Meeting resources
*Meeting website and programme
*Mountain Partnership website
*ICIMOD website

Doha Climate Change Conference general resources
*Doha Climate Change Conference - November 2012, 26 November - 7 December 2012, Doha, Qatar (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change website)
*Doha Climate Change Conference - November 2012 (host country website)
*Gateway to the UN System’s Work on Climate Change

IISD RS coverage of previous Mountain Day event
*IISD RS coverage of Mountain Day, 4 December 2011, Durban, South Africa

IISD RS resources
*IISD RS coverage of the Doha Global Business Day, 3 December 2012, Doha, Qatar
*IISD RS coverage of the Development & Climate (D&C) days and Adaptation Practitioners Days, 3 December 2012, Doha, Qatar
*IISD RS coverage of the Doha Climate Change Conference - November 2012, 26 November - 7 December 2012, Doha, Qatar
*IISD RS coverage of Selected Side Events at the Doha Climate Change Conference - November 2012, 26 November - 7 December 2012, Doha, Qatar
*IISD RS coverage of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) 2012 Partnership Forum and Associated Events, 30 October - 7 November 2012, Istanbul, Turkey
*IISD RS coverage of the Twelfth Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) Dialogue on Forests, Governance and Climate Change, 5 November 2012, Washington, DC, United States of America
*IISD RS coverage of the Second UNFCCC Workshop on Long-term Finance, 1-3 October 2012, Cape Town, South Africa
*IISD RS coverage of the Bangkok Climate Change Conference - August 2012, 30 August - 5 September 2012, Bangkok, Thailand
*IISD RS coverage of the Bonn Climate Change Conference - May 2012, 14-25 May 2012, Bonn, Germany
*IISD RS coverage of Selected Side Events at the Bonn Climate Change Conference - May 2012, 14-25 May 2012, Bonn, Germany
*IISD RS coverage of the Fifth Global Business Day, 5 December 2011, Durban, South Africa
*IISD RS coverage of Forest Day 5, 4 December 2011, Durban, South Africa
*IISD RS coverage of Oceans Day at Durban, 3 December 2011, Durban, South Africa
*IISD RS coverage of D&C Days at COP 17, 3-4 December 2011, Durban, South Africa
*IISD RS coverage of the Durban Climate Change Conference - November 2011, 28 November - 11 December 2011, Durban, South Africa
*IISD RS coverage of Selected Side Events at the Durban Climate Change Conference - November 2011, 28 November - 9 December 2011, Durban, South Africa
*IISD RS coverage of the Eleventh RRI Dialogue on Forests, Governance and Climate Change, 12 October 2011, London, United Kingdom
*IISD RS coverage of the Tenth RRI Dialogue on Forest Governance and Climate Change, 7-8 September 2011, The Hague, Netherlands
*IISD RS coverage of the Ninth RRI Dialogue on Forest Governance and Climate Change, 8 February 2011, London, England
*IISD RS coverage of It’s Down 2 Earth - Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, 31 October - 5 November 2010, The Hague, Netherlands
*IISD RS coverage of the Cancún Climate Change Conference, 29 November - 11 December 2010, Cancún, Mexico
*IISD RS coverage of Selected Side Events at the Cancún Climate Change Conference, 29 November - 10 December 2010, Cancún, Mexico
*IISD RS coverage of the Fifth RRI Dialogue on Forest Governance and Climate Change, 22 June 2010, Washington, D.C., United States of America
*IISD RS coverage of the Fourth Rights and Resources Initiative Dialogue on Forests, Governance and Climate Change, 6 April 2010, London, England
*IISD RS coverage of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, 7-19 December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark
*IISD RS coverage of Selected Side Events at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, 7-19 December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark
*IISD RS summary report of the "UNFCCC Workshop on Integrating Practices, Tools and Systems for Climate Risk Assessment and Management and Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies into National Policies and Programmes" from 10-12 March 2009, Havana, Cuba (HTML - PDF)
*IISD RS coverage of the UN Climate Change Conference - Poznań, 1-12 December 2008, Poznań, Poland
*IISD RS coverage of Selected Side Events at the Poznań Climate Change Conference, 1-12 December 2008, Poznań, Poland
*IISD RS archive of meetings on climate change, and backgrounder
*Climate-L - A mailing list for news on climate change policy
*Climate Change Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of UN and Intergovernmental Activities Addressing Global Climate Change Policy
*Sustainable Energy Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of Sustainable Energy Activities
*Sustainable Development Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of International Activities Preparing for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development
*SIDS Policy and Practice - A Knowledgebase on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States
*Sustainable Water Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of Activities Addressing Sustainable Water and Sanitation Policy and Practice
*Biodiversity Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of UN and Intergovernmental Activities Addressing International Biodiversity Policy
*Linkages Update - Bi-weekly international environment and sustainable development news
*African Regional Coverage
*Latin America and Caribbean Regional Coverage
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