TERHAN, 11 December 2006 (UNIC)--International Mountain Day, 11 December 2006, is an opportunity to create awareness about the importance of mountains to life, to highlight the opportunities and constraints in mountain development and to build partnerships that will bring positive change to the world's mountains and highlands.

It was the UN General Assembly who designated 11 December, from 2003 onwards, as 'International Mountain Day'. This decision results from the success of the UN International Year of Mountains in 2002, which increased global awareness of the importance of mountains, stimulated the establishment of national committees in 78 countries and strengthened alliances through promoting the creation of the International Partnership for Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions, known as the 'Mountain Partnership (WSSD, Johannesburg, 2 September 2002). FAO was the designated lead coordinating agency for International Year of Mountains and is mandated to lead observance of International Mountain Day.

International Mountain Day 2006 Every year, International Mountain Day is observed with a different theme relevant to sustainable mountain development. The International Mountain Day 2006 with its theme of "Managing Mountain Biodiversity for Better Lives" promotes awareness and action for the sustainable management of mountain biodiversity for the benefit of all. Mountains are storehouses of biodiversity - they host about half of the global biodiversity hot spots.

Mountain biodiversity ensures soil stability on steep slopes and provides fresh water, food, timber, medicine and recreation for most of us. Mountain people have developed highly diverse cultures and land use systems with a great variety of locally adapted crops and livestock. The intensive use of resources by humans puts this unique biological and cultural heritage at risk of extinction. However, encouraging approaches for mountain biodiversity management exist, such as the establishment of protected areas, conservation landscapes and Payment for Environmental Services (PES); these serve both biodiversity conservation and human needs.

The International Mountain Day presents an excellent opportunity to create awareness of mountains, their diverse people and their natural resources and the challenge they face in attaining sustainable development, for a wide audience - the public, governments, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, UN agencies, the private sector and the media. This year's theme of UN International Mountain Day 2006 "Managing Mountain Biodiversity for Better Lives" provides an opportunity for us all to raise awareness about the need to manage mountain biodiversity in a sustainable manner, to highlight promising models and to build partnerships at all levels to promote biodiversity management that will reduce poverty, improve livelihoods, and protect mountain environments for us all. This theme for International Mountain Day in 2006 is highly relevant to the past and on-going work of FAO and its UN partners in mountain development, and it contributes to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, as well as ensuring environmental sustainability.