Abstract

DEVENISH, Christian; HOFSTEDE, Robert  and  SARAVIA, Miguel. Las montañas en nuestro lugar: La importancia de las montañas para el desarrollo sostenible antes y después de Río+20. Revista Virtual REDESMA [online]. 2012, vol.6, n.1, pp. 11-18. ISSN 1995-1078.

Mountains represent 12% of the planet's surface, contain more than 20% of the population, and provide essential eco-system services for the livelihoods of billions of people. Although the countries with the world's main mountain regions are very different from each other, certain features, particularly the challenges and opportunities for sustainable development, make a specific approach to mountains necessary when discussing policies and trying to achieve international, regional and national agreements. Los Andes, one of the largest mountain regions and the most populated in the world, shares these challenges and opportunities, hence organizations and countries are making efforts to address them specifically relying on integrated regional and international instruments relevant to the mountains. During the past 10 years, the political recognition of the importance of mountains has increased, for example, in agreements that emerged from the first Summit in Rio in 1992. In the latest version of the Earth Summit, the results viere limited to the final declaration of Rio+20 which contains some important elements for the mountains and the Andean countries, in whose implementation civil society has an important role.

Keywords : Mountains; Sustainable Development; Rio +20; United Nations; Andes.