PEAK NEWS

Mountain Environments, People & Cultures
September, 2017

Launching New Mountain EbA Program
We're proud to launch a new program here at the Institute! Our Mountain Ecosystem-based Adaptation Program (Mountain EbA) aims to increase the use of nature-based solutions in key mountain areas of Nepal, Peru and Uganda and will promote the incorporation of EbA approaches in policies and ongoing efforts in neighboring Bhutan, Colombia and Kenya. As part of an overall strategy for helping mountain people adapt to the risks of climate change, EbA links traditional biodiversity and ecosystem conservation approaches with sustainable socio-economic development. Learn more on our website.    Link to press release.

Members of the Canchayllo, Peru community restored ancient irrigation canals to revitalize mountain grasslands.


High Time for a New Logo!
With the launch of our Mountain Ecosystem-based Adaptation Program  came the need for a more up-to-date look for the Institute. Our old logo featured the rounded profile of the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia, USA where TMI was first established in 1972. But the Institute has worked hand-in-hand with communities in the Himalayas and Andes mountains for decades. And with the new Mountain EbA Program, our field projects will be expanding into even more regions, including mountainous areas of Africa. So it seemed high time for a new look! We created a logo that better reflects the magnificent mountains where we currently work. The design and colors were chosen to convey a sense of "East meets West" and our love for mountain environments--sky, snow and water. (Instituto de Montaña is our Andes Program based in Peru.)

 

 
We will continue to work in the Peruvian Andes with mountain communities in the Nor-Yauyos Cochas Landscape Reserve. Our goal is to help them adapt to present and future climate change impacts. Currently, up to 70 percent of the local population depends on sheep and cattle grazing for their livelihoods. This makes them strongly dependent on healthy grassland ecosystems and a steady supply of water. By restoring wetland and grassland ecosystems in the Reserve, local communities can better manage the declining water supply, reduce erosion and the risk of natural disasters while also improving habitat for native species such as the vicuña. These small, wild relatives of the camel live above 3,000 meters in the central Andes and are sheared every two years in a traditional roundup known as the chaccu. Our Mountain EbA project in Peru will help mountain communities continue to improve the methods for managing wild vicuña and their habitat. Our goal is to help ensure the survival of this unique species, as well as the sustainable source of income vicuña provide.  Learn more about our EbA project in Peru.
Vicuña need healthy mountain wetlands and grasslands in order to flourish.
 

Mountain EbA in Nepal
Our EbA project in Nepal will continue to build on efforts underway in the Panchase area of western Nepal, with new projects beginning in the Chilime sub-watershed. The focus will be on communities that are especially vulnerable to climate change impacts. Natural resource management groups such as Community Forestry User Groups and Leasehold Forestry User Groups, Women's Groups and others are key to our projects' success.  Ecosystem-based Adaptation is an inclusive approach that brings women and traditionally poor and excluded groups into the process.   In our project areas, there are groups that have been historically discriminated against, both socially and economically, such as the   Dalit   and indigenous groups including the   Janajatis . As custodians of local natural resources, these groups are essential to conserving mountain forests and watersheds. Their livelihoods depend on a healthy ecosystem.  Our plan is to help communities implement a range of activities to restore and protect local water sources, forests and pasturelands, and to help stabilize landslide-prone areas and improve local livelihoods. Learn more about our EbA Project in Nepal.

Tatopani village in the Chilime sub-watershed, Rasuwa district, Nepal. 


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