UN Agriculture Agency Chief Urges Youth To Help Bolster Mountain Ecosystems

Umer Jamshaid Published December 11, 2019 | 11:20 PM

UNITED NATIONS, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Dec, 2019 ) :The head of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a UN agency, Wednesday urged young people, who are driving the world's climate agenda, to also play a role in bolstering mountain ecosystems.

"Mountains matter for youth, and our future," FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said at a high-level event held by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change during the COP25 climate summit in Madrid, Spain, to mark International Mountain Day.

"Nowadays, we are always looking forward, but forget to look back to where we are from. Our mountain ecosystems, and their benefits for the planet, are under threat," the director-general said.

This year, the spotlight shines on the importance of protecting ecosystems around the world's summits, for future generations.

According to a recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, climate change is triggering the retreat of glaciers, while deforestation, degradation, mining and unsustainable farming also pose threats.

FAO, the lead coordinating agency for International Mountain Day, also held a photography and mountain-food recipe contest for this year's celebration, which revolves around the theme "Mountains Matter for Youth".

Mountains cover almost 27 percent of the planet's surface and are home to more than 1.1 billion people, FAO said. In 2017, 346 million people were vulnerable to food insecurity in rural mountain areas of developing countries - an increase of 12 percent since 2012 globally, and almost twice as much in Africa.

Mountains also provide a vast amount of the world's fresh water and were the origin zones for maize, potatoes, barley, sorghum, tomatoes and apples - six of the 20 plant species that today supply 80 percent of the world's food.