IYM Informal Newsletter No. 8 - January 2002

Dear Colleagues, dear Friends,

Please find below the IYM Informal Newsletter of January 2002.
Please forward it to any others you feel would be interested.

Best regards,

Douglas McGuire
Senior Forest Conservation Officer
Head, Coordination Unit - International Year of Mountains 2002
Forestry Department D-486
UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
00100 Rome, Italy

Tel: +39 06 5705-3275
Fax: +39 06 5705-5137
E-mail: [email protected] [2]
IYM Internet site: http://www.mountains2002.org [3]
FAO Internet site: http://www.fao.org [4]

Informal Newsletter
January 2002

This is the eighth newsletter about preparations for the
International Year of Mountains. It was prepared by the IYM
Coordination Unit at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations, the UN lead agency for coordinating the Year.

List of national committees grows

In addition to the global launch of the International Year of
Mountains in New York on 11 December 2001, many national
committees are organizing their own events to celebrate the start of the
Year.

The number of countries that have established or are planning to
establish a national committee for the International Year of
Mountains is now 54. The latest countries to come on board are:

* Andorra
* Côte d'Ivoire
* Equatorial Guinea
* Lesotho
* Sierra Leone
* Syria
* Viet Nam

The Republic of Korea has gone from the planning stages and has
established its national committee.

In addition, New Zealand and Tanzania have recently named a
contact person within their governments to help plan and
coordinate International Year of Mountains activities.

For information about national committees and country contacts,
visit the Action section of the International Year of Mountains
Web site at www.mountains2002.org [3].

Global events update

The dates of some major global events have changed since they were
first announced.

* The Johannesburg 2002: The World Summit on Sustainable
Development (also known as 'Rio + 10') will be held 26
August to 4 September.

* The II International Meeting of Mountain Ecosystems,
"Peru, country of mountains towards 2020: Water, life and
production" will take place 12 to 14 June in Hauraz, Peru.

* The Banff Mountain Summit - Extreme Landscapes: Challenge
and Celebration will be held 27 to 29 October in Banff, Canada.

The Bishkek Mountain Summit, the event that will help to
consolidate much of the work carried out during 2002, has launched
its own Web site. It can be reached at the following address:
http://www.mediantics.com/mountainsummit/ [5]

For the latest information about the many International Year of
Mountains events planned this year, check the events database on
the Mountain Forum and the official International Year of
Mountains web sites. The Web site of the International Centre for
Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) also has a useful events calendar.

Interest rising

There is no doubt that the Internet is serving as a major
communications tool for delivering information about the
International Year of Mountains to many audiences. In December,
the official International Year of Mountains Web site, which is
maintained by the IYM Coordination Unit at FAO, received nearly 10
000 hits a day, for a monthly total of nearly 300 000 hits.
Interest was highest the day after the 11 December global launch
of the International Year of Mountains in New York. That day the
site registered 13 000 hits.

At the IYM Coordination Unit, we are working to improve the site's
content, design and responsiveness and believe that these
improvements will help to attract even higher levels of visitors.
We encourage those of you who are planning International Year of
Mountains events to let us know. We may be able to post your
information and stories on the site and spread the news around the world.

Something for the kids

'Junior Focus', a magazine published in the United Kingdom for
teachers of students ages 7 to 11, dedicated its January issue to
mountains and helped spread the word about the International Year
of Mountains. An extremely valuable teaching resource, the 'Junior
Focus' mountain issue is filled with photos, illustrations and
posters. It provides teachers with many of the tools they need to
help students learn about the concept of sustainability in
mountain regions, the importance of mountains as sources of fresh
water and a wide range of other topics.

For more information contact:
Scholastic LTD - Villiers House
Clarendon Avenue - Leamington Spa
Warwickshire CV32 5PR, United Kingdom
Tel: + 01926 887799 / Fax: + 01926 883331
Web site: www.scholastic.co.uk [6]

Contact us

If you are organizing events and activities, please let us know.
For more information, visit the International Year of Mountains
Web site at www.mountains2002.org [3] or contact the IYM Coordination
Unit at FAO at [email protected] [7].