Polar and Climate
The polar and high mountains are the planet’s barometers, telling us a great deal about the present and future effects of climate change.
Why Mountains Matter for Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction: A Call for Action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This brief highlights the importance of integrating climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction (DDR) in mountain regions into the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Sustainable mountain development should be a global priority given the multitude of ecosystem goods and services they provide to both mountain and downstream populations. Climate change and natural disasters pose major threats to these services, with varied impacts on water availability, food security or human health, amongst other. Unsustainable use of the natural environment in mountain regions already reduces ecosystem and livelihoods resilience. Additionally, being among the world’s poorest, mountain communities are especially vulnerable to natural disasters and hazards.
In the face of these threats, this document puts forward the need to raise awareness on these issues, and solutions to address them, proposing mountain-specific targets and indicators for four different SGDs.
This brief was part of an overall initiative of the Mountain Partnership to mainstream mountain-related issues into the SDG process.
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