In many countries, degraded ecosystems represent immense opportunity for both biodiversity restoration and human health. When properly designed, the restoration of ecosystems is a proven, safe and immediately available means to protect biodiversity and the vital benefits it provides. Restored ecosystems can improve resilience of both ecosystems and societies, and generate additional benefits for people, in particular indigenous and local communities and the rural poor.

Mountains cover approximately one-quarter of the world’s surface and are home to 12 percent of the human population. By providing freshwater and other key environmental services to more than half of humanity, mountain ecosystems play a crucial role in the development of the planet and contribute significantly to the well-being of human societies.

A quarter of world’s forests are in mountain areas. These forests typically have high biodiversity, and provide many goods and services for people both in the mountains and the lowlands, often far away. Mountain forests are important as sources of wood, as well as other products such as medical herbs. When managed well, they are also vital for ensuring reliable supplies of high-quality water and for protection against natural hazards such as avalanches, landslides and floods. They are also the setting for tourism and many recreational activities.

This report synthesises the present knowledge about the consequences that climate change can have for the Hindu

A new analysis by FAO on how climate change affects or will likely affect wild animals and their habitats. It focuses on tropical terrestrial wildlife and its habitats, but other fauna, ecosystems and geographical regions are covered as well.

Women are often in the frontline in respect to the impacts of a changing climate. Globally the world is seeing increasingly frequent droughts and floods which are having economic but also profound social consequences. The women and people of Asia are currently at greatest risk with over 100 million people affected in this region annually. Adaptation, vulnerability and resilience of people to climate change depend upon a range of conditions.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or Rio+20) to be held in June 2012 will have green economy as one of its two main themes. This paper has been prepared to strengthen arguments for discussing mountain issues at Rio+20 and in other global discourses. The aim is to ensure renewed efforts and commitment by the global community at Rio+20 to prioritise mountain issues in development agendas and processes dealing with poverty reduction, food security, climate change, and other issues that are critical to sustainable development in mountain areas.