East African Community
The East African Community (EAC) is the regional inter-governmental organisation of the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania, and the Republic of Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community in Article 112 enjoins the Partner States to cooperate in all issues of Environment and Natural Resources Management and in its article 20, Partner States agreed to protect mountain ecosystems such as critical water catchments, conservation and heritage areas and other areas of common strategic interest at local, national, regional and international levels. in this regard, EAC supports the efforts of the organization of the World Mountain Forum as a means to strengthen cooperation and promotion of SMD agenda at the regional level particularly now that the WMF 2016 will be held in one of its member states.
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Since the beginning, FAO has been a big supporter of SMD and it was indeed chosen to be host of the Mountain Partnership secretariat at its inception in 2002. In fact, the current work areas of the organization are well aligned with the main themes of SMD namely climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem services, sustainable agriculture and indigenous people. Mountains present great potential as a food basket for the world and mountain people for a large majority of indigenous communities worldwide and therefore it’s very important for FAO to support SMD initiatives. Moreover, as a UN organization; having of FAO on-board of SMD promotion is a major advantage both at policy and practice levels and at different scales (national, regional and global).
United Nations’ Environment Programme (UNEP)
Climate Change is one of the priorities of the UNEP’s Regional Office for Africa (ROA). The goal of UNEP’s climate change related activities in Africa is twofold: (1) support African countries to reduce vulnerability and build resilience to the impacts of climate change through ecosystem based adaptation and (2) promote the development of renewable sources of energy and energy efficiency as part of the sustainable energy for all initiative and climate mitigation effort.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
The primary objective of UNESCO is to bring security and peace through promotion of international collaboration in the fields of science, education, human resources, communication, information and culture. UNESCO actively contributed in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and one of the way UNESCO contributed to this global effort was through the Man And the Biosphere (MAP) programme and the World Heritage Sites initiative. In the current era of SDGs, the two programmes continue to play an important role in ensuring nature conservation and the preservation of cultural properties, the pillars that underpin sustainable development as a human society. SMD puts an emphasis on cultural diversity preservation and the integration of indigenous knowledge and UNESCO is much involved in mainstreaming these issues into world’s policies as the UN’s main intellectual agency. Many of the World’s Heritage Sites as well as different biosphere reserve also happen to coincide with mountains areas and therefore the Agency becomes a direct contributor in the conservation of these beautiful natural areas and the preservation of the cultural significance of these sites.
EbA in Mountains Programme - UNDP, UNEP, IUCN
The Ecosystems-based Adaptation(EbA) in Mountains Programme is an initiative by UNDP, UNEP and IUCN, with funding from the German Government (BMUB). The goal of this programme is to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience of selected fragile mountain ecosystems and their local communities to climate change impacts. The programme is being implemented by a global partnership that involve national and regional government agencies, civil society and local communities in three pilot countries: Uganda, Nepal and Peru. Given the synergies between the objectives of the World Mountain Forum and this EbA programme, the latter has accepted to support the WMF 2016 both financially technically. The organizers of the WMF 2016 are humbled to express their genuine appreciation of this support and the generous funding from the Germany government.
French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development through their Embassy in Uganda blessed the World Mountain Forum 2016 with a generous contribution to support the exhibition during which many mountain products were showcased to the delegates. The organisers of WMF 2016 appreciate this support and they hope this will mark the beginning of a long-term partnership for the good of our mountains and their future.