Mountain communities have traditionally been stewards of globally significant mountain resources. As more mountain resources are used, downstream beneficiaries have contributed little or no reinvestment in the resources or their traditional stewards, the mountain communities. As a result, mountain resources are being depleted at unsustainable rates, and traditionally self-reliant mountain communities are becoming marginalized. In order to ensure a sustainable flow of resources to national and global populations, policy makers must develop and implement mechanisms which capture and reallocate an appropriate share of benefits from resource outflows to mountain communities. Building upon a need identified at the UN Conference on Environment and Development, this initiative identifies and describes various innovative mechanisms which have been used to finance conservation and sustainable development of mountain resources. This document is the result of an electronic conference on the subject of investing in mountains. The mechanisms discussed during the conference explore innovative strategies to capture revenue from resource outflows as well as to redirect an appropriate share to the stewards of these resources.
