The International Conference on "Natural and Socio-Economic Effects of Erosion Control in Mountainous Regions", a contribution to the International Year of Mountains (IYM), was held in Belgrade and Banja Vrujci, 10-13th December 2002. This meeting was convened to explore and construct links between the biophysical and socioeconomic aspects of erosion control provision and to build on ideas emerging from earlier contributions to the IYM, not least September 2002's Headwater Control conference in Nairobi and the United Nations University's 'Public Forum: Mountains: Environment and Human Activities'. Copies of the Public Forum CD-rom and also the 'Nairobi 'Headwater' Declaration 2002' were included in the papers given to each delegate. Among other pressing motivations for this meeting was a desire to promote erosion control and the sustainable reconstruction of land and livelihoods in the troubled hills of the Balkan States and worldwide. This work would aim to bridge national divisions and reconstruct patterns of cooperation for the solution of a shared problem: depopulation and economic stress in the smaller communities of the Balkan hill country. This meeting also sought to start the work of re-building Yugoslavia's earlier eminence as a centre for innovation in erosion control, so bringing to a close years of isolation caused by political and civil conflict and UN sanctions.
