Following the Rio Earth Summit of 1992 where the mountain agenda, more commonly known as Chapter 13 of Agenda 21, was adopted, it was felt that a forum - ‘a federation of networks’ was needed to promote this agenda at the global, regional, national and local level. Thus the Mountain Forum (MF) was born in 1995 with financial support from the Swiss government as well as in-kind and moral support from mountain NGOs and champions. MF discussion provides a less inhibited and more creative forum for discussions but not necessarily for decisions.