Mountain environments merit special consideration in development policy. While the last two decades have witnessed a steady increase in global attention to mountain regions, mountains have yet to be firmly integrated into the conservation and development agenda. Primary emphasis needs to be placed on understanding the tremendous diversity, limited production scale, and fragility of mountain environments. Likewise, it is important to recognize that community control of resources and women's integration into environmental initiatives is critical to building sustainability and equity across many sectors.
The adoption of sound policies, however, is only a beginning. During the last 20 years, the language of sustainable and equitable development has been added to the policies of many organizations. Nevertheless, in this same period mountain peoples have become poorer and have progressively lost control over even a bare subsistence base of resources. Global ecosystems (including mountains) have deteriorated, genetic material has been lost, and the resources upon which human survival depends have dwindled. The emergence of new mountain countries, particularly in Central Asia and the Caucasus, is an important phenomenon of the 1990's that has not yet been addressed in terms of mountain development.
Effective policies, and the accompanying financial and technical resources required for their implementation, must now be moved outward from regional administrative centers. They must reach the steep slopes and fragile environments that are home to a rich diversity of mountain cultures.
