The present report describes the progress made in the implementation of the aims set out in chapter 13 of Agenda 21 (Managing fragile ecosystems: sustainable mountain development) 1/ since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in June 1992, and contains a set of recommendations for action. The report was prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as Task Manager for chapter 13 of Agenda 21 in consultation with the United Nations Secretariat and in accordance with arrangements agreed to by the Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development (IACSD) at its fourth session. At the Conference, Governments recognized mountains as an important source of water, energy and biological diversity, as well as a source of such key resources as minerals, forest products and agricultural products and of recreation. It was realized that mountain ecosystems were essential to the survival of the global ecosystem and that about 10 per cent of the world's population depended directly on mountain resources, with a much larger percentage (estimated at 40 per cent of the world's population) drawing on other mountain resources, including in particular water (it is estimated that mountains are the source of about 80 per cent of the world's water resources).
