At the World Conservation Congress held in Bangkok in November 2004, IUCN members approved the resolution 3.039 “The Mediterranean Mountains Partnership”, calling all concerned national, regional and local institutions to develop action plans for each of the major mountain ranges in the region, with the aim of achieving the conservation of their biological, landscape and cultural diversity, and boosting sustainable development. IUCN members expressed the wish that these action plans should be recognised as a political and institutional basis for cooperation at national and trans-national levels.
The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN-Med), with the support of the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea, took the task to facilitate the implementation of resolution 3.039, and initiated a consultation process with regional organisations and experts concerned with conservation and development issues in Mediterranean mountain systems. The ?nal purpose of this exercise was to agree on a set of strategic guidelines for the development of Mediterranean Mountains Action Plans.
IUCN-Med brought together member organisations and experts in a regional workshop which took place in Malaga (Spain) on 10-12 December 2007, coinciding with the UN designated “International Mountain Day” on 11th December. During the workshop, experts from regional NGOs, research institutions, governmental and intergovernmental organizations, mountain protected areas managers, and the private sector, analysed successful practices and case studies, and discussed priority lines of work for Mediterranean mountains. To further share those experiences, part of the case studies analysed were summarised and included as boxes in this publication. This document, which IUCN-Med is releasing as an outcome of that workshop, includes a set of strategic guidelines and key conservation and development issues grouped into eight priority themes, as a starting point towards the elaboration of action plans for the Mediterranean mountain chains.
