Sustainable Mountain Development: North American Report
Post About UVU and UIMF Contribution to the UN Document About SMD in North America
Published for the Rio+20 Conference
UVU CONTRIBUTES TO THE NORTH AMERICAN REPORT FOR THE RIO+20 GLOBAL SUMMIT
A couple of days ago, UVU achieved formal recognition through official document from the North American and global mountain communities, the U.N. included, for its leading role in regional promotion of the U.N. SMD-agenda. A report on SMD on North America, prepared for the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development RIO+20 in Brazil on June 20-22, 2012, contains information about UVU's involvement in those processes. It emphasizes in particular, the promotion of the SMD-agenda as “…a natural extension of UVU’s focus on “community engaged learning” both locally and globally,” which “…culminated in the “Women of the Mountains International Conference” held in March 2007 in Orem, Utah and the “Women of the Mountains Second International Conference” held in March 2011, also in Orem.“ The report also mentions that: “The 2007 conference served as the first regional event in the U.S. that supported the entire SMD agenda and recognized gender issues as one of the major priorities of both the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals and SMD agendas. … The second conference served to strengthen the regional approach for advancing the SMD and gender agendas by expanding the network of North American Mountain Partnership members and involving both youth from Utah high-schools and UVU students in the conference activities (P.44).”
UVU was the only University from the region, which was invited to involve students in the preparations of this official document, both because of its extraordinary role in the promotion of SMD-agenda on a regional level and the active engagement of students during the Conference “Women of the Mountains” last March. Students conducted research on seven different ranges in North America, and results of that research were included as an attachment to the document (see appendices). This document was submitted on January 9, 2012 to the U.N.-related Mountain Partnership as part of the global report on SMD for the consideration of the U.N. Conference in Brazil, when international community will be developing new strategies for the improvement of living conditions of global communities, including the mountain ones as well.
John McClure, UIMF President
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A copy of the North American report on Sustainable Mountain Development for the Rio+2) Conference
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