The 2019 issue of the Youth and the Mountains  journal  consists of the research of undergraduate students from Utah Valley University (UVU) on certain aspects Sustainable Mountain Development (SMD) as part of their efforts to advocate for implementation of three mountain targets under the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The 2019 issue will be presented to the participants of the 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference (UNCSC2019) in Salt Lake City during August 26-28, 2019.

The first section of this issue includes a copy of the written statement made by UVU students during the 63^rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63), which advocated for mountain women and girls to be in the focus of the UN. Another document in this section is a copy of the extension of remarks of Congressman Ben McAdams, who highlighted students’ efforts at the UN in promoting the mountain agenda.

The second section is comprised of student papers that focus on different SMD topics in the state of Utah and in the United States. These papers study such issues as sustaining economic growth in Utah by balancing the growth of tourism and economic development; the importance for the US to address sexual assault crimes experienced by indigenous peoples; contribution of infrastructure for sustainable development in Utah; and how the IT industry has contributed to economic development of Utah County.

The third section addresses the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and mountain targets in such countries as Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, and Russian Federation. Two papers study challenges in the implementation of the SDGs and mountain targets in war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq. The last paper studies the role of the potato for the sustainable life of mountain communities in Peru and globally.

The advising faculty members of the journal provided students an opportunity to implement the student engaged learning model in publishing this journal.

Deann Torsak, Editor-in-chief of the journal 

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The 2019 issue of the Youth and the Mountains  journal