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IUCN-WCPA Mountains Network
 A Global Community of Mountain Experts & Advocates Working to Protect Mountain Environments

Press

Press releases and coverage of our group's work around the world

Press releases:

April 2005
IUCN: "Key Mountain Areas of the World Aided by New Edition of Protection Guidelines"

"Russian-speaking managers of key mountain areas in Europe and Asia have recently gained a valuable new resource. A Russian language version of the updated book Guidelines for Planning and Managing Mountain Protected Areas published by IUCN-The World Conservation Union, is now available. The English and Spanish versions of this book were published in late 2004, and premiered at the 2004 World Conservation Congress in Bangkok, Thailand"...more

November 2004
IUCN: "21st Century Mountain Management Book"

"Today at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Bangkok, a new book on the management of mountains was launched, by Andromeda Editrice of Italy. Titled Managing Mountain Protected Areas: Challenges and Responses for the 21st Century, the book contains 49 papers written by 59 mountain specialist authors from 26 countries in the 6 inhabited continents"...more

IUCN: "New IUCN Mountains Book"

"This is an important new publication for IUCN and is being made available throughout the world. It is part of our programme to help improve the management capacity of protected area managers and agencies, and it is rather special because of its focus on mountain protected areas” said the head of IUCN’s programme on protected areas, Mr David Sheppard"...more

 


Global Press coverage:

16 December 2005
IUCN Protected Areas Categories in the Goldman Sachs Policies
David Sheppard forwards this copy of the newly published Goldman Sachs environmental policy. Per David--
"This policy recognizes World Heritage sites as 'no go'. Goldman Sachs also says in this policy that it will not 'finance any project that significantly converts or degrades a critical natural habitat'. And the term critical natural habitat is defined as existing and proposed protected areas (eg. reserves that meet the criteria of The World Conservation Union [IUCN] classification)...'. It is interesting to see that the influence of the IUCN PA Category System and the IUCN Mining and Protected Areas WCC Recommendation (based on the WCPA position statement) continues to broaden."
EnvironmentalPolicyFramework-Goldmansachs.pdf [60k]

15 December 2005
International Herald Tribune, EDITORIALS & COMMENTARY
 "Have a hot, dry, stormy life, kids"
"The thousands of delegates who attended the United Nations conference on climate change in Montreal, which concluded on Dec. 9, reinforced the fact that after some 20 years of debate, the threat of climate change is indisputable and pervasive...If you are still smug about global warming, I would like to know where you live. I need to move to this safe haven and wait for my children to arrive, along with other displaced people"...more

December 2005
The Washington Post
Future Effects of Global Warming--Political Cartoon by Tom Toles

15 December 2005
The Washington Post
Article by John Lancaster
"Hardy aid workers bring shelter and hope to Pakistan-- Foreign funds, good weather also help prepare quake-ravaged region for winter"
Kot , Pakistan -- "Centered in the Kashmir region of northern Pakistan, the earthquake damage has posed an immense -- some say unprecedented -- logistical challenge for the government and aid agencies struggling to transport supplies to valleys and mountainsides isolated behind landslides and collapsed bridges...It also has created demand for aid workers of exceptional toughness and skill. Giasson and Desmarais are part of a team of Canadian climbers hired by the International Organization for Migration to deliver shelter materials in remote regions...They jokingly refer to their time in Pakistan as their honeymoon"...more

16 June 2005
International Herald Tribune, EDITORIALS & COMMENTARY
 " It's the least we can do for our world"
"There have always been protected areas, though not always for the same reasons. Robin Hood poached deer in the Royal Sherwood Forest, an area protected for royal hunting parties. The Yellowstone and Banff National Parks in North America were set up in the 19th century for the enjoyment of ordinary people, though the needs of residents were not taken into account."...more

24 May 2005
News Release, Australian Government
VICTORIAN GRAZING BAN BOOSTS WORLD HERITAGE CHANCES

18 November 2004
SwissInfo: "Melting glaciers threaten world water supply"
By Ed Cropley | BANGKOK (Reuters)
"Mountain glaciers, which act as the world's water towers, are shrinking at ever faster rates, threatening the livelihoods of millions of people and the future of countless species, a scientist has said"...more

International Tropical Timber Organization
Tropical Forest Update, 2004 No. 4
Recent Editions - Review of Guidelines for Managing Mountain Protected Area