Title: Mountains: globally important ecosystems
Headings: Mountains: globally important ecosystems
Mountains: globally important ecosystems
Half of the world's population depends on mountain water
CENTRES OF BIODIVERSITY
INFLUENCE OF CHANGES IN GLOBAL SYSTEMS
Mountain tourism is becoming increasingly important: a small hotel in the Himalaya, Nepal
Mountain agriculture and forestry
PUTTING MOUNTAINS ON THE AGENDA
Monitoring mountain conditions: a meteorological station in the French Alps
Mountain Agenda
MOUNTAINS ON THE GLOBAL AGENDA
Regional intergovernmental consultations
Non-governmental consultations and the Mountain Forum
TABLE 1. Regional intergovernmental consultations on sustainable mountain development
TABLE 2. Non-governmental consultations on sustainable mountain development
New international initiatives
MOUNTAINS IN THE POST-UNGASS (RIO+5) PROCESS
Mountains at centre-stage
Bibliography

Content: Relatively few governments have taken the steps of the Royal Government of Bhutan or the Zuni Nation of New Mexico to limit the number of tourists; the world's largest industry is widely seen as a motor for economic development (Price, Moss and Williams, 1997). Yet tourism is a fickle industry. As Nepali Sherpas noted in the 1980s, "tourists are like so many cattle, representing highly mobile, productive, and prestigious, but perishable, forms of wealth. Like cattle, tourists give good milk, but only if they are well fed" (Fisher, 1990, p. 123). A decline in the reliability of tourism had already been noted in the Swiss Alps, where the industry is undergoing a period of reorganization. Many people will always want to visit the mountains to test their physical endurance, escape from the pressures of everyday life, or visit sacred sites and places of inspiration, but the vagaries of tourism are as dynamic as the physical environment to which long-established mountain communities have learned to adapt. In a world increasingly influenced by global forces, highland people need to find new ways to survive and prosper. In the new parlance, this is sustainable development, and its fostering is vital not only to mountain people, but to the billions living downstream or farther away but linked through the global transportation network. Mountain tourism is becoming increasingly important: