The Health and Wealth of Mountain Communities

Excerpt

According to the United Nations, 13% of the world’s population live in mountain communities, representing 915 million people (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations 2015). Mountains are critical to the health of the planet: their rivers are the source of much of the world’s fresh water for household use, irrigation systems, industry, and electricity; mountains are repositories of plant and animal biodiversity, including species unique to high altitudes. Many high-altitude plants have medicinal uses and are often the only source of medication for mountain dwellers isolated from health care. Mountains serve as sites of recreation, leisure, and renewal. Mountains often have religious significance and host pilgrims from all over the world. People who traditionally live in mountain communities provide crucial management of this fragile ecological niche. Without human communities to maintain waterways, forests, wildlife, agricultural lands and the like we lose species diversity, promote the risk of flooding in the valleys, and risk contaminating our fresh water supplies for downstream communities. We need mountain communities to flourish. …