This second edition of Sustainable Mountain Development is a history of the development of
mountain environmental awareness from its origins during the Stockholm Conference on the
Environment in 1973. This provided intellectual input into UNESCO's MAB Programme especially
MAB-6 (Impact of Human Activities on Mountain Environments) The International Geographical
Union's commission on mountains and The United Nations University's (UNU) mountain project
the latter initiated in 1978. All this research and intellectual activity saw its maturation
during the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro. The major document universally agreed upon
was AGENDA 21 with Chapter 13 concentrating on mountain environmental problems which led to
2002 being dedicated as The International Year of Mountains and December 17th as International
Mountain Day. The research that inspired this book accompanied by intensive environmental and
political activity was initially propagated by a small group of colleagues that ultimately
expanded to a world-wide endeavour. The work was recognised by three awards of the King Albert
Gold Medal two RGS Gold Medals approved by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and countless
other awards. It led to the founding of the International Mountain Society in 1980 and its
quarterly journal Mountain Research and Development (1981). The work expanded into subsequent
research efforts including specific assessments of projected major catastrophes such as the
status of the potential outbreak of glacier lakes (GLOFs) the impacts of climate warming and
incorporation of the mountain subsistence men and women whose environmental knowledge was
enthusiastically recognized. This edition provides a new epilogue which outlines the
considerable changes to world environmental assessment since the establishment of 2002 as the
International Year of Mountains and notes that 2022 has been designated as the International
Year of Sustainable Mountain Development.
