International Mountain Day: Disaster risk management in mountains
Mountains are hazardous places. Many mountain communities live under the threat of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions caused by shifting tectonic plates.
Gravity pushing down on sloping land compounds the destructive power of storms and heavy rains, producing avalanches, landslides and floods. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios, it is very likely that heavy precipitation will become more frequent and likely that future storms will become more intense.
These outcomes will make mountain regions even more hazardous to live in. In December 2009, high level policy-makers will gather in Copenhagen at the 15th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change. As International Mountain Day falls in the middle of this important conference, the theme of disaster risk management in mountains was chosen to highlight the urgent need to adopt climate change adaptation strategies that reduce the risk of disasters in mountains.
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