The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2002 as the International Year of Mountains with the main objective to increase awareness of the importance of sustainable mountain development.

Chapter 13 of Agenda 21 on Sustainable Mountain Development recognized that mountain ecosystems are rapidly changing and that the proper management of mountain resources and socio-economic development of the people deserved immediate action. The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2002 as the International Year of Mountains with the main objective to increase awareness of the importance of sustainable mountain development. The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development included in its Plan of Implementation considerations for the sustainable development of mountain regions (paragraph 40). The UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre and UNEP’s Mountain Programme, in collaboration with a number of organizations, compiled the Mountain watch report, which provides a systematic assessment of mountain ecosystems, using a geographic information system (GIS) based analysis of global data.

https://www.cbd.int/mountain/needs.shtml