International Mountain Day 2020: History, Significance And Theme Of This Day

Countries across the world observe International Mountain Day on 11 December every year. The day is observed with an aim of raising awareness regarding the rising threat to the mountains across the world. The day is also observed with an intention of highlighting and preserving the beauty of fascinating mountains across the world. Today we are here to tell you more about this day. In order to know more about this day, scroll down the article to read more.

History

The origins of International Mountain Day dates back to the year 1992 when the United Nations (UN) adopted the document named "Managing Fragile Ecosystems: Sustainable Mountain Development". The document was adopted due to the United Nations' action plan Agenda 21 which was basically a part of the Conference on Environment and Development. After this, the UN saw people starting giving more and more importance to the mountains across the world. This eventually led to a demand for safeguarding and preserving the mountains. Due to this, the UN declared the year 2002 as the "UN International Year of Mountains". In 2003, i.e., the next year people observed International Mountain Day for the first time and since then this day is being observed every year.

Theme For International Mountain Year 2020

Every year a theme is decided by the UN to observe this day in a better and meaningful manner. The theme for the International Mountain Year 2020 is 'Mountain Biodiversity'. The theme has been decided to celebrate and encourage the rich biodiversity of mountains and raise awareness about the threats that these biodiversity face. The changing climate conditions, commercial mining and poaching have led to the increasing threats to the biodiversity of mountains.

Significance

• The International Mountains Day intends to encourage people to take better and necessary care in order to protect the scenic landscapes and the mountains.
• As we know that apart from the rich biodiversity, mountains also provide us fresh water and a natural habitat to animals and birds.
• The rising temperature and global warming has led to melting of some major glaciers.
• This further threats the environment and the eco-system of our planet earth.
• The change in the climatic conditions have also made it difficult for people living the mountains regions.
• We need to take proper measures to protect our mountains and the biodiversity provided by the mountain.