What is Mountain Forum?

Mountain Forum is a global community of people and organizations who work toward equitable and ecologically sustainable mountain development. Mountain Forum Members are based in more than 95 countries worldwide. Membership is free and is open to anyone with an interest in mountain communities, conservation and sustainable development. Mountain Culture is proud to host the North American node of this global, information-sharing network.

Mountain Forum facilitates networking and capacity building by maintaining a searchable on-line library, membership directory, and calendar of mountain events as well as several e-mail discussion lists. The Forum also facilitates focused electronic conferences for regional and global organizations and works closely with other international forums such as the Mountain Partnership.

Members use the online Mountain Forum as a virtual meeting place — any member can ask a question of all other members, let people know about an upcoming event, or mobilize support for an emerging environmental or social issue.

How to Get Involved

To get involved in Mountain Forum, become a member. Membership is free and open to anyone with an interest in sustainable mountain development, mountain conservation and mountain communities. For more information, visit Mountain Forum or contact the North American Mountain Forum directly at namf@mtnforum.org

See you on the Forum!

Now Online:

A local Mountain Forum
network - the Bow Valley
Mountain Forum

sponsored by:

History

The global Mountain Forum was one of the first online knowledge-sharing communities in the world, and is still considered one of the most successful examples of information and communication technology for development.

The global Mountain Forum was established in 1995 through an international collaboration between non-governmental organizations, universities, governments, multilateral agencies, and the private sector who came together to put mountains on the agenda at the Earth Summit in 1996. This decentralized network now has regional nodes in Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa, and North America. It is supported by 12 to 15 contract staff located in six satellite offices around the world with a combined annual budget of less than US$1,000,000. Who is involved in Mountain Forum?

Mountain Culture and Mountain Forum

The North American Mountain Forum moved to Mountain Culture on December 1, 2002. As home of the North American Mountain Forum, some of Mountain Culture’s tasks include:

• encouraging membership and information-exchange
• adding regional content to a global library of mountain-specific resources
• updating an international calendar of mountain events
• moderating the North American electronic discussion list
• connecting like-minded individuals and organizations
• assisting members in North America
• seeking funding