Sustainable mountain development in East Africa in a changing climate

High-quality mountain agricultural products Local and regional marketing of agricultural products is expanding in many mountain areas, encouraged by a growth in potential markets in the surrounding lowlands. This opens up development opportunities for the largely isolated and marginalized mountain economies. In the Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania, the communities grow crops throughout the year, including temperate vegetables, which fetch a high price in urban lowland centres. Likewise, communities in the Usambara Mountains have started growing tomatoes, which they sell to urban communities in the lowlands (UNEP, [AEO-2] 2006). There are many such cases of mountain communities taking advantage of growing and selling products that are unique to the mountain environment and therefore sell at a higher price. This includes Arabica coffee, a product of mountain areas such as the Ethiopian Highlands, the Kenya Highlands, Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya and Rwenzori. In some areas, such as on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, farmers have gone a step further and are now growing certified organic products to tap into the growing demand from developed countries where a growing number of consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of the negative effects of consuming food products containing pesticides. Therefore, high-quality mountain products are becoming an increasingly important means of improving the livelihoods of mountain communities around the world. In Africa, the FAO Mountains Products Programme, developed in the context of the Mountain Partnership, is working to improve the production and marketing of quality local products by providing mountain communities with

Tea plantation, Rwanda

the necessary organizational skills, market linkages, technology and expertise. Efforts to promote the initiative are ongoing in mountain countries of the region. Examples include the Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Company, which works in collaboration with Ethiopian coffee to ensure high-quality production that is sold at fair trade prices. Similar efforts are being made in Uganda to introduce high-value crops in highland and mountain regions – areas facing high population pressures, land shortages and environmental degradation. Water harvesting and irrigation for land restoration Water harvesting is a very important means of accessing water in water deficient areas, while at the

same time averting hazards common to mountains and their surrounding areas such as excessive run- off, soil erosion and flooding. Many mountain communities practice rainwater harvesting, ranging from rooftop collection for domestic use to collecting run-off from impervious surfaces such as rocks and roads for gardens and crop irrigation. This has many benefits including increased land productivity, the restoration of unproductive land and the control of environmental hazards. These practices are common all over East Africa. Laikipia District in Kenya, provides an example of water harvesting for irrigation and land restoration.The district lies on the leeward side of Mount Kenya and has an annual average rainfall of approximately 700 mm; the area is categorized as semi-arid. The communities

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