Аннотация:The announcement of the planning for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED 1992) provided a first major opportunity to bring the mountain problematique to the highest level of attention. With this in mind, a small group of individuals assembled in the Bernesehamlets of Appenberg and Aeschi in December 1990 and April 1991 respectively.They had officials linkages with the United Nation University, the Centre for Integrated mountain development, East-West Center and International Mountain Society.This meetings produced the Appenberg Initiative and set in Motion "Mountain Agenda-UNCED 1992".
The droad goals of the initiative were readly agree upon:
1. to make an authoriative statement on the environment status and development potential of the world's mountains
2. widely to disseminate this statement in several forms;
3. to publicize the urgebt need for priority ranking of the mountain problematique for XXI century action;
4. to provide some guidelines for a practical response on the problems and challenges of the mountains for concideration by world leadersat UNCED in Rio de Janeiro, 1992.