Mountains sustain life on earth. In a world facing unparalleled economic and environmental upheaval, The Mountain Institute is committed to protecting our mountains. By conserving mountain ecosystems and empowering the people in mountain communities, The Mountain Institute ensures the preservation of resources—natural, cultural and spiritual—that are crucial to maintaining a healthy planet

 

 

Founded in 1972 on the slopes of Spruce Knob, West Virginia’s highest mountain, The Mountain Institute is a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington D.C., with offices in West Virginia, Nepal, and Peru. Our regional locations are no accident, as they are in the world’s oldest, highest and longest mountain ranges — the Appalachians, Himalayas, and Andes.

 

The Mountain Institute’s work revolves around three central themes: economic development in the mountains, conservation of mountain environments, and support for mountain cultures. Since our founding, we have listened to the people who know mountains best — those who live in mountains — and we help identify and implement solutions to the challenges that threaten their livelihoods and the health of their environments. Working closely with a wide variety of development, government, academic, and technical partners, our programs now reach more than a quarter of a million people a year, not including visitors to the national parks that we helped establish in Nepal, China, and Peru. We have undertaken additional programs in India and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

 

 

Mountains are found in 75% of the world’s countries and make up more than 20% of the earth’s land. Their surrounding areas are some of the last bastions for globally significant biodiversity and indigenous cultures.

 

The effects of global climate change are undeniable. The permafrost is melting, glaciers are retreating, and flora and fauna are struggling to adapt to changing water and climactic conditions. These conditions threaten more than just the individual mountain ecosystems and the people who live within them. The complex interplay of mountains, climate, man, water, and other resources serves as one of nature’s most sensitive barometers of change — and, in many cases, change that is irrevocable and far-reaching.

 

 

Mountains are earth's water towers.  Between 40% and 60% of all fresh water originates in the mountains and provides more than half of the earth’s water used for irrigation, industry, transportation, and personal use. Water quality, pollution, volume, and availability affects what we drink, how and what we grow, and how we transport materials on a daily basis. The health of our mountain systems is integrally connected to our use of fresh water, a resource under increasing threat.

 

 

Nearly half of the world’s biodiversity “hot spots” are in mountains threatened by habitat destruction, climate change, and development. Our mountains are some of the last storehouses for timber, minerals, and unique fauna flora. They harbor valuable medicinal and food plants and serve as important sanctuaries for plants and animals found in few places on our earth. In high altitudes, plants take decades to mature and systematic destruction without a corresponding effort for conservation now will result in ecosystems unable to repair themselves.