Sustainable development

Mountain areas cover 24% of the Earth's land and 26% of the global population lives in or around these areas. At the global scale, perhaps their greatest value is as 'water towers', providing water for over half of humankind. As global centres of biological and cultural diversity, they are among the world's major tourist destinations.

The Draft Covenant is a blueprint for an international framework (or umbrella) agreement consolidating and developing existing legal principles related to environment and development. Since the publication of the second edition in 2000, there have been important developments in the field of international environmental law.

The aims of the workshop were to enhance individual and institutional capacity to : address the environmental aspects of trade issues that will arise as a result of China’s WTO membership; participate in WTO negotiations and develop proactive positions in the WTO; implement the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, and improve the implementation of CITES; and increase local and national support for the integration of trade, biodiversity conservation and s