Preserving Our Peaks: a call for urgent action to protect mountain ecosystems

Mountains are important

From the Dolomites (Italy), widely regarded as among the most attractive mountain landscapes in the world, to the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu (Peru), a masterpiece of art and engineering embedded within the biodiverse Andes, about a fifth of the over 1200 World Heritage sites recognize mountain ecosystems and the way mountains have shaped humanity.

IUCN’s work on World Heritage shows that a third of all World Heritage sites inscribed for their nature conservation values are mountain sites, that mountain World Heritage sites are among the most common biomes on the World Heritage List, and that those sites account for approximately two-thirds of all visitors to natural World Heritage sites worldwide. Those visitors range from hikers in the Great Himalayan National Park (India), rock climbers in Yosemite National Park (USA), or cyclists in the Swiss Alps Jungrau-Aletsch, and many others.

Mountain regions are home to more than 85% of the world’s species of amphibians, birds, and mammals, despite covering only 25% of all land area. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park (USA), for instance, is home to the world’s greatest diversity of salamander species, while over 130 bird species occur in the Simien National Park World Heritage site (Ethiopia).

Nearly two billion people rely on mountain water for drinking and irrigation. The levadas in the Laurisilva of Madeira (Portugal), for instance, carry water from the forest to the towns, while Mount Qingcheng and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System (China) recognizes an ecological engineering feat that has diverted water for irrigation without the use of dams for over two millennia.

Mountain World Heritage sites under pressure

Despite their remarkable importance for biodiversity and water security, one third of mountain World Heritage sites are threatened and many World Heritage sites have become the last line of defence for species such as mountain gorillas.

According to the IUCN WCPA Mountains Specialist Group, while about 18% of mountain areas are protected (excluding Antarctica) there is inconsistency across mountain ecosystems and across elevation gradients. Up to 40% of snow and ice areas are protected globally yet mountain grasslands, which contain 15% of mountain ecosystems, are less than 10% protected. Furthermore, 40% of the world’s mountain ranges have no protection. “As we move toward the 30x30 target we need to identify priority areas for protection to incorporate the range of mountain ecosystems and encompass full elevation gradients” said Peter Jacobs, Chair of the WCPA Mountains Specialist Group. “World Heritage can provide support, as can the decision support tool developed by the IUCN WCPA Mountain Specialist Group”.

Almost half of World Heritage sites could lose their glaciers by 2100, as shown by a UNESCO-IUCN report recognized in 2024 by the United Nations General Assembly. The United Nations has designated 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation to highlight the importance of glaciers and ensure that those relying on them, and those affected by cryospheric processes, receive the necessary hydrological, meteorological, and climate services. These efforts underscore the critical role mountain regions play as a key source of global freshwater and ecosystem services. The UN has also started the 2025-2034 Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences.

IUCN’s work on mountains and mountain World Heritage sites

IUCN’s work includes the following:

• Identifying potential World Heritage sites: IUCN supports countries to identify and nominate unique “mountain gaps” on the World Heritage List, including potential sites such as Central Karakorum (Pakistan), Sierra de los Minas (Guatemala), Torres del Paine National Park (Chile), as well as several mountain areas in Central Asia, the Hindu Kush Himalaya, and the polar regions (Source)*

• Identifying Global Priorities for New Mountain Protected and Conserved Areas: The IUCN WCPA Mountains Specialist Group has developed a support tool for identifying and prioritizing candidate areas for conserving inadequately protected mountain ecosystems, species and habitats. 

• Highlighting mountain solutions: the PANORAMA platform features over 1200 conservation case studies, including the integration of the Batwa cultural values to save mountain gorilla’s at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda), safeguarding the living mountainous landscape of the Dolomites (Italy), leveraging citizen science to reduce disaster risk at the Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System.

• Sports for Nature: IUCN works with key partners to deliver transformative action for nature across sports. Major mountains-based sports organisations and events such as the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), International Cycling Union (UCI), World Rafting Federation or the famous Ultra Trail of Mont Blanc (UTMB) have already made a formal commitment to championing nature and contributing to its protection and restoration under the Sports for Nature Framework. More organisations and events are expected to join the Framework in the near future, growing the nature-conscious movement in mountain sports.

• Glaciers: the UNESCO-IUCN report pointed to ways of effective actions to counteract substantial glacier retreat and to respond to subsequent inevitable changes in glacierized World Heritage sites. IUCN now looks at next steps to fill knowledge gaps, policy, and on-the-ground action during the 2025 International Year and Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences.