Bagong Silang household nursery Photo: Benedicto Q. Sánchez

In order to fulfil its mission, Mountain Forum uses modern and traditional communications, supports networking and capacity building and encourages members to be proactive in advocating sustainable development of mountain areas. Membership of Mountain Forum is free and open to anyone wishing to participate.

We provide six distinct services, all of which are free and open to anyone. Details on these services are given below.

Mountain Forum has a membership database of thousands of individuals, organisations and institutions directly or indirectly concerned with sustainable mountain development issues. The database contains information, which might help people build both institutional and individual links to share ideas and experiences related to mountain issues and to form partnerships and collaborations for sustainable mountain development. The database can be accessed to search for individual members or organisations according to geographical location, name of individual or organisation, and areas of interest and expertise.

Mountain Forum moderates 12 discussion lists with both geographic and thematic focuses. Subscription to these lists is free and open to anyone interested in sharing ideas about mountain issues, making inquiries, or posting mountain related information. Currently, more than 17,000 individuals are subscribed to Mountain Forum discussion lists. This service is provided in partnership with Bellanet which also hosts searchable archives of all discussion list postings.

The Mountain Forum Online Library is a repository of information and knowledge, a valuable and unique resource for anyone interested in mountain issues.

The Mountain Forum Online Library was established in 1996 with members' contributions of articles and other documents. The Library currently contains hundreds of full-text documents. Apart from these, several hundred abstracts, bibliographies and other references also exist in the library. While most of these materials are in English, some can be found in Spanish and French, through the Library's search engine.

Mountain Forum maintains and manages a global calendar of events related to mountain issues, which lists upcoming activities and events around the world. This calendar also has a searchable archive of past events. The Mountain Calendar, which is hosted on the server of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is a joint collaboration between Mountain Forum and FAO to disseminate information on national, regional and international mountain-related events. Mountain Forum encourages users and members to submit information about upcoming events and activities.

Publications

To link Mountain Forum members who have limited or no internet access, Mountain Forum publishes a bi-annual Bulletin which is mailed to all organisational members and to those individual members who have limited connectivity. Electronic copies are also made available through the website. Apart from the Bulletin, Mountain Forum on occasion also publishes reports of the e-conferences it manages.

Mountain Forum has a long standing expertise and a well-established track record in providing e-conference services to organisations and stakeholders requiring this specialised service. Some of the clients who have benefited from this service include international organisations such as the Mountain Partnership, UN agencies such as UNEP, as well as regional and local organisations.