Mountains cover about 27 percent of the earth’s land area and are home to 1.1 billion people, which is 15 percent of the world’s population. This means that mountains, whether they are a place you call home or somewhere you visit, shape our lives and societies around the world.
To celebrate these special places and raise awareness of the need to protect and sustainably develop mountain areas, the United Nations designated 2022 as the “International Year of Sustainable Mountain development”. This is a unique opportunity to showcase the vital role of mountains in our political, social lives and ecosystems.
We are therefore delighted to announce that the Reading Mountains Festival, now in its eighth edition, will be taking place once again in this special year. Reading Mountains is a celebration of Alpine literature and culture held on or in the run-up to International Mountain Day (IMD) on 11 December that has been carried out every year since its premiere in 2015.
The topic of this year’s IMD also ties in with the sustainable mountain development theme, as it is dedicated to “Women move mountains”. Women are vital to environmental action in mountain ecosystems and play a crucial role, among other things, in resource management, biodiversity conservation, water and food security. You can draw inspiration from this theme for your event or choose any other Alpine or mountain topic when organising your event.
If you have never taken part in the Festival, we warmly invite you to join in and organise or attend an event that celebrates the Alpine imagination. This could take the form of a school activity, poetry reading, art installation, philosophical debate or any other creative output.
Stay tuned for updates on the Reading Mountains Festival by following the Facebook page! Find out more about the Festival.
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