| Coordinator's
Note
The
Asia Pacific Mountain Network (APMN) has seen some significant
changes: Mr. Shahid Akhtar, who was the former Coordinator
of the APMN, is no longer with us at ICIMOD, having
left for Malaysia to take up a new position as Regional
Coordinator of the Asia-Pacific Development Information
Programme (APDIP); the APMN now has Dr. Tej Partap as
a democratically-elected Asia/Pacific representative
on the MF Board of Directors; the APMN organised its
first ever e-conference with a record showing in February-March,
2001, which is an indication of the fact that the APMN
has now come of age; and, last but not least, the APMN
has been making its presence felt in Central Asia through
implementation of its Capacity Building project and
Small Grant's Programme. Talking of the APMN Small Grants'
Programme, an immensely popular APMN initiative, six
proposals from all over the region were funded for the
years 2000-2001.
As the APMN Phase II moves
into the last year of its project cycle, it is time
for all of us to take stock of how far the APMN has
come from a handful of members in 1996 to the one-thousand-plus-strong
that it is today. As of March 2001, the APMN had 1051
members worldwide (comprising 48% of the total Mountain
Forum membership), of whom roughly 37 were organisational
members.
Increased membership presents
a new challenge: how to manage rising printing and distribution
costs? Should the APMN distribute publications only
to offline APMN members, while making the same available
to the rest on-line or as e-mail attachments? It is
an issue that needs addressing and it will be taken
up this year. Last but not least, we urge all to be
actively involved in MF-APMN activities such as the
upcoming e-conferences, as well as stay up-to-date on
the International Year of Mountains 2002 by regularly
visiting <www.mountains2002.org>.
Note: E-conference:
The APMN's next e-conference,
in November 2001, will be on 'Energy' in the Mountains.
Himal ko Awaz:
As many of you know,
we introduced pilot issues of a newsletter, Mountain
Voices, translated into Nepali as Himal Ko Awaz.
The next issue will be on 'water harvesting.' The English
version will be presented to partners for translation
into their local languages. |
Contents
Feature
Asia Pacific-Mountain Profile
Discussion
Book
Section
(APMN is supported by a grant
from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.) |
