Sustainable Mountain Development in East Africa in a Changing Climate

The United Nations Environment Programme and GRID-Arendal partnered and prepared a series of outlook reports on the need for urgent action to protect mountain ecosystems and to mitigate human risk from extreme events. This global project aims at supporting mountainous developing countries to integrate climate change adaptation practices into their development policies, plans and strategies, and was initiated in 2014. The project focuses on the five mountainous regions of East Africa, the tropical Andes, the Balkans, the Southern Caucasus and Central Asia. The main focus of the current phase of this project is to assess and evaluate approaches for sustainable development and climate change adaptation in mountainous regions, including an assessment of relevant existing national plans, strategies and policies. This summary focuses on East Africa, primarily the Member States of the East African Community (EAC) – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda - and neighbouring countries with which the Community shares mountain ecosystems.