FAO celebrated International Mountain Day 2025 at its Rome headquarters under the theme “Glaciers matter for water, food and livelihoods in mountains and beyond,” highlighting the critical role of mountains in sustaining life. The event launched a technical brief on glacier and mountain-related food and water security and announced the winners of the Mountain Future Award 2025. Glaciers, which store approximately 70 percent of the planet’s freshwater, support nearly 2 billion people by providing water for agriculture, hydropower, industry, and biodiversity. However, unprecedented glacier melt is putting both mountain and downstream communities at risk of water scarcity, natural disasters, and food insecurity.
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu emphasized the ingenuity of mountain communities in protecting fragile ecosystems and the need to strengthen their capacity to turn climate challenges into opportunities. FAO initiatives, such as constructing artificial glaciers in Kyrgyzstan and installing glacier-monitoring sensors in Bolivia, illustrate practical approaches to supporting water management and agricultural planning in mountainous regions. Youth and Indigenous Peoples in these communities play a key role in developing innovative solutions and adaptation strategies.
The technical brief, Glaciers and mountains – the food and water security and livelihoods nexus, highlighted that glacier-fed waters are essential for food production, while melting glaciers threaten crop yields, livestock, and rural livelihoods. The brief calls for sustainable agricultural and ecosystem-based practices, local adaptation blending traditional knowledge with innovation, and targeted policy and financial investments, including monitoring systems, inclusive governance, transboundary cooperation, and climate finance.
The Mountain Future Award recognized projects that build resilience to glacier-related impacts and support sustainable mountain economies. In the Innovation category, Aziz Soltobaev of Kyrgyzstan was honored for a low-cost climate-monitoring system delivering real-time glacier and weather data using AI and affordable sensors. The Adaptation award went to Marcela Fernández and Estefanía Angel Villanueva of Colombia for a high-mountain restoration project that strengthens ecosystems, rural capacity, and water regulation. The Youth award recognized Ali Sarwar from Pakistan for empowering local youth in glacier and water resilience efforts through training in drones, GIS mapping, and monitoring technologies, engaging a diverse group of young people in disaster preparedness and technical skills development.
The event included sessions on youth engagement, an interactive photo exhibition titled On the Trail of the Glaciers, and a mountain product tasting featuring Italian Slow Food producers. FAO, as the lead UN agency for mountains and host of the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, has coordinated International Mountain Day for over twenty years, with financial support from the Governments of Italy, Switzerland, Andorra, and Ireland. The celebration underscores the importance of glacier preservation for sustainable mountain livelihoods and global food and water security.
