The President welcomed the delegations from Africa (Cameroon), Latin America (Bolivia, Colombia, Peru), Asia (India, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal), Europe (Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland) and sent his greetings to the representatives from Africa (Morocco, Kenya), Latin America (Brazil, Ecuador), Asia (China, Uzbekistan) and Europe (Georgia, Romania, Poland) that were registered but unable to attend at the last minute due mostly to budgetary difficulties.
The venue for the 1st international Board meeting of the Association in the small mountain community of Ispoure in the heart of the Basque country has strong symbolic value. It confirms the determination of men and women to get together so that the domination of the world by finance is no longer taken for granted.
The President thanked all those who have made this adventure possible – particularly the successive Presidents of the ANEM, AEM and UNCEM – and proceeded to ask the delegates around the table, continent by continent, about the follow up of the Quito Encounter. The efforts launched in Asia and Latin America are giving rise to the gradual constitution of national or regional WMPAs.
The President then proceeded with the appointment of the Members of the Board as proposed by the delegates. An additional period of 2 months was agreed to confirm these appointments, in keeping with the consultation process set up between the members of certain delegations.
WMPA Whole Board
The appointment of the Members of the Board was confirmed unanimously. In compliance with the Articles of Association, the Board comprises 30 full members and 30 substitutes, grouped into three boards :
- Administrative authorities (or local governments) and mountain communities (50 %, for 15 seats)
- Representatives of organizations and associations working in mountain areas (35 %, for 10 seats)
- Direct adhering members, including researchers (15 %, for 5 seats)
The Board also includes qualified members, chosen for their skills and their commitment, and delegates from the founding organizations. Representatives from partner organizations plus observers were invited to participate.
Executive Board
To meet the need to reinforce the Presidential role in this active phase of construction and structuring of the Association, in addition to the 5 territorial Vice Presidents representing the 4 continents where the Association is present (1 for Europe, 2 for Asia, 1 for Africa and 1 Latin America), an extra-territorial Vice President and 6 thematic Vice Presidents were appointed. Their involvement at local level will enable them to take charge of missions to support the President. As provided by the Articles of Association, this « restricted » Board is working on the basis of delegated powers to follow up on the Association’s activities as closely as possible. Its members are as follows :
President :
Jean LASSALLE (France)
5 territorial Vice Presidents
- Africa: Hanta RABETALIANA (Africa – Madagascar)
- America: José CERRUTO (Latin America – Bolivia)
- Asia: Shrikrishna UPADHYAY (Himalaya – Nepal)
- Asia – Pacific – Oceania (to be appointed )
- Europe: Valerio PRIGNACHI (Italy)
1 Extra territorial Vice President
- International organizations: Jorge LEON (Ecuador)
6 Thematic Vice Presidents (in charge of specific missions)
- European institutions: François MAÏTIA (France)
- International Cooperation: Jean BOURLIAUD (France)
- Humanitarian NGOs: Gabrielle NANCHEN (Switzerland)
- Structure of WMPA: Louis ALTHAPÉ (France)
- « Montagnes du Monde » Foundation: Jean DIGONNET (France)
- Research: Denis BLAMONT (France)
Secretary General : Pierre RÉMY (France)
Treasurer : To be appointed
In the meeting in Ispoure in the French Pyrenees, after 5 days of discussions, on Friday 5 September 2003, the newly constituted WMPA Board adopted: the Charter, the Articles of Association, the financial principles and the working programme of the WMPA, pursuant to the mandate received from the General Assembly in Quito (Ecuador) on 20 September 2002.
On the basis of which, the Board adopted the following resolutions :
Articles of Association
Subject to their final approval by the next General Assembly, the WMPA Articles of Association dated 27 July 2001 were amended by the Whole Board, pursuant to the mandate received from the General Assembly in Quito (Ecuador) on 20 September 2002.
 The resised text integrated the proposals made after the discussions on membership of the various boards, on the suitability of the appointed representatives, on the independence of action of the regional WPMAs and on the appointment of the thematic vice presidents.
Financing principles and procedures
The Quito General Assembly adopted the principle of participation of all adhering members in view of their resources to demonstrate their commitment, in order to give greater legitimacy to the Association and to ensure its independence.
Consequently, the Board unanimously (less one abstention) adopted the following five principles :
- The base contribution is that of the members themselves. By adopting the charter, Mountain peoples assert their wish « to take their future in hand » and have decided to act as their own advocates.
- For individuals, the simple, universal base for the calculation is the average income for one day. An additional effort will be requested of European authorities, whereas elsewhere each country will set the level of the contribution that it will collect.
- The building of business partnerships founded on trust is to be encouraged.
- A « World Mountain Foundation » will be set up under the new « law on patronage, associations and foundations » that encourages donations to charities through tax exemption and reduces the red tape that the setting up of such charities involves.
- Membership in local and regional WMPAs will be managed locally.
In application of these principles, the membership fees for Europewere adopted.
The above procedures are for Europe and do not constitute a general measure. They can be adapted freely by other continents, since membership is managed locally (Article 28 of the Articles of Association).
Please remember that application for WMPA membership must be made in writing. Membership entails agreeing to the terms of the Articles of Association and the charter, paying the membership fee, and committing to actively participate in the actions of the organization.
Charter of the World Mountain People
The Charter was distributed and its contents discussed for several weeks. The amended version of the Charter of the World Mountain Peoplewas unanimously adopted. The Charter binds each of the signatories; it gives them the possibility to express their wish to work together and to promote a certain idea of the mountains and their future. This document is a declaration of identity geared to action, and consequently one that will evolve. All members are kindly requested to see that the adopted version is translated into their language correctly.
Action programme 2003 - 2004
Two levels and two types of action characterize the WMPA:
- Political action carried out on a global level, ranging from the production to the promotion of concepts, in order to raise both public awareness and that of the international decision makers, of the issues of mountain people.
- On site concrete action for local development projects, conceived and implemented by mountain people themselves, acting as each other’s experts.
As these two levels of intervention are closely interwoven, WMPA should encourage the creation of decentralized platforms for exchanges and encounters, everywhere they may be needed, to enable mountain people to gain access to political discussions, to defend their specific interests in national and international contexts, and to promote ‘bottom-up’ emergence of projects by referring to the charter.
To ensure the effectiveness of its political action, the best level of intervention, and the most strategic places and processes must be found for the Association’s efforts, given the limited resources of the umbrella structure. With this in mind, the Board hereby sets the following five priorities :
- Aiding the constitution of local and regional WMPAs. The first priority of the organization, whose vocation it is to act internationally, is to group persons who are working or could work together. The steps for developing and reinforcing this network will be set according to a timetable and using procedures specific to each region.
- Aiding the setting up of resource and exchange centres. The people resources are the mountain people themselves, who act as experts for other mountain people. Consequently, these centres should be set up locally with the support of WMPA whose role it is to put them in contact with one another.
- Organising encounters on a regional scale to meet a number of objectives. By means of these forums open to dialogue, it should be possible to communicate to administrations and governments the population’s wishes, claims, needs and expertise. The role of the WMPA is to network all these initiatives and to provide support in forms yet to be decided.
- Intensifying the international action and affirming the international presence of WMPA via the local and regional WMPA everywhere that decisions are taken which could have important consequences on the life of mountain people, both on a worldwide scale (WTO, UN, …) and at regional level (ALCA, etc.). Ensuring its presence at international conventions that are being put in place or prepared, in which peoples’ representatives must make themselves heard. Taking part in an international partnership on sustainable development of mountain areas, enacted in all mountain regions in the world, and acting both as a liaison and a source of information for decisions being prepared, and for ¬the orientations of such a partnership, and the opportunities for making alliances with other partners.
- Taking the initiative to define an international label for mountain areas. This is WMPA’s preferred approach for dealing with the situations in which mountain people find themselves, and for resolving their problems fairly and across the board.
The Board asked the General Secretariat – in relation with the Executive Board – to implement this action plan and to propose a timetable for its execution.
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