Poverty and Migration
- Overall, mountain households in many nations are poorer and more food-insecure than lowland households in the same country. To overcome a chronic lack of access to services, education and income-earning opportunities, mountain families need sustainable, mountain-adapted livelihood options that capitalize on their communities’ unique cultures and ecosystems. Food security is getting worse in mountains–even as it improves globally. Mountains contain 13% of the global population but nearly 40% of the world’s hungry.
- Many mountain communities are emptying out. Limited economic and educational opportunities are driving the younger generation–especially men–to migrate away from their mountain homes, often to foreign countries. When young men leave mountain villages, women, children and the elderly are left behind to manage as best they can. This out-migration trend has increased worldwide in recent years. It is now stressing the livability and sustainability of rapidly growing mountain cities. In some parts of the world, climate refugees are an added pressure as they move up in elevation to escape scorching lowlands
