International Mountain Day

International Mountain Day is celebrated annually at the beginning of winter - December 11th. This holiday was introduced in 2003 by the UN General Assembly with the aim of drawing everyone's attention to the problems of mountainous areas and providing assistance to their inhabitants. Despite their majesty and external stability, mountains are subject to various negative influences, which is why they find themselves in an unsafe position. The danger comes from both the deterioration of the general environmental situation and human activity. Due to environmental problems, landslides, droughts, and various natural disasters occur more often in the mountains. Due to the tense political situation in mountainous areas, cases of local wars, the spread of terrorism, forced migration of the population are becoming more frequent, and there is a decline in the standard of living of the local population. Human activity negatively affects mountain ecosystems due to simple lack of culture: the weight of garbage accumulating in the mountains reaches several tens of tons annually. Meanwhile, mountains play a huge role for humans. These natural ecosystems are the “cradle” of all the rivers on the planet; they contain most of the fresh water reserves. Rare species of animals and flora listed in the Red Book live in the mountains. In addition, mountainous areas have always been attractive to lovers of tourism, active recreation, and mountaineering. On International Mountain Day, it is customary to hold various educational events. Symposiums, lectures, seminars, as well as thematic book and exhibition fairs are designed to convey to the population maximum information about the features and problems of the mountains. On December 11, schools hold thematic classes and quizzes. Every year, events dedicated to the celebration of International Mountain Day have their own thematic specificity. Thus, in 2004 the theme was “A World Without War”, in 2005 – “Mountain Tourism”, and in 2009 the theme “Danger of Natural Disasters in Mountainous Regions” was considered.