About The Mountain Fund

The world's mountains cover about one-fourth of the planet's land surface and are home to 10 percent of its population. They are a sanctuary for an extraordinary web of plant and animal life and a source of water for all of the world's major rivers.

Yet mountain people, the guardians of these valuable mountain resources, are among the world's poorest, hungriest and most marginalized populations. Indeed, many of the more-than-800 million chronically undernourished people in the world today live in mountain areas.

"Eradication of Extreme Poverty" is, in fact, the number-one priority of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals for the world community. Unfortunately, as of 2004 in Nepal for instance, the U.N. has categorized this Goal as "Far Behind."

The Mountain Fund is a global coalition of grassroots non-profit and non-governmental organizations devoted to eliminating the causes and symptoms of poverty in developing mountain cultures around the world. The Mountain Fund works to increase the capacity of these small organizations by providing marketing, publicity, organizational consulting and valuable networking tools. The Mountain Fund also provides financial, administrative and technical assistance to its Partner Organizations. In cooperation with its Partner Organizations, The Mountain Fund is dedicated to achieving the Millennium Development Goals at the grassroots level.