Lima, June 30, 2009.- The creation of an information system on moors at the level of the Andean region and of regional collaborative spaces and the formulation of a global strategy for moors were among the recommendations made at the Second World Congress on Moors held in Loja, Ecuador on June 21 to 25.   

The Congress, convened by Ecuador’s Environment Ministry and the Consortium for the Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion (CONDESAN), with the backing of the Andean Community General Secretariat and numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations, concluded with the Loja Declaration on Moors. 

In that Declaration, the participants recommend intensifying efforts aimed at the responsible protection and management of moors as strategic ecosystems; enhancing regional collaboration in their handling, management and conservation and ensuring their consideration in international negotiations for climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, based on an ecosystem approach. 

They invite governments to recognize the legitimate rights of the indigenous peoples and other local communities that live in and around moors, as basic actors in their protection and responsible use. The CAN General Secretariat is also invited to continue its successful moor protection efforts and projects and to consider the possibility of formulating an Andean Decision to reinforce the integrated management of moors and of mountain ecosystems in general.    

In that same Declaration, they note that moors have a great cultural, archeological, social and economic value closely associated with the history of the inhabitants of the northern Andes and southern Central America.  Also that they are highly vulnerable to high-impact production activities like mining, intensive farming, extensive stock breeding and frequent slash and burn techniques, particularly when these impacts take place at the same time.   

Lastly, they recognize the multilateral agreements on which world moor management rests and emphasize, in the regional area, the existence of  mechanisms like the Regional Biodiversity Strategy for Tropical Andean countries and the High Andean Wetlands Strategy that define lines of action for moor conservation. 

Approximately 1,000 people attended the Second World Congress on Moors, among them delegates from social organizations, students, researchers and representatives of companies associated with the moors of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, Ethiopia and other African countries possessing ecosystems of this kind.

Four subject areas were addressed during the three-day conference, to wit:  Description and diagnosis of the present state of the moors, the effects of climate change on moors, soil use: impact, dynamics and management trends and tools, and moor management and conservation.  The results of the work done in these subject areas made it possible to analyze the progress made in each and to identify new perspectives for the investigation and management of those ecosystems.