African Mountain Forum (AMF) is a pan-African network of networks focusing on issues related to poverty and land use change, particularly those associated with the degradation of the mountain eco-system. AMF was first established as a node of Mountain Forum during a meeting held in Nairobi in 1999 as a pan-African network of mountain communities, individuals and institutions living, working or deriving their livelihoods in mountain areas of Africa. The African Mountain Forum received initial support from SDC between October 2000-2003. Consequently, the Node's activities came to a standstill at the expiry of the funding period. From 2005 up to the present day, AMF is supported by the Global Mountain Programme (GMP) of CGIAR.

The focus of African Mountain Forum is to build partnerships and cooperation among communities, practitioners and development agencies in the African region through exchange of knowledge, information, ideas and experiences. In line with the objectives of Mountain Forum, the purpose of African Mountain Forum is also to raise awareness and advocate towards creating and enabling social, economic and political environments for sustainable mountain development. The AMF network aims at providing the following services:

1. Enhance the exchange of technical, economic, social and policy-area knowledge, ideas, experiences and practice to improve welfare of mountain communities
2. Aid in making contacts, improving linkages and building partnerships among regional mountain networks
3. Provide platforms for advocacy on mountain conservation & development issues
4. Create a "market-place" to link various actors promoting mountain enterprises and sales of mountain products
5. Improve the availability and organization of research findings and link R and D

Currently, there are 40 organisational members from 12 countries and 153 individual members from 24 countries who are registered with African Mountain Forum.

African Mountain Forum is hosted by The World Agroforestry Centre/African Highlands Initiative (AHI) and the AHI Regional coordinator represents AMF on the Mountain Forum Board of Directors.

Click here to read the inaugural issue of the African Mountain Forum newsletter.

Contact

Mr. Moses Musinguzi Node Manager African Mountain Forum c/o African Highlands Initiative ICRAF Uganda Plot 13, Binyayomba, off Luthuli, Bugolobi P.O. Box 26416 Kampala, Uganda Tel: +256-41-220 607/2 Fax: +256-41-223 242 Email: amf[at]mtnforum[dot]org