Mountain Wilderness


Mountain Wilderness is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the preservation of mountain areas, in their natural and cultural aspects. The organization was founded in Europe and has a stronger presence in alpine and pyrenean regions. It has, however, a worldwide reach, with representatives and actions on all continents.

Objectives

Mountain Wilderness shares some of the values and objectives of alpine clubs and environmentalist organizations, but is clearly distinct from both. Mountain Wilderness was founded by mountaineers and places a stronger emphasis on the human experience of wilderness than on the exclusive defense of wildlife for its own sake.
Even in the most remote mountain regions, there remain vanishingly few untouched wilderness zones in a strict sense. Contrary to what a literal interpretation would suggest, Mountain Wilderness does not focus on such "pure", pristine wilderness. Nearly all mountain landscapes, and, to an even higher degree, the perception of mountains by humans, bear a strong cultural imprint. Mountain Wilderness works towards the inclusive preservation of this natural and cultural mountain environment at large, in three complementary ways :
Mountain Wilderness was founded in 1987 in Biella, Italy during an international conference convened by Ludovico Sella, scion of a prominent piedmontese family of financiers, statesmen and mountaineers, among which Quintino Sella, the 19th century founder of the Italian Alpine Club.
This conference was a follow-up to a similar gathering of mountaineers convened by the Italian Academic Alpine Club on 8 August 1986, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the first ascent of the Mont-Blanc. On this occasion, a “manifesto for Mont Blanc” was issued and signed by a number of renowned mountaineers, among which Sir Chris Bonington, Yvon Chouinard, Reinhold Messner, Doug Scott. This manifesto called for a foundational human right to “open spaces for free adventure”.
The Biella conference attracted a larger attendance of mountaineers and intellectuals from all over the world, several of whom were to become founding guarantors and founding members of Mountain Wilderness. Among them were Haroun Tazieff, Kurt Diemberger, Jim Bridwell, John Hunt, Wanda Rutkiewicz. The "Biella theses", on which the above mission statement is based, were written during this meeting.

Actions

Some of the actions led by Mountain Wilderness at the international level have been:
Although Mountain Wilderness had yet to be formally established as an organization when this took place, it was later perceived as an inaugural event. The daring, spectacular character of this action inspired comparisons to similar actions by Greenpeace, but later demonstrations by Mountain Wilderness have generally been more modest. All have been peaceful and none of them against the law.
Guarantors of Mountain Wilderness are a group of intellectuals, writers, mountaineers, world-travelers, who are recognized through their achievements and their long-time commitment to the shared values of Mountain Wilderness. They play the roles of international representatives and advisors for the association.
The guarantors elected at the last General Assembly that took place in Biella, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the foundation of Mountain Wilderness are :
Bernard Amy, Núria Balagué, Bernard Batschelet, Edwin Bernbaum, Andrea Bianchi, Sir Chris Bonington, Fausto De Stefani, Kurt Diemberger, Patrick Gabarrou , Maurizio Giordani, Richard Goedeke, Alessandro Gogna, Paulo Grobel, Victor Groselj, François Labande, Franco Michieli, Nicole Niquille, Olivier Paulin, Carlo Alberto Pinelli , Jordi Quera, Ludovico Sella, Josep Sicart, Patrick Wagnon.
Among noted former guarantors are :
Sir Edmund Hillary , John Hunt, Reinhold Messner, Jean-Christophe Lafaille, Haroun Tazieff, Wanda Rutkiewicz, Jim Bridwell.

National chapters of Mountain Wilderness