Mountain Sisters is our vision for a global network of communities united in grassroots collaborations to address the challenges and opportunities facing our mountainous regions and, through them, the entire world.

We are currently working on an established link between Pokhara (Nepal) and Ithaca NY, as well as Three Sisters, a new initiative to connect Kathmandu, Istanbul, and New York City. Join us!

Highland-lowland linkages in a changing landscape

The world is shifting beneath our feet. For centuries the great mountain systems have been presumed marginal to human affairs. But remote locales have become accessible destinations, and we have learned that the fate of our urban core areas is directly linked to those peripheral zones. The geologically dynamic highlands are the center of origin of many lowland crises, but they are also repositories of biological, cultural, and economic assets on which all of humanity relies. And, of course, they are critically sensitive to human activities and policies throughout the world.

Local action for global change

The world's great challenges — climate adaptation, managment of earthquakes and flood, sustainable tourism, economic opportunity, biodiversity, and cultural resilience — are increasingly global in impact for local in management. National governments remain indispensable, but lasting solutions often begin with communities willing to learn from one another. International relationships provide a framework for exactly that kind of collaboration.

Why Sister Cities?

Privileged ties between communities with shared interests have occurred throughout history, often to facilitate trade. Documented instances of twinned cities arose with increasing frequency in response to war-time disasters, as a means of urgently needed assistance. After World War II, such linkages proliferated, primarily within a given region or nation, but also internationally, as a means of promoting economic recovery.

The activities of sister cities are often referred to as citizen diplomacy initiatives. In some cases, policies or activities may be carried out with participation of elected officials at the subnational (municipal or state) level, but most frequently they are implemented by private citizens or by benevolent organizations such as Rotary, Lions, Elks and Kiwanis.

The advantages of such initiative are numerous: they be implemented without protracted debate at and politicking; they are not subject to extinction when there is a change of top-level regime; they are generally carried out by those with a personal stake in the outcome, and funding can be out-of-pocket or ad hoc.

Why now?

International cooperation is entering a period of uncertainty. Governments change priorities. Institutions such as U.S. Agency for International Development are targeted for political reasons. Yet the need for practical collaboration has never been greater.

Although citizen diplomacy is inherently different from conventional international affairs, there is a strong overlap. What Joseph Nye refers to as soft power, the ability of a country to shape the international preferences and behaviors of others through appeal rather than coercion,can literally keep us out of wars and promote the spread of our political and economic values. To a certain extent, our products and ideas contribute to soft power. But person-to-person and community-to-community engagement is the most authentic and effective kind of soft power.

At the same time, our local institutions depend on foreign input. Both advanced and developing societies depend on exchange of expertise; the colleges and universities of advanced nations depend on international students to make full use of their resources, and their own scholars need cooperation and collaboration in carrying out research.

New enterprises need assistance in developing markets, and established businesses need resources, workers, collaborators, and consumers.

Diaspora communities remain a critical economic resource for countries of origin, and are particularly impactful in mobilizing assistance in times of disaster.

Why Mountain Sisters?

Mountain communities share numerous special challenges and opportunities. Watershed protection, landscape stewardship, education, entrepreneurship, cultural preservation, infrastructure development and disaster management all take on distinctive dimensions when they are confronted at altitude.

But mountain communities should be networking not just with similar communities: fruitful relationships should be maintained with lowland communities with educational and cultural institutions committed to mountain research and development. Ithaca, New York, is not in a mountainous zone, but through institutions such as Cornell University, Namgyal Gompa, Educate the Children, the Johnson Museum, and Mountain Legacy, Ithaca has strong ties to Nepal, Tibet, the Himalayas, mountains everywhere. That is why we undertook our initiative to link Ithaca and Pokhara, Nepal.

What's next? And how can you help?

Mountain Legacy led the initiative to link Pokhara and Ithaca, and is currently spearheading the Three Sisters initiative to link New York City, Istanbul, and Kathmandu. Each of these cities has large communities of migrants from mountainous regions, and each has a substantial stake in mountain stewardship and prosperity. Each is also a center with great opportunities for research, education, and economic development that bear on the future of mountain communities everywhere.

If you have ideas or a project that might align with these very general objectives, let us know. We will put you in contact with others who might be able to collaborate with you, and your participation will give momentum to the larger effort to link up mountain communities everywhere.