Credit: MECDD / UNEP

On Friday 24 June 2022, in the presence of Luxembourg's Minister of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, Joëlle Welfring, and the Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Europe Office, Bruno Pozzi, the “Vanishing Treasures” interactive exhibition was officially launched.

The global climate is changing and mountainous regions are hardly spared. As our planet continues to warm, unique plants and animals struggle to survive in their ever-changing mountain habitats. Local communities in mountainous regions, who often live close to wildlife and depend on crops and livestock, also face great hardship caused by longer dry seasons and less water for irrigation. As a result, local mountain communities and animals increasingly find themselves in conflict over natural resources as well as living space.

As the protection of the world's natural resources is one of the main priorities of Luxembourg's international climate finance, the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development decided in 2018 to support the UNEP in the implementation of the “Vanishing Treasures” programme.

The programme aims to generate maximum synergy between climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation by:

  • improving the adaptive capacity of mountain ecosystems while maintaining related ecosystem services,
  • protecting flagship mountain species that are essential to the functioning of ecosystems,
  • promoting alternative livelihoods for local communities and increasing their resilience to climate change.

In order to offer the public an immersion in the “Vanishing Treasures” programme, an interactive exhibition can be visited from 24 June to 14 October 2022 at the Biodiversum nature and forest centre, in the magnificent landscape of the “Haff Réimech” nature reserve.

The exhibition will provide an overview of the work carried out under the programme which is dedicated to the protection of emblematic endangered mountain species - the snow leopard in Central Asia (Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan), the Royal Bengal tiger in Bhutan and the gorilla mountains in the greater Virunga landscape (Rwanda and Uganda) – and whose habitats are severely affected by climate change. In addition, it is a question of allowing the coexistence of these wild animals with the local communities and ensuring the security of the means of subsistence of the latter.

Further infomation is available online via: https://vanishingtreasures.org/.