Mountain Wilderness International

11/10/2026

In Chile's Atacama desert, the extraction of lithium at an altitude of around 2,300 m asl comes with escalating social and environmental costs.

In the Atacama desert, the extraction of lithium – so crucial to addressing the climate crisis – comes with escalating social and environmental costs

04/10/2026

Good luck, girls!

04/10/2026

On September 29, the three young mountaineers from the high valleys of Swat and Chitral flew back to Pakistan, closing a month‑long internship.

The final week brought the three young women into the heart of the Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso, where they shadowed wildlife experts studying ibex, chamois, marmots and bearded vultures, learned to use camera traps, studied initiatives aimed at protecting alpine ecosystems, explored fragile wetlands, practised orienteering and discovered what it takes to manage a major protected area.

During their stay in Italy, several public meetings were organised, and there will be further events to present Girls in Action! and its results, and to engage with the public in the coming months. Stay tuned!

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01/10/2026

"Swiss glaciers shrank by 5.5% in the first eight months of 2026, according to an annual monitoring report, after a summer of scorching heatwaves that followed a winter with little snow. The reduction in ice volume falls just shy of the record set in 2022 and brings the total loss of glacier ice since 2021 to 19.4%"

Alpine regions in Europe experiencing extreme glacier collapse due to heat-trapping effects of fossil fuel pollution

25/09/2026

25/09/2026

The second week of training unfolded like a crash course in the science of the high mountains.

Against the stunning backdrop surrounding the Fondazione Montagna sicura, CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (National Research Council of Italy) researchers introduced the three young Pakistani mountaineers to the cryosphere, the atmosphere, and the hydrosphere, always pairing theory with hands on experience.

It was an intense week, but it planted something essential: the understanding that exchange and collaboration between the scientific community and civil society organisations, with a view to public outreach, are powerful tools for protecting mountain environments and empowering the women who explore them.

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24/09/2026

This evening, at the “Homo et Ibex” Visitor Centre in Ceresole Reale, the Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso will host the closing event of a three-week journey undertaken by three young Pakistani mountaineers, who arrived in Italy as part of a project organised by the Asian Desk of Mountain Wilderness International.

During the event, “Girls in Action: A Horizon of Freedom” (Italy, 2025) will be screened, a film chronicling their mountaineering and personal journeys, and their experience of the mountains as a means of autonomy and personal growth.

During the week they spent in the Park, the three young women mountaineers had the opportunity to gain an insight into the Park Authority’s day-to-day work: accompanied by staff from the Park Ranger Service and the Biodiversity and Scientific Research Service, they learnt about wildlife monitoring, research and initiatives dedicated to the protection of alpine ecosystems.

The evening will therefore also be an opportunity to share this experience and discuss mountaineering, the environment and gender equality, fostering dialogue between different cultures, skills and ways of experiencing the mountains.

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16/09/2026

We are delighted to be able to share this innovative project by Mountain Wilderness España and its crowdfunding campaign, which closes on 19 October.

LOOK UP! is an exhibition of art, adventure, science, culture, nature, and activism to understand and safeguard the mountains from A to Z, it is a call to action to protect the mountains from the climate crisis.

This project brings together leading artists, scientists and mountaineers, both from Spain and from all over the world

With your contribution, you will not only be helping to realise the project and the exhibition (and get interesting rewards!), which will take place at the Museum of Natural Sciences of Zaragoza, but you will also be contributing to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN Agenda 2030!

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12/09/2026

The first of the three-week training of the three Pakistani young women mountaineers in the Alps has just ended, making way for the training programme for the second week

12/09/2026

The first of the three weeks of training, held in the upper Aosta Valley at the foot of Mont Blanc, has just concluded with outstanding results.

This week's training was organised in collaboration with the Italian Academic Alpine Club (CAAI), the Franco Piovan Mountaineering School of CAI Padua and the Italian Army’s Alpine Training Centre, and combined intensive rock‑climbing sessions with glacier training and rescue manoeuvres.

The second week has just begun, focusing on advanced scientific training. Experts from the National Research Council (CNR), the Montagna Sicura Foundation will lead sessions on cryosphere, air‑quality monitoring and high‑altitude medicine.

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