UNGA wanted the Day to convey an important message: "about the importance of mountains to life, to highlight the opportunities and constraints in mountain development and to build alliances that will bring positive change to mountain people and environments around the world."

The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA) play a key role in the field of mountain protection and has ran several projects in the past year to help conserve mountains and their communities.

One of the UIAA's projects supporting worldwide mountain communities is their ‘Respect the Mountains’ programme.

Communities helped by the UIAA include those in Nepal through the post-earthquake recovery programme along with Patagonia, where a waste-management scheme was started up.

Additionally, 7.5 tonnes of waste was removed from mountains worldwide in the last year thanks to help from over 1,500 volunteers.

In November, the UIAA took part in a panel discussion at Sport Accord’s International Federation Forum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The panellists discussed the relationship between sport and biodiversity and role of the sporting community.

UIAA Mountain Protection Commission President Carolina Adler commented on her organisation's efforts in mountain sustainability.

“This year the theme for the UN declared International Mountain Day is ‘Mountains under Pressure: climate, hunger, migration,'" she said.

"Mountains and mountain communities are under great pressure, and as important as it is to acknowledge and account for how these pressures can exert negative impacts, it is also relevant and important to take a moment to reflect and review our own actions, hopefully as contributors to solutions rather than being part of the problem.

“Whilst tourism and recreation can make substantial and positive contributions to livelihoods and development, the mountaineering community must ensure we work and support this development through our sport in a sustainable manner.

“For this reason, the UIAA Mountain Protection Commission has focused its attention more and more towards actions on the ground that seek to ease the pressure.”

The UIAA also announced today that it plans to carry on its mountain protection work in 2018 and that representatives from the organisation will attend the Sustainable Summits Conference in Chamonix, France, in June.