COVID everywhere in a pandemic where the disease transcends national and international borders.
On March 18, 2020, I got in touch with Rosalaura Romeo, an Italian working for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations based in Rome. Rosalaura is a secretariat member of the Mountain Partnership, an international voluntary alliance dedicated to improving the lives of mountain peoples and protecting mountain environments around the world, known by its acronym SMD, a functional discussion platform for mountain states on policy issues with determination to follow up what gets collectively agreed upon.
These global summits have been characterized by diverse discussions, debates, and exchanges. They have also produced specific policy briefings and recommendations, which are helping the dialog on development practices and policies for the mountain states.
I first met Rosalaura in 2004 in Rome, then in the mountain city of Cusco, Perú.
The last time I met Rosalaura was in 2016 for the slow food movement by Terra Madre.
I often featured the Partnership in my SunStar Bacolod columns, even recruited the province of Negros Occidental as a subnational state under then-governor Alfredo Marañón. Our points of convergence are Mts Mandalagan and Kanlaon on the basis of sustainable mountain development.
But instead of face-to-face meetings like in 2013 in Erzurum, Turkey where I gave a presentation during the 4th summit, last year's summit was a different ballgame. It reflected the signs of the time.
The 9th edition of Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) became a four-day-long summit zoom meeting organized by Indian Mountain Initiative (IMI) and hosted by Sustainable Development Forum Uttaranchal (SDFU), Dehradun.
The theme for the 2020 Sustainable Mountain Development Summit was “Emerging Pathways for Building a Resilient Post Covid-19 Mountain Economy, Adaptation, Innovation and Acceleration.”
Last year, I asked Rosalaura via Messenger, “Good morning, Rosalaura (we address one another on a first-name basis). How are you and the folks at FAO?” (The Philippines is six hours ahead of Western Europe). Se responded the following day, saying, “Hi Benedicto! We are all fine, but working from home. Hope you are well, too.” I can understand that.
On January 31, 2020, the Italian government suspended all flights to and from China and declared a state of emergency. In February, eleven municipalities in northern Italy were identified as the centers of the two main Italian clusters and placed under quarantine. The majority of positive cases in other regions are traced back to the two clusters. On March 8, 2020, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte expanded the quarantine to all of Lombardy and 14 other northern provinces, and on the following day to all of Italy, placing more than 60 million people on lockdown.
Now the baton as point person for Southeast Asia of the Mountain Partnership has been passed on to my friend Cabinet Secretary Bernadette “Berna” Romulo-Puyat, daughter of former Senator Alberto Romulo.
Berna gamely hiked with the leaders of ONOPRA to the mountain organic farms in Barangay Patag, Silay.