Source: http://www.mountainfund.org The Facts: The world's mountains cover about one-fourth of the planet's land surface and are home to 10 percent of its population. They are a sanctuary for an extraordinary web of plant and animal life and a source of water for all of the world's major rivers. Yet mountain people, the guardians of these valuable mountain resources, are among the world's poorest, hungriest and most marginalized populations. Indeed, many of the more-than-800 million chronically undernourished people in the world today live in mountain areas. "Eradication of Extreme Poverty" is, in fact, the number-one priority of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals for the world community. Unfortunately, as of 2004 in Nepal for instance, the U.N. has categorized this Goal as "far behind." In cooperation with our Partner Organizations, The Mountain Fund is dedicated to achieving the Millennium Development Goals at the grassroots level. The Mountain Fund's Mission: Our mission is to organize grassroots non-profit and non-governmental organizations from a diversity of disciplines, and to support and coordinate these organizations' efforts to eliminate poverty, its causes and symptoms, in developing mountain communities.