This International Conference "Water in Mountains: Integrated Management of High Watersheds", organised within the framework of the "International Year of Mountains", was part of a series of events devoted to water to be held world wide in 2002-2003: The General Assembly of International Network of Basin Organizations, Quebec, May 2002, The International Conference on Watersheds, Madrid, November 2002, and The Kyoto World Forum, March 2003.

The conclusions of the colloquium served as a contribution of the mountain regions to this global issue and the recommendations shall subsequently be presented during the 3^rd Global Water Forum planned for March 2003 in Kyoto (Japan), namely within the framework of the Workshop that will be organized by the International Network of Basin Organizations.

This event lead to a European Regional Workshop titled "For a new generation of mountain catchment basins management programmes", organized on September 4^th 2002 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation - FAO of the United Nations and the European Observatory of Alpine Forests.