The mountains of Central and South America form a significant portion of one of the longest mountain chains on earth, stretching from North America to Tierra del Fuego, and include extensive areas of montane forests with an impressive diversity of flora, fauna, climate and people, and thus a rich array of biological resources with great economic potential. The five day symposium covered a wide range of topics: 1. Past Vegetation: Cretaceous to the Holocene; 2. Present Vegetation: floristic inventory and ecological studies; 3. Taxonomic Diversity: fungi, lichens, liverworts and mosses; fern allies, ferns, and flowering plants; 4. Plants and Humans: impact and utilization in montane environments; 5. Mountain forests: conservation and the future. A valuable collection.