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MOUTAIN RESEARCH INITIATIVE
Introduction
Mountain regions represent nearly one fourth of the Earth's land surface, and mountain
ecosystems provide services to more than half of the world’s population (Huber et al. 2004).
Ecosystem services include water resources, forest products, refugia for threatened species, and
unspoiled recreation areas for a rapidly growing and urbanized world population. Mountain
regions are globally distributed, providing opportunities for comparative regional studies and for
analyses of regional differentiation of environmental change processes (Körner et al. 2004).
Strong altitudinal gradients in mountain regions provide excellent opportunities to detect and
analyze global change processes and phenomena (Becker and Bugmann 2001). Climatic,
hydrological, and ecological conditions change strongly over short distances. Biodiversity and
endemism can be high, and shifting boundaries among biotic communities on mountain slopes
may serve as sensitive indicators of a changing climate. The higher parts of many mountain
ranges are not affected by direct human activities, and may provide locations where the
environmental impacts of climate change alone can be studied.
Changes are also occurring regionally in socio-economic conditions, land use and land
management practices, resource exploitation and the increased appreciation of mountain regions
for tourism. These arguments provide ample justification for explicit efforts aimed at better
understanding how mountain environments will change under conditions of changing climate
and human use, described below (Reasoner et al. 2002).
Current Research
Mountain regions are experiencing rapid degradation, as was noted in the 1992 United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro (Agenda 21,
Chapter 13; 1992). Many mountain systems are threatened by the increasingly global scale of
both systemic human impacts, which impact environments at global scale, and cumulative ones,
which operate at the local scale, but are becoming globally pervasive. High rates of
environmental change in fragile ecosystems coupled with economies that are strongly dependent
on local environmental resources and limited in terms of response capability are increasing the
vulnerability of mountain ecosystems to degradation (Becker and Bugmann 2001).
For example, widespread retreat of alpine glaciers has consequences for lowland
agriculture, hydroelectric power, mitigation of natural hazards and eco-tourism (e.g., Grosjean
and Veit 2004). Physical, administrative and market integration of mountain and upland
agriculture with mainstream systems has fundamentally altered local resource management
strategies leading to resource use intensification and overexploitation. Mountains are extremely
important sources of fresh water, and the global demand for fresh water has increased at twice
the rate of population growth over the past century. The dependence of society on mountain
fresh water sources will be intensified by the continued extraction of non-renewable water from
lowland aquifers and unsustainable waste management practices in and around many urban
areas. Arid and semi-arid regions of the tropics and sub-tropics, home to roughly half of the
world's population, are primarily represented by developing nations, where fresh water
withdrawals have quadrupled relative to the global population growth rate over the last decade.
Mountains in these regions currently provide more than 80 to 90% of the water resources to the
surrounding lowlands for irrigation, drinking water, industry and domestic use (e.g., Grosjean
and Veit 2004). In mountain regions, irrigation abstractions have in many cases leapfrogged
upslope, leaving water deficits in surrounding lowland areas leading to regional tensions.
Moreover, all major river systems originate in mountain regions; the majority of these cross one
or more political boundaries over their course, thereby setting the stage for international disputes.
Considering that approximately 60 to 70% of available fresh water is currently used for food
production, and that the complex and volatile issue of food security is very likely to become
paramount in the 21st century, the link between the impact of environmental change on mountain
water resources and human security becomes clear.
Research Needs
Reinforcement of general human security in the 21st century will require implementation
of effective water management strategies. These strategies must have the capacity to synthesize
input from both physical and social sciences in order to track, anticipate and mitigate the impacts
of global change in mountain regions.
Application to Global Land Project
Objectives for the Mountain Ecosystems section of the GLP will be similar to that of the
overall project: 1) to identify and quantify the agents and nature of change in mountain
environments; 2) to assess how provision of ecosystem goods and services from mountain
ecosystems is affected by change; and 3) to identify the vulnerability of mountain ecosystems,
and alternatively the potential for sustainable use, to global environmental change.
1. Within-mountain Interactions:
A. What are the coupled human/environment (physical and climate) interactions related to
human use of mountain lands? Examples include intensification or extensification of agriculture
or settlement; abandonment of traditional land management practices; expansion of human
settlement into zones of risk from flooding, fire, avalanche, or slope failure; erosion;
deforestation; alteration of natural disturbance regimes; development of water resources;
recreational use; exploitation of species; and establishment of protected lands and resources?
B. Are there unique issues for urban areas located in mountain regions that differ from urban
centers in lowland regions, such as physical constraints, access to water, disposal of waste, air
quality related to deposition, and local inversions?
2. Upland-Lowland Interactions:
A. How will the combined influences of climate change and human use affect the ability of
mountain ecosystems to deliver ecosystem services to humanity?
B. How is upland-lowland heterogeneity related to differences in access to arable land,
resources, technology, communication, and poverty; how does access relate to vulnerability of
the human system, and how does this feedback to environmental impacts on mountain systems?
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C. What are the consequences of atmospherically-deposited pollutants to mountain
environments and peoples?
D. How will changes in precipitation timing and amount, snow fall, storage, discharge quantity,
glacial melt and retreat affect both mountain ecosystems and downstream water supply?
E. What are the effects of species introductions and extirpations on mountain biodiversity?
What are the best ways to protect mountain biodiversity?
3. How will climate change and climate variability mitigate or hinder the ability of mountain
ecosystems to adapt, recover, or otherwise respond to changes caused by human activities? How
can human societies adapt to these changes under these conditions and what information is
crucial for decision-makers to cope with future changes?
Outputs
1. The LAND program will coordinate, or develop where needed, monitoring networks to both
gather and disseminate high quality and high resolution data on the climatic, biogeochemical,
hydrologic, biological, and socio-economic properties of mountain ecosystems and the people
that inhabit them.
2. Websites with databases, listserv networks, workshops and training sessions that accelerate
transfer of knowledge to all levels of society will be developed by the GLP for communication.
3. Synthesis from multiple case studies of mountainous regions, describing commonalities,
uniqueness, and lessons that can be transferred, will be conducted as part of the GLP.
4. The development of studies on specific issues in common to several mountain areas will be
encouraged, with further analysis of how far results can be generalized and extrapolated.
Expected Outcomes
1. Objective evaluations of the state of mountain ecosystems worldwide, and their vulnerability
and/or ability to cope with increasing human-caused and climate driven change.
2. Development of scenarios of the potential consequences to mountain peoples and ecosystems
of different management trajectories. Use adaptive management as a tool to develop alternative
strategies for environmental and
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societal well-being.
3. Increased communications and joint research efforts between scientists and decision-makers in
order to find alternatives for sustainable management of mountain ecosystems in face of global
change.
References
Becker, A. and H. Bugmann (eds.). 2001. Global change and mountain regions: The Mountain
Research Initiative. IGBP Report #49, IGBP Secretariat, Stockholm, Sweden.
Grosjean, M. and H. Veit. 2004. Water resources in the arid mountains of the Atacama Desert
(Northern Chile): Past climate changes and modern conflicts. In: Huber, U., Reasoner, M. &
Bugmann, H. (eds.), Global Change and Mountain Regions: A state of knowledge overview.
Advances in Global Change Research, Kluwer Academic Publishers, in press.
Huber, U., M. Reasoner, and H. Bugmann (eds.). 2004. Global Change and Mountain Regions: A
state of knowledge overview. Advances in Global Change Research, Kluwer Academic Publishers,
in press.
Körner, C. (Convening Lead Author) et al. 2004. Mountain Systems. Chapter 27, Millennium
Assessment.
Reasoner, M., L. Graumlich, B. Messerli, and H. Bugmann. 2002. Global change and mountains:
the need for an integrated approach to address human security in the 21st century. IHDP newsletter
Nr 1/2002.
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). 1992. Agenda 21,
Chapter 13.
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