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Climate change and associated glacier recession have led to the formation of new glacial lakes and the expansion of existing ones across the Himalayas. Many pose a potential glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) threat to downstream communities and infrastructure. In this paper, 4418 glacial lakes in the Indian Himalayan Region and 636 transboundary lakes are analyzed. We consider hazard, exposure, and

The mountainous state of Uttarakhand in the Indian Himalayas is experiencing population growth and undergoing a process of rapid urbanization. This is causing concern, because the Uttarakhand Himalayas are exposed to multiple natural hazards and are vulnerable to climate change extremes. Mountain municipalities in Uttarakhand are typically small and lack the human and financial resources to address

Land use change in tropical places with variable topography followed an elevation-sensitive pattern during the last 3 decades of the 20th century. Deforestation, driven by farmers, was concentrated in accessible, lowland settings, while sustainability initiatives, promoted by natural scientists, occurred in remote, upland settings. This lowland deforestation–upland sustainability pattern persists,

Establishing effectively protected and managed ecosystems with high biodiversity is the broad aim of the Aichi initiative. Assessing the biodiversity of a specific ecosystem is the first step in estimating its conservation value. Most lakes on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau are formed by mountain faulting and are surrounded by human settlements. Lake ecosystems are fragile and frequently disturbed by pollution

European mountain regions have already been impacted by climate change, and this is projected to increase in the future. These mountain regions experience rapid changes, which influence social-ecological systems in the lower-mountain and floodplain regions of Europe. There is scattered evidence across different strands of academic literature on the ways in which the impacts of changing climate in mountain

Science-based decision-making—even if not favored by all political forces—is a must in finding sustainable solutions in today's complex world. But how can this process be made more effective? We at the Forum Landscape, Alps, Parks (FoLAP) believe that science-based decision-making is successful only if it is embedded in a well-mediated dialogue between science and practice. In addition, when land use

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Little is known about the complex processes within the soil ecosystem and especially about soil animals and their role in supporting and sustaining ecosystem functioning in alpine soils. Currently, environmental and socioeconomic changes, such as climate change and the cessation of traditional cultivation, are influencing mountain ecosystems. Epi- and endogeic animals play an essential role in litter

This study is an attempt toempirically understand thetransformation of rootedlivelihoods after the arrival oftourism in the GreaterCaucasus. A case-specificmethodology combiningqualitative and geographicinformation methods enabled us to identify 4 types of tourism-ledlivelihood change: (1) expanding nonagricultural activities;(2) reducing agricultural activities; (3) developing agritourismactivities;

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The project Transdisciplinarity for Sustainable Tourism Development in the Caucasus Region (CaucaSusT) initiated the integration of transdisciplinary approaches into partner universities in Armenia and Georgia. The aim was to develop cooperation between academics and nonacademic stakeholders from rural communities in the Caucasus mountain region. This paper uses the United Nations Educational, Scientific

In recent decades, research on mountains has become more inter- and transdisciplinary, but a greater effort is needed if such research is to contribute to a societal transformation toward sustainability. Mountain research centers are a crucial actor in this endeavor. Yet, the literature has not paid sufficient attention to how these centers should (re-)design inter- and transdisciplinary research.

Since 2004, the University of the Highlands and Islands, in Scotland, has delivered an online MSc in sustainable mountain development (SMD). Students have the choice of exiting from the course with an MSc, a postgraduate diploma, or a postgraduate certificate. This paper first describes the history and delivery of the course, complemented with statistics on past and current students. This is followed

Target 4.7 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including through education for sustainable development. To implement this, students at Utah Valley University (UVU) advocate for sustainable mountain development (SMD) in Utah and elsewhere through a student engaged learning (SEL) model

Andean pastoralism, like other pastoral systems around the world, is under stress due to climate change, land tenure regimes, pressures to become sedentary, difficulties in interacting with market-based economies, isolation, and youth emigration. Over the years, we have proposed different environmental education (EE) strategies targeting local Andean stakeholders and university students, including

Swiss regional nature parks are intended to be model regions for sustainable regional development in rural areas. It is often claimed that achieving sustainable development requires a transformation. One approach whereby parks could foster this is through transformative learning (TL). This article discusses attachment development (AD) of local people to a park from the perspective of TL. AD and TL

The Carpathian Convention is a multilateral environmental agreement focused on nature conservation and sustainable development of the Carpathian Mountain region; its articles cover various thematic and cross-sectional areas. Article 13 of the convention outlines provisions for awareness raising, education, and public participation and is central to integrating education for sustainable development

Montology, the transdisciplinary science of mountains, applied to education incorporates several pedagogical approaches that could be used to energize the transformative change from sustainable to regenerative development from different perspectives. We include pedagogies with learning outcomes that apply 9 different educational methodologies, and we revisit them in the context of montology to focus

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Open spaces in the Alps are becoming noticeably scarcer, and the long-term consequences for humans and the environment are often overlooked. Open spaces preserve ecosystem services but are under pressure in many Alpine valleys due to demographic and economic development as well as corresponding technical and tourism infrastructure. This article conceptualizes and measures open spaces in Alpine environments

Solid waste management is one of the most challenging issues for authorities in the Mt Everest region of Nepal, exacerbated in recent years by the rapid and continued growth of tourism. Open and unsightly landfills in the vicinity of villages along the main trekking routes are creating serious public health and environmental concerns, primarily because of their routine burning, resultant release of

International sustainable development and conservation agendas can help regional decision makers to frame their own agendas. Agendas can guide programs and initiatives that drive funding and capacity development for research, and the research, in turn, provides knowledge, evidence, capacity building, and impetus for action. Deficits in research capacity, knowledge, and funding confound efforts on the

Maintaining the health of biodiversity and ecosystem services is becoming an increasingly important concern for the global community. The biodiversity-rich Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region provides a myriad of ecosystem services but is experiencing rapid biodiversity loss and habitat degradation under the influence of climate change and other drivers of change. Biodiversity and ecosystem services

Mountain regions face important environmental and socioeconomic challenges. They are strongly affected by global warming, and their main economic sectors (agriculture, energy production, and tourism) strive to adapt to this and other global changes. Moreover, in a context of economic globalization, the constraints inherent to mountain regions (slope, isolation, and marginalization) make them uncompetitive

The Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) promotes basic and applied research to understand how drivers and processes of global change present challenges and opportunities in mountain social-ecological systems. It convenes a global network that collectively generates and synthesizes knowledge on global change in mountains that also supports decisions and actions to enable sustainable development. Building

This article provides insights from a survey of education programs for sustainable mountain development (ESMD) and comments on the findings from the perspective of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's.(UNESCO) Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for 2030 framework. Twenty-eight programs implemented by universities, research institutes, and nonprofit organizations

This article investigates the emergence of female education and its social impacts in a remote and male-dominated mountain community through a case study of Nagar District in northern Pakistan. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 24 women from different educational backgrounds and 15 selected male informants, the study reveals a notable increase in educational opportunities for girls and young women

Mountains host about half of the world's biodiversity terrestrial hotspots (Spehn et al 2010) and 30% of all Key Biodiversity Areas (UNEP et al 2020). Mountain biodiversity provides many goods and services to humankind, including food, medicine, and climate and air quality regulation. Yet land use and climate change, overexploitation, invasive species, pollution, and demographic changes are putting

Population growth, climate change, and unsustainable natural resource management are putting pressure on mountain ecosystems and making mountain communities increasingly vulnerable to climate and disaster risks. The international academic community is committed to finding solutions to the challenges faced in mountain regions. Governments, too, have been developing adaptation plans and policies to improve

Understanding the perceptions of local residents of and visitors to mountain protected areas in terms of their knowledge of and the value they place on aquatic ecosystems is crucial to assess whether nature management and conservation actions will be accepted. This study analyzed the perceptions of visitors to and local residents of the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park and the Alt

The relationship between elevation of residence and a child's linear growth was studied using data for 8824 children below the age of 5 years born between 2001 and 2016 at elevations ranging from 50 to 3200 m above sea level in Nepal. Multiple regression was used to measure the role of a variety of household and community factors in explaining the observed elevation effect. A negative association was

This paper presents the traditional design principles of the suranga water-harvesting system found in an area of semicritical groundwater scarcity in the Dakshin Kannada district of Karnataka and Kasaragod district in the state of Kerala, India. This region is situated in the foothills of the Western Ghats of southern India. Data were derived from a mixed-methods approach that analyzed the structure

This study focused on new pressures on water resources in relation to the production of renewable energy in Italy. In particular, I considered the conflicts that have emerged in the Trentino region around mini-hydroelectric power production. Literature critiquing the Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) approach provided the basis for analyzing the characteristics of this opposition movement. I argue that the

The changing climate in the 20th and 21st centuries has had a profound impact on glacial lake formation and downwasting. The rapid receding of glaciers due to increased atmospheric temperature has caused glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in the nival–glacial belt region on the northern slopes of the Kyrgyz mountain range over the last 20 years. Catastrophic events downstream due to GLOFs are increasing

Assessing the impacts of climate change on geographic distribution by identifying how biological response relates to environmental conditions is important for addressing the adverse effects of climate change. Using the maximum entropy algorithm and spatial analysis module of ArcGIS, we construct a habitat prediction model for the geographic distribution of alpine vegetation in the Hengduan Mountains

The European Alps: peaks, glaciers, ski resorts, Ötzi the iceman, crowded heritage sites, plants conquering high altitudes, abandoned areas, natural disasters—this is how they come across in the media. In everyday usage, the Alps often just mean mountains: on Instagram, #Alpen returns 1.5 million hits, #Berge 2.2 million; of the 7 million entries for #Mountains, 10% are for #Alps. The Alps are also

The Jizera Mountains (Jizerské hory) are a part of the Black Triangle, which, in the past, was one of Europe's most polluted regions. Situated on the Czech–Polish border, these mountains were heavily affected by extreme SO2 and NOx loads emitted from coal power plants in the piedmont. During the 1970s and 1980s, the upper plateau of the Jizera Mountains experienced substantial forest decline due to

The high-elevation mountain ecosystems in the Karakoram and Pamir mountain ranges encompass enchanting landscapes, harbor unique biodiversity, and are home to many indigenous pastoral societies that rely on ecosystem services for their survival. However, our understanding of the value of ecosystem services to a household economy is limited. This information is essential in devising sustainable development

Human–wildlife interfaces are increasing rapidly due to the disproportionate growth of human and wildlife populations in a spatial context. The Himalayan system, a global biodiversity hotspot, is subject to landscape modification from various anthropogenic activities. In this study, we offer insights into the human–wildlife interface, reflecting avoidance or coexistence, with implications for local

Woody vegetation at the upper limit of its growth is a sensitive indicator of climate change. The aim of this study is to provide an analysis of the centuries-old spatiotemporal dynamics of larch trees at the upper limit of their growth (mountain massif Rai-Iz, Polar Urals, Russia). We used a ground-based method of mapping the remnants of trees that grew in the study area and died during the Little

Cordyceps has significantly improved the socioeconomic status of the mountain people in the Sikkim Himalaya, India, but an upsurge in demand and its price has resulted in overexploitation and degradation of the fragile alpine habitat in which it grows. This study aimed to shed light on the distribution, resource abundance, harvesting practices, commercialization, and trade of Cordyceps through household

The biologically and culturally diverse mountain habitats of the red panda (Ailurus fulgens) produce numerous ecosystem goods and services of global significance and satisfy the daily sustenance requirements and wellbeing of poor and vulnerable local communities. Most studies of ecosystem services conducted in Nepal have investigated community forest management and protected areas, largely in the lower

With increasing globalization, trade, and human movement, the rate of alien species introduction has increased all around the globe. In addition, climate change is thought to exacerbate the situation by allowing range expansion of invasive species into new areas. Predicting the distribution of invasive species under conditions of climate change is important for identifying susceptible areas of invasion

Mountains are facing growing environmental, social, and economic challenges. Accordingly, effective policies and management approaches are needed to safeguard their inhabitants, their ecosystems, their biodiversity, and the livelihoods they support. The formulation and implementation of such policies and approaches requires a thorough understanding of, and extensive knowledge about, the interactions

Exploring the ecological response of land use change is important for regional sustainable development and assists in understanding the profound consequences of this change. This paper proposes coupling a study of the evolution of land use with an assessment of ecological risk, based on a typical watershed in the hinterland of China's Three Gorges Reservoir area. Land use data for the Caotangxi watershed

There is growing consensus that biodiversity losses resulting from global change profoundly affects ecosystem services and human welfare. However, biodiversity and ecosystem processes are commonly monitored independently and on spatiotemporal scales inadequate to inform decision-making. The high Andean ecosystems of Colombia, extending from high Andean forests and páramos to glacier ice caps, form

This book is exactly what it says in the title. It is a collection of chapters by different authors giving their perspectives on the development challenges faced by the small nation of Bhutan, which has adopted, as a measure of a successful country, a policy of Gross National Happiness (GNH), rather than the more familiar economic target of Gross National Product (GNP). The book has 10 chapters and

This highly informative collection of essays, edited by Sanjoy Hazarika and Reshmi Banerjee, is a welcome addition to our understanding of everyday issues of mountain communities in the Eastern Himalayas, especially from the perspective of women. While the topics of gender, poverty, and rural livelihoods have been under discussion for a while across geographies, the perspectives of women, especially

This is a book review of From a Trickle to a Torrent: Education, Migration and Social Change in a Himalayan Valley of Nepal by Geoff Childs and Namgyal Choedup. The interconnection between migration and education has been widely researched globally. However, few published studies have reported this phenomenon with regard to rural communities—particularly in the context of Nepal. Therefore, this book

To this day, Central Asia remains academically elusive in conception and presentation. Ex-Soviet scholars may call this vast region Middle Asia or High Asia. Others might describe the area as Inner Asia, the historical Turkestan, or, most commonly, use the geopolitical concept of Central Asia consisting of the 5 ‘‘Stans.’’ This features Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan

This article describes the condition and spread of one of the most mobile forms of pastoralism, transhumance, as well as factors and transition pathways that have taken place in the pastoral systems of the North Caucasus. The weakening of centralization and control over local economies, as well as the cessation of subsidies to collective and state farms in the 1990s, led to the destruction of state-regulated

Innovative approaches could enhance scientific insights into how climate change affects mountain ecosystems and livelihoods and enrich climate action. Using an inter- and transdisciplinary approach in a remote tropical dry forest region of the Andes in southern Ecuador, this article combines local knowledge about climate change and adaptation, based on perceptions and experiences, with quantitative

Human dimensions of climate change (HDCC) research overwhelmingly presents community perspectives on climate change and its impacts through single epistemic frameworks. This limits the possible platforms that community voices can access within scientific scholarship. Many HDCC interdisciplinary collaborations pursue the goal of data triangulation and attempt to address complex social–ecological problems

This study examined how members of 2 water user associations in high-elevation ecosystems in Colombia and Venezuela perceive water scarcity as well as the relationship between their perception of and adaptation to it. Among study participants, adaptation was guided not only by the perception of climate change (disturbance of the seasons, decrease in precipitation, and more extreme temperatures) but