Global Change in Mountain Regions

Mountains and mountain societies provide a wide range of goods and services to humanity, but they are particularly sensitive to the effects of global environmental change. Thus, the definition of appropriate management regimes that maintain the multiple functions of mountain regions in a time of strongly changing climatic, economic and societal drivers constitutes a significant challenge. Management decisions must be based on a sound understanding of the future dynamics of these systems.

Scientific objectives and approach

The GLOCHAMORE project, a Specific Support Action under the Framework Program 6, aimed at the development of a Global Change research strategy for mountain regions, in particular, for protected areas such as UNESCO MAB Biosphere Reserves.

Process - The first version of the research strategy was developed in the course of a two-years’ EU-funded GLOCHAMORE project which contained a series of thematic workshops dedicated to:

(1) long-term monitoring and analysis of indicators of environmental change in mountain regions;

(2) integrated model-based studies of environmental change in different mountain regions;

(3) process studies along altitudinal gradients and in associated headwater basins; and

(4) sustainable land use and natural resource management in mountain regions. The concepts developed in these four thematic workshops have been revisited, refined and synthesized during the final Open Science Conference on Global Change in Mountain Regions in Perth, Scotland, UK (Oct. 2-6, 2005).

To make the strategy relevant to managers of protected areas, the GLOCHAMORE project was framed within the context of UNESCO MAB’s Mountain Biosphere Reserves (MBRs) in European and non-European countries.

Outcome of the Open Science Conference

More than 250 participants of 47 nations attended the GLOCHAMORE OSC. It brought scientists of different research fields together with representatives of MBRs around the globe. Apart from the elaborated research strategy (see extra page), the OSC brought forth the “Perth Declaration” (see extra page) developed by UNESCO MAB, which will open paths for future collaborative work between global change scientists and MBR representatives. Further, the OSC provided a platform for various Special Meetings and Working Lunches allowing different interest groups to take first steps towards an implementation of the GLOCHAMORE research strategy on specific themes in particular sites.

The GLOCHAMORE Research Strategy

The GLOCHAMORE research strategy provides a negotiated settlement between managers and researchers on what kind of research is needed (see extra page). The strategy presented at the OSC was organized according to the current understanding of the main axes of causality. It focused first on drivers of global change, then on the impacts of global change on ecosystems, then on the subsequent impacts on ecosystem goods and services, regional economies, and health, and concluded with
institutional arrangements. The inputs from the conference will be considered for the elaborated version of the strategy, which will be available by the end of November 2005 (http://mri.scnatweb.ch).

Next - In the next step, the strategy should address the questions of who and where, when, at what cost and for/to whom. Real Projects in Real Places (RP2), the follow-up activity of the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI), will address these questions and further elaborate the GLOCHAMORE research strategy in dialogue with local communities and managers of MBRs and other mountain areas.

For more information about the GLOCHAMORE project, click here.

Click here for the GLOCAMORE factsheet.

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