The Mountain Research Initiative, Newsletter no. 7

Newsletter of the Mountain Research Initiative

MRI NEWSno. 7, 2012

Global Change in Mountain RegionsThe Mountain Research Initiative

Contents

The Mountain Research Initiativec/o Institute of Geography, University of BernErlachstrasse 9a, Trakt 3, 3012 Bern, Switzerland+41 (0)31 631 51 41, [email protected]

This Newsletter is published once a year. Editors: Claudia Drexler and Gregory Greenwood. Design and Layout: Claudia DrexlerThe MRI and its products are supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation.If you have been forwarded this newsletter and would like to subscribe directly to the MRI database please go tohttp://mri.scnatweb.ch

Editorial

Claudia Drexler: MRI Communications: choose your favorite format 3

Director’s Notes

Greg Greenwood: MRI: What comes next? 4

Science Peaks

Daniel Ruiz et al: Five-tiered integrated climate-related biodiversity vulnerability assessment in the Tropical Andes 7Maya Ishizawa and Gerhard Wiegleb: Cultural landscapes in the Andes and the Pyrenees 12Bodo Bookhagen: Changes in sediment transport rates through time 15Ismael Vaccaro and Oriol Beltran: Consuming space, nature and culture 18Peter Hartsough and Matthew Meadows: Critical Zone Observatory: snowline processes in the Southern Sierra Nevada 22Van Butsic: 200 years of land use change in the Carpathian Basin 25Prakash Tiwari and Bhagwati Joshi: Urban growth in Himalaya 29

News from MRI’s Regional Networks

Saliou Niassy: AfroMont: Legacy, Role, and Vision 33 Christian Devenish: MRI in the Americas: Transecto Cordillera Americana (TCA) 38TCA News: International Mountain Day 2012 45TCA News: Project CIMA 46TCA News: Climate Change in mountain ecosystems 48 Astrid Björnsen: MRI Europe Progress Report 50 MRI Europe: CH-AT Alliance. 3 questions for Rolf Weingartner 54Ľuboš Halada: S4C, Science for the Carpathians 56

Meeting Reports

Colin Filer: Traditional environmental knowledge 59

3Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

MRI Communications: choose your favorite format

MRI communications have changed in the last years in line with the larg-er revolution in daily and professional communications.

While 10 years ago corporate commu-nications were still about broadcasting undifferentiated messages to a mass audience, corporations now send cus-tomized messages, often calibrated on individual preferences. Similarly, in ad-dition to sending out messages to our entire mailing list, we target segments of our audience to receive specific in-formation.

Regional networks: customized informationMRI’s regional networks define spe-cific target audiences for our communi-cation efforts. AfroMont, the Transecto Cordillera Americana TCA, Science for the Carpathians S4C, the South Eastern European Mountain Research Network SEEmore, and MRI Europe are the net-works that MRI maintains. Their re-spective websites on mri.scnatweb.ch are the pivot of the information flow. We have spent a lot of time investigat-ing and implementing functionalities so that now we can offer regional news and events, regional blogs, and regional experts databases. The regional news look simple, but there is a complex sys-tem behind them. Through so-called “pipes” we filter relevant news from lit-

erally hundreds of websites – journals, research institutions, NPOs – to make them accessible to you.

The audience should talk backCorporate communications have not only become customized, but also in-teractive. And this is where you come in. The MRI community has a long tra-dition of contributing content. A good part of the regional news and the news-flashes consists of your contributions. You seem to be shyer, though, when it comes to actually entering the dialogue with MRI. Try our guest blog to talk about what is important to you. Let the mountain research community know when a combination of digital sensor data with historical weather records leads to new insights, or when you have run successful working meetings with researchers and delegates from relevant Ministries. Use Facebook or Wiki-pedia to tell and gather stories about those mountain ranges less researched. Tibesti, Itombwe, Koytendag and Na-huelbuta – there are many, and we only know only a little about them.

Paper: something specialYou might wonder what all this talk about customized information and so-cial media has to do with this very tra-ditional Newsletter no.7 in front of you. We believe that in the world of custom-ized information there is still a value in a broader overview. Even if you are working in the Turkish mountains there is no harm done, indeed you might ac-tually learn something new and useful when you read what is going on in the American Cordillera. Even if you are working on biodiversity there is no harm done when you read about urban-ization in mountains.

And, certainly, there is a value to in-depth information in the times of bite

sized information. Find a quiet time, say on the train, and read a whole ar-ticle without zapping on.

Last, but not least, print this Newsletter out and see how it feels: “Paper is soon to be the last medium I can use without anyone reading along who knows my lo-cation and who suggests the perfect prod-ucts to buy.” Frank Schirrmacher [1] .

1 Frank Schirrmacher, cited in M. Bernet 2010 “So-cial Media in der Medienarbeit”, p. 7.

Editorial

Claudia Drexler,MRI Communications Manager

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 20124

MRI: What Comes Next?Director‘s Notes

The MRI continually searches for the next steps in promoting global change research in mountains. Since the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) renewed the MRI’s funding in 2010, the MRI has pursued its program of global and regional networking activ-ities, synthesis workshops, and new communication modes, but is going beyond them now to investigate more sustained efforts.

While any research into global change in mountains represents progress, re-search that adds to an understanding of the “whole system” - the coupled human-natural system within mountains as it is embedded within the planetary earth sys-

tem of atmosphere, oceans and conti-nents - is one of MRI’s principal sci-entific goals. The MRI makes liberal use of the “analytical structure” of its parent scientific organization, the Global Land Project, as it captures the linkages and the embedded-ness and speaks as well to the evolution of the whole system toward or away from sustainability.

This emphasis on whole systems cre-ates a certain tension in MRI’s work, as research by its analytic nature, tends to focus on mechanisms and parts of systems. This is as it should be: to create an integrated understanding, one must have parts to integrate! Thus, while encouraging research on specific parts of the coupled human-natural sys-tem, MRI must at the same time promote the continual interrogation of how these parts come together to create a whole system.

To achieve an understanding of the whole system, MRI must work to create true community out of a collection of dispa-rate researchers and institutions. When-ever MRI invokes “community” it is per-haps more a statement of a goal than a

Figure 3: Brainstorming the MRI’s future: Dr. Hilde Eggermont (Uni-versity of Ghent) describes her vision, Dr. Greg Greenwood listens while Dr. Astrid Björnsen Gurung captures the ideas in a mind map.

Figure 2: The MRI Global Commission brought together researchers from around the world and across a wide range of disciplines.

characterization of the current condition. MRI works toward community via enti-ties such as its regional networks in Af-rica, Latin America, and Europe and via sister organizations such as CIRMOUNT under the presumption that more frequent exchange between researchers working in the same region will lead eventually to more collaboration on the understanding of the whole system.

Building community requires years, if not decades, while MRI is funded on a

Figure 1: The Global Land Project analytical structure (GLP 2005)


three year cycle by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF). As such each successive proposal to the SNF tracks progress toward this long term goal.

For several years we have been using the “4 I’s” as a heuristic to describe out program: Initiation of activities, Imple-mentation of research, Integration of results and Information for stakehold-ers. To date we have concentrated our effort on Initiation via our Key Contact Workshops and regional networks, Inte-gration via our Synthesis Workshops and Information through Mountain.TRIP. As we are not funded to do research our-selves, it is difficult to approach Imple-mentation directly. The best we can do is to attempt to align researchers in differ-ent countries around common research themes, so that their research, funded through their particular mechanisms, creates a longer-term coherent program.

MRI Global CommissionThe Conference “Global Change and the World’s Mountains” in Perth in 2010 provided a snapshot of the current status of global change research in the world’s mountains from which the community constructed assessments of important fu-ture research themes (Greenwood 2010, Björnsen et al. 2012).

To translate these general themes into more concrete actions, the MRI convened a one-day workshop of the MRI Global Commission at Imperial College on 30 March 2012 immediately following the IGBP Planet Under Pressure Conference. The MRI Global Commission consists of the Swiss Principal Investigators who sponsor the MRI at the SNSF and MRI‘s Scientific Advisory Board augmented by active mountain researchers.

The Global Commission brainstormed what the community should do with re-spect to each of these themes resulting in 10 detailed mind maps. From these mind maps (available at http://mri.scnatweb.ch/gallery/63) MRI created initial de-scriptions of nine “Concerted Efforts”, projects with a longer time frame than that of a workshop, projects that will allow MRI to address Implementation more directly in the coming years.

Nam Co, Tibet. Endorheic lakes in Tibet are expanding over time most likely due to glacier recession. Valuable adjacent grazing lands are thus lost to flooding. © Greg Greenwood

MRI’s “Concerted Efforts”

1. A modeling project to estimate changes in mountain ecosystems with a 3-5° C mean annual temperature.

2. A Global Mountain Treeline Network to detect, classify and understand the changes occurring in mountain treeline ecosystems

3. A method of quantifying mountain ecosystem services that leads to an atlas portray-ing ecosystem services from mountain regions worldwide.

4. Locally relevant global change research agendas, developed in ways that promote funding and eventual use of results.

5. A book project that explores why and how decisions are made that strongly influ-ence the trajectory of the coupled human-earth system in mountains.

6. Coupled human-earth system models of specific mountain regions, which can also be part of mountain observing systems (II)

7. A multi-year campaign to answer key question(s) related to high elevation.

8. A network of representative sites in mountain regions around the world wherein researchers follow similar integrated monitoring protocols and address common ques-tions regarding coupled human-natural systems in mountains.

9. A book project on the nature and drivers of human use of mountains


Much more detailed description of each of these “Concerted Efforts” can be found on the MRI website http://mri.scnatweb.ch/team/second-global-com-mision-meeting. In addition I have de-scribed certain of these Concerted Efforts in greater detail via a discussion paper posted on the MtnClim 2012 webpage (http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/mtnclim/pro-gram/) and in the next issue of Mountain Research and Development (N° 32(4)) This portfolio of “Concerted Efforts” looks both down to specific issues and up to whole systems, reconciling to the degree possible, the tension embodied in MRI’s work. These projects, or ones sim-ilar to them, will very likely form a major part of MRI’s next three year program.

Greg GreenwoodExecutive Director, [email protected]

http://mri.scnatweb.ch/the-mri/news/mri-director-s-blog.html

References

Björnsen Gurung, Astrid, Susanne Wymann von Dach, Martin F. Price, Rich-ard Aspinall, Jörg Balsiger, Jill S. Baron, Eklabya Sharma, Greg Greenwood, and Thomas Kohler. 2012. Global change and the world‘s mountains – research needs and emerging themes for sustainable development. Mountain Research and Development, 32(S1):S47-S54. 2012. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-00084.S1

GLP (2005) Science Plan and Implementation Strategy. IGBP Report No. 53/IHDP

Report No. 19. IGBP Secretariat, Stockholm. 64pp.

Greenwood, Gregory. 2010. Perth II: emerging themes and research gaps. MRI News N° 5, 23-25


ing near-term climate change trends, land-use patterns, biodiversity patterns and gradients, the vulnerability of spe-cies and ecosystems to changes in his-torical climatic conditions, as well as lo-cal perceptions of climate variability and change in two binational transboundary

study areas: on the Pacific slope of the northern Andes in the border region be-tween Colombia (Nariño department) and Ecuador (Carchi province), and on the Amazonian slope of the central An-des in the border region between Bolivia and Peru, in the Madidi – Apolobamba – Bahuaja-Sonene – Tambopata protect-ed area complex. These regions are re-nowned for their exceptional biodiversity and endemism and have been considered key Andean biodiversity hotspots. Re-sults will then be integrated to pinpoint high-risk areas and ecosystems that are particularly vulnerable to the synergistic effects of long-term climatic changes and land-use change. Our interest is to assist the four Tropical Andean countries (Bo-livia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru) in the implementation of a standard meth-odology for estimating climate change

Science Peaks

Five-tiered integrated climate- related biodiversity vulnerability assessment in the Tropical Andes

Daniel Ruiz Carrascal, Sebastian K. Herzog, Peter M. Jørgensen, Trond H. Larsen, Rodney Martínez, Juan José Nieto, Susan V. Poats, Marcella Ohira

The Tropical Andes are one of the top biodiversity hotspots on Earth. Long-term climate change and rapid land-use change are both threatening the integrity and functioning of Andean ecosystems and thereby the environ-mental goods and services they pro-vide to humans (Herzog et al., 2011). Whereas numerous global and re-gional climate models exist, climate change and vulnerability analyses at a local scale – the scale most relevant to decision makers and land-use plan-ners – are virtually non-existent in the Andes.

With regard to biodiversity, large-scale patterns and gradients of species rich-ness are fairly well established in the re-gion for a handful of selected taxonomic groups, but vast knowledge gaps exist at smaller spatial scales and for the great majority of taxonomic groups. Local bio-logical inventory data, where available, have not been integrated into multidisci-plinary analyses. Furthermore, although recent advances in the mapping and clas-sification of Andean ecosystems repre-sent immense progress, the vulnerability of these ecosystems to climate change can only be crudely guessed in the most general terms. Thus, an integration of all this available information and approach-es into local-scale analyses represents a novel approach in the Andes.

In this five-tiered project we are study-

risks for biodiversity at a local scale that could subsequently be expanded to other strategic areas. The overall goal is to sup-port and guide adaptation measures and sustained conservation programs for key tropical environments. Here we briefly describe some recent advances of the cli-mate analyses and summarize the objec-tives of the main components (climate, biodiversity, social, land use/cover, and outreach and capacity building) of our ongoing research project[1] .

The climate componentThe main objective of the climate com-ponent[2] is to develop knowledge on

1 The multidisciplinary project “Impacts of climate change on biodiversity in the Tropical Andes: climate-related vulnerability assessments and improved decision making processes for conservation and land use planning in two Andean biodiversity hotspots” is funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation through a grant to the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. D. Ruiz is also partially supported (as in-kind contribution) by the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University in the City of New York (USA), the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (USA), and the Antioquia School of Engineering (Colombia).

2 The following scientists participate as co-PIs: Dr. Mark Cane (Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University in the City of New York, USA), Dr. Jorge Ignacio del Valle (Universi-dad Nacional de Colombia Sede Medellín), Dr. Laia Andreu Hayles (The Tree Ring Laboratory, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory-Columbia University in the City of New York, USA), Ángel G. Muñoz (PhD student at Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University in the City of New York, USA), David Suarez Duque, MSc. (Corporación Grupo Randi Randi-Ecuador), and Remi Cousin (Staff Associate at International Research Institute for Cli-mate and Society, Columbia University in the City of

“Thus, an integration of all this available information and approaches into local scale analyses represents a novel approach in the Andes.”


local climate gradients and to determine short- to medium-term climate scenar-ios (10-20 years ahead) by combining observed and projected climate trends derived from computer modeling, cli-matological field stations (ground-truth data), climate change indices, local temperature and humidity records from digital sensors, and reconstructions of pre-instrumental periods through clas-sical dendrochronological techniques (tree-ring records). Statistical analyses of observed and simulated data include Em-pirical Orthogonal Functions/Principal Component Analyses, observatory and confirmatory (hypothesis tests) analyses for the detection of statistically signifi-

New York, USA). The following students participate as Graduate Research Assistants: David Andrés Herrera (MSc candidate at Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Medellín), Fabian Suntaxi (MSc candidate at Escuela Politécnica del Litoral-ESPOL-Ecuador), and Segundo Chimbolema (Corporación Grupo Randi Randi-Ecuador).

cant long-term trends as well as changes in the mean and the variance, and assess-ments of spatial and altitudinal patterns. Spatial scales of analysis include local and regional conditions. Analyses of the former include case studies in the two bi-

national transboundary areas specifically examining historical minimum tempera-tures, maximum temperatures, and daily rainfall. With these binational regions, and with a similar ongoing initiative in

Figure 1. 1950-2010 long-term linear trends in ECHAM4.5 mean annual air temperatures (Roeckner et al., 1996) along the longitudinal axis of the Andes Cordillera (see pink 2.8125° grid cells in map panel on the left; location of the ecotransects under study indicated with horizontal arrows), for the latitudi-nal range of 15°N to 60°S, and for 9 pressure levels (1000, 950, 850, 700, 500, 400, 300, 200, and 100 mb; see x-axis of right panel). Air temperatures are obtained through ECHAM4.5 ensemble simulation runs. Trends are expressed in °C per decade; see color scale on the right. Only statistically significant (at α<0.05) long-term linear trends are displayed; i.e. nonsignificant trends are depicted by white boxes. Black triangles and crosses depict, respectively, the average and maximum altitudes (expressed in atmospheric pressures) of the NOAA NGDC GLOBE gridded 1-km, quality controlled global digital elevation model (Hastings and Dunbar, 1999) in each ECHAM4.5 model grid cell. Areas blocked in grey depict grid boxes below the ground surface. Analyses of ECHAM4.5 simulation runs indicate, in particular, that air temperatures have increased at all latitudes and pressure levels at a rate ranging from +0.03 to +0.40 °C per decade. Between 15°N and 15°S and at higher elevations [100-400 mb], air temperatures have increased at a maximum rate ranging from +0.27 to +0.40 °C per decade. This rate of warming in the upper troposphere in the 15°N to 15°S latitudinal range is 1.8 times greater than that simulated for the lower troposphere over the available 61-year historical period. Note also the differences above and below the tropopause, which is defined as 100 mb at the equator with a linear increase with latitude to 300 mb at the poles.

Los Nevados Natural Park in the Colom-bian Central Andean region (Ruiz et al., 2012), climate-related risk assessments of highly strategic Andean environments at local scale are now covering three study sites in the northern and central Andes. Analyses of regional conditions are based on evidence from near-term historical climate models’ simulation runs (reanalysis data) and comprise the full length of the Andes Cordillera and all pressure levels (Figure 1). The group is specifically studying long-term trends and changes in 1950-to present mean an-nual near-surface and free air tempera-tures, environmental lapse rates, dew points, specific humidity, squared moist and dry Brunt-Väisälä frequencies, lift-ing condensation levels, and convective available potential energies, all of them suggested by ensemble simulation out-puts. Analyses of regional conditions are complemented with the study of cloud

“With these binational regions (...) climate-related risk assessments of highly strategic Andean environments at local scale are now cov-ering three study sites in the northern and central Andes.”

Five-tiered integrated climate-related biodiversity vulnerability assessment in the Tropical Andes


characteristics suggested by satellite records and monthly sea surface tem-perature anomalies observed in the spa-tial domains [30°S-30°N, 30°E-90°W] of the tropical Indo-Pacific region and [30°S-30°N, 60°W-15°E] of the tropical Atlantic Ocean over the period 1942-to present.At least 12 data loggers/digital sen-sors measuring temperature and rela-tive humidity at hourly intervals have been installed in each of the study areas to complement the available hydrome-teorological networks, which include 75 and 17 weather stations in the Colom-

bian-Ecuadorian and Bolivian-Peruvian transboundary regions, respectively. Data loggers have been deployed at el-evational intervals of 500 meters across two ca. 4,500 m altitudinal gradients (Figure 2) and in as many ecosystems as possible. Gathered data are improv-ing our understanding of the physical processes taking place along the altitu-dinal transects such as conditions of at-mospheric instability, and local seasonal temperature and precipitation anomalies. A better understanding of local mecha-nisms and their relationships with inter-annual (El Niño-Southern Oscillation

events) to multi-decadal phenomena will provide elements for the analysis of long-term changes and for better simula-tion and validation efforts. Digital sensor data are currently being combined with weather station records, whose historical periods span over 50 years, to build a set of climate change indices and to assess near-term historical conditions of atmo-

spheric instability and moist convection in the two study areas. The dendrochro-nological work, in turn, aims to recon-struct the past ca. 100-200 years along the upper portion of the elevational gra-dients. A long list of Andean tree species has been analyzed to identify key spe-cies with sufficiently wide elevational ranges, distinctive annual rings, and long life spans. The result, a short list of tree species with dendrochronological poten-tial currently includes 5 species for the analysis of páramo environments and high-Andean forests (such as Polylepis incana and Weinmannia cochensis) and 5 species in upper cloud forests (such as Symplocos carmencitae, Ocotea sp. and Cedrela montana). The oldest individu-als of the selected tree species have been georeferenced, initially in the Colombia-Ecuador border area, in relatively well

Figure 2. Vertical profile of the 4,500 m altitudinal ecotransect and location of the temperature/relative humidity data loggers on the Amazonian slope of the Central Andes, in the border region between Bolivia and Peru.

Colombian-Ecuadorian Altitudinal Ecotransect © Daniel Ruiz Carrascal

“Digital sensor data are currently being combined with weather station records, whose historical periods span over 50 years”


Authors

Daniel Ruiz Carrascal1 Associate Professor, Escuela de Ingeniería de Antioquia – EIA, Colombia, [email protected], International Research Insti-tute for Climate and Society (IRI) – Columbia University in the City of New York, USA [email protected]

Sebastian K. Herzog, Asociación Armonía, Bolivia

Peter M. Jørgensen, Missouri Botanical Garden, USA

Trond H. Larsen, Conservation International, USA

Rodney Martínez, Centro Internacional para la Investigación del Fenómeno El Niño – CIIFEN, Ecuador

Juan José Nieto, Centro Internacional para la Investigación del Fenómeno El Niño – CIIFEN, Ecuador

Susan V. Poats, Corporación Grupo Randi Randi – CGRR, Ecuador

Marcella Ohira, Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research – IAI, Brazil

preserved environments. To date the group has sampled 64 increment cores of W. cochensis, 139 of P. incana, 76 of S. carmencitae, 65 of Ocotea, and 64 of C. montana. Tree-ring width chronologies are currently under construction and ra-diocarbon analyses will be used to assess periodicity (i.e. annual) of tree rings in different species.

The biodiversity componentThe main objectives of the biodiver-sity component include: (i) to develop knowledge on current biodiversity pat-terns (by ecosystem) and gradients (by elevation) using several higher taxo-nomic groups of plants (e.g., ferns, bro-meliads, palms) and two animal groups (birds, dung beetles) as proxies for over-all diversity, based on existing species-locality data and on field inventories where knowledge gaps exist; and (ii) to evaluate the vulnerability of species and ecosystems (based on the pooled vulner-ability of their component species) to cli-mate change using the NatureServe Cli-mate Change Vulnerability Index (http://www.natureserve.org/prodServices/cli-matechange/ccvi.jsp).

The social componentThe main objective of the social compo-nent is to consult local communities on ecosystem goods and services of par-ticular value to them, on their perception of any changes in the provisioning of

such goods and services due to climate change, and on whether local land-use practices and patterns have been already adapted or changed in response to cli-mate change. Within this component, the Corporación Grupo Randi Randi, based in Quito, Ecuador, conducted a survey

of 545 persons (50% women) during 2011 to learn more about local percep-tions of climate change and how people are making adaptations to changes per-ceived in their local climates. The sur-vey sites comprise a series of transects across sections of the western flanks of the Andes in the north (southern Colom-bia and northern Ecuador), and sections of the eastern flanks in the south (south-ern Peru and northern Bolivia) within the two transboundary Andean areas defined for the larger study. The surveys were complemented with key informant in-depth interviews in each community surveyed, together with participatory mapping exercises on vulnerability with focus groups composed of local men and

women. The initial results of this study will be available in late 2012.

The land-use componentThe land-use component aims to deter-mine land-use types and patterns based on satellite imagery and local informa-tion, and to relate biodiversity and vul-nerability patterns/gradients to existing climate gradients, climate change trends and forecasts, land-use patterns, and pre-dicted changes in land-use due to climate change using Geographic Information Systems.

The outreach/capacity building component Finally, the main objectives of the out-reach and capacity building component include: (a) to determine potential adap-tive management measures and actions to increase the resilience of high-risk biodiversity areas to climate change; (b) to provide capacity building on the devel-oped tools and analysis to institutions in Andean countries including Ministries of Environment, National Climate Change Adaptation Programs, meteorological services, universities, and non-govern-mental organizations to ensure that the approach can be replicated elsewhere; and (c) to disseminate the results and conclusions in order to facilitate their in-corporation into action plans of national and international institutions.

“Within this component, the Corporación Grupo Randi Randi, based in Quito, Ecuador, conducted a survey of 545 persons (...) to learn more about local perceptions of climate change (...).”

Five-tiered integrated climate-related biodiversity vulnerability assessment in the Tropical Andes


References

Hastings, D.A., Dunbar, P.K., 1999. Global land one-kilometer base elevation (GLOBE) digital elevation model, Documentati-on, Volume 1.0. Key to Geophysical Records Documentation (KGRD) 34. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Geophysical Data Center, 325 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado 80303, U.S.A.

Herzog, S.K., Martínez, R., Jørgensen, P.M., Tiessen, H., Eds., 2011. Climate change and biodiversity in the Tropical An-des. Inter-American Institute of Global Change Research (IAI) and Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), São José dos Campos and Paris, 348 pp., ISBN: 978-85-99875-05-6.

Roeckner, E., Arpe, K., Bengtsson, L., Christoph, M., Claussen, M., Dümenil, L., Esch, M., Giorgetta, M., Schlese, U., Schul-zweida, U., 1996. The atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM4: model description and simulation of present-day climate. Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie Rep. 218, Hamburg, Germany, 90 pp.

Ruiz, D., Martinson, D.G., Vergara, W., 2012. Trends, stability and stress in the Colombian Central Andes. Climatic Change 112 (3): 717-732.


Science Peaks

Cultural landscapes in the Andes and the Pyrenees Comparative Study of Landscape Management as a Conservation Strategy

Mountain regions are characterized by historical and natural assets, as well as by traditional knowledge re-lated to human adaptation to the en-vironment, frequently leading to a particular cultural landscape closely associated with the mountain ecosys-tem. Such is the case in both the An-des and the Pyrenees. However both the Andes and the Pyrenees are un-dergoing rapid modernisation, and commodification through tourism ex-ploitation with both cultural and en-vironmental impacts. Environmen-tal knowledge and the continuity of these mountain cultures are thus in danger. This study argues that land-scape management could contribute to a comprehensive conservation of cultural landscapes, enabling change while simultaneously respecting the right to cultural continuity of moun-tain communities.

Cultural landscapesThe conservation of dynamic cultural landscapes is a complex task. A land-scape system arises from geological, biophysical and socio-ecological factors that interact to produce environmental complexities, with natural and cultural values intertwined and a diversity of actors with different interests chang-ing over time. In 1992, ‘cultural land-scapes’ became a category of heritage within the framework of the UNESCO 1972 Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heri-tage. This new category signals a shift

Maya Ishizawa and Gerhard Wiegleb

Figure 1: Urban sprawl in the terraces of the Andes (Ollantaytambo, Peru) © Maya Ishizawa

in the paradigm of heritage conserva-tion, moving from a focus on the pro-tection of a monument or a site, to the protection of the relationship between people and their environment (Fowler

2003; UNESCO, World Heritage Com-mittee 2011).

Landscape managementBy comparing two heritage sites, the study assesses landscape management as a strategy for heritage conservation.

Our research compares two models of protection in areas where agro-pasto-ralism has been essential for the adap-tation to the mountain ecosystem in the past. One model is the “Archaeological Park”. We studied the Archaeological Park of Ollantaytambo (PAO)[1] in the Peruvian Andes, a part of the Great Inca Trail. The second model is the “National Park”, studied in the Orde-sa and Monte Perdido National Park (PNOMP)[2] in the Spanish Pyrenees, part of the transnational property Pyr-enees/Mont Perdu, inscribed in the World Heritage List in 1997.

1 Parque Arqueológico de Ollantaytambo.2 Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido.

“In 1992, ‘cultural land-scapes’ became a category of heritage within the frame-work of the UNESCO 1972 Convention (...).”


Figure 2:Abandoned terraces in the Pyrenees, progressively covered by forest (Bestué, Spain). © Maya Ishizawa

In an Archaeological Park, policies fo-cus on the conservation of historical structures based on their authenticity. In the National Park policies focus on the conservation of natural values and their ecological integrity. Both strate-gies trigger conflicts with local com-munities in terms of placing protection boundaries, restricting access to re-sources and to specific places signifi-cant for inhabitants.

Landscape management refers to the “action to ensure the regular upkeep of a landscape within a perspective of sus-tainable development so as to guide and harmonise changes which are brought about by social, economic and environ-mental processes” (Council of Europe 2000). However, in neither case study has a formal landscape management plan been established.

Our focus was thus on the ‘emergent landscape management’, defined as a self-organized process that emerges through the interactions between the most influential actors in these cultural landscapes, ultimately leading to syn-

ergies between these actors’ practices. In both case studies we detected three main actors interacting in the process of the landscape’s production and re-generation. First are the local commu-nities who shape the ‘living landscape’ through their day-to-day activities. Second is the state as an external ac-tor that regards landscape as a resource repository and implements policies in order to put these resources in value. The shaping of the landscape is per-formed by policies either directing lo-cal communities’ activities (e.g. sub-

sidies, land-titling, etc.) or regulating the protected areas directly. Third are the visitors who indirectly impact the landscape through their appreciation. If visitors prioritize certain aspects over others, the state and the local commu-nities both receive a feedback for their practices and policies.

“However, in both case studies, no formal landscape management plan has been established. ”

The methodological design of the re-search is based on the mapping of the assets found in the landscape by the different actors involved in landscape management. Cartographic methods were combined with ethnographic methods in order to link physical man-agement to people’s perception. Three sets of maps, one for each group of actors (state, local communities and visitors) portray the results. An over-lay of these maps shows the potentials of common understanding between the different actors and serves as a basis for analyzing relationships between groups of actors in relation to the landscape.

Preliminary findingsThe two models affect local communi-ties in different ways. The National Park precludes human occupation entirely while in the Archaeological Park the set-tlements are located within the protected area and the core town itself occupies the archaeological site. Both models have had positive economic effects through the development of tourism arising from national and international recognition of


Authors

Maya IshizawaPh.D. candidate, International Graduate School ‘Heritage Studies’, Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus, Germany [email protected]

Gerhard WieglebProfessor, Chair General Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Process Engineering, Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus, [email protected]

References

Council of Europe, 2000. European Landscape Convention, Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

Fowler, P.J., 2003. World Heritage Papers 6. World Heritage Cultural Landscapes 1992-2002, Paris: UNESCO World Heri-tage Centre.

UNESCO, World Heritage Committee, 2011. Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Conventi-on, Paris: UNESCO.

the sites as possessing unique landscapes of outstanding value. However, it is evi-dent that the three groups of actors differ in their sense of value. • Local communities value their cul-

tural landscape as an inheritance from their ancestors. For them, the protec-tion of heritage is part of their way of life. Landscape as a whole has sig-nificance as a habitat and is perceived as being progressively degraded by abandonment (in the Pyrenees) or mismanagement (in Peru).

• States value certain landscape re-sources - biodiversity, geological fea-tures, architectural structures, tradi-tion, folklore - with a utilitarian vision based on their possible utilization for economic and political interests.

• Visitors, as external actors, value the

landscape aesthetics as opposite to the urban environment, mainly because ‘nature’ and ‘traditional culture’ are perceived as intrinsically valuable.

From the perspective of the state, tra-ditional activities such as non-industri-alized agriculture, pastoralism, trans-humance, and timber forestry are not considered profitable. The modernisation process activated by the state approach to the territory threatens the continuity of mountain cultures that have developed through time the knowledge of how to relate and adapt to these environments. Mountain people are progressively aban-doning their cultural practices, causing the gradual loss of their habitats. This loss is illustrated by the change of land-scape from agro-pastoral to unplanned urbanization (in Peru, see Figure 1) or

to spreading forest (in Spain, see Figure 2).

This process driven by external control of resources and use of space, touristic commodification, and migration turns mountain people into a threatened spe-cies. The disappearance of habitats brings about the change of the landscape, questioning the very concept of conser-vation and leading to the transformation of heritage in a direction that is diffi-cult to predict. An ‘emergent landscape management’ approach may become a useful tool to analyze the processes of mountain habitat transformation and the development of suitable conservation strategies respecting the interests of ac-tors in the landscape.


Science Peaks

Changes in sediment transport rates through timeWhat are the linkages among sediment transport, climate, and climate change?

Bodo Bookhagen

During this time of climate change in mountainous environments, chang-es in water resources command most of the attention. While the hydrologic cycle is an integral part of mountain environments and an important ex-pression of climate, sediment erosion and transport may be equally impor-tant factors for shaping landscape and environments, but operate at distinc-tively different frequencies and time-scales.

For example, it has long been recognized that understanding reservoir filling of hy-dropower dams is crucial for both proper management and increased longevity. However, many sediment-transport rate assessments, usually measured in volume per time and done prior to dam construc-tion are based on time series that do not capture the relevant timescales and/or events. That is, rare sediment-transport events (e.g., multi-decadal or centennial events) are often not included in the time series, even though these events may be the landscape shaping or dominant events for sediment-mass transport. A prime example are debris-flow basins in the San Gabriel Mountains near Los An-geles (California, USA) that fill rapidly during and after heavy rainstorms (e.g., Lave and Burbank, 2004). In some years, the sediment volume exceeds estimates, as sediment transport and erosion from hillslopes are exacerbated by preced-ing wildfires. The landscape’s erosional response to the combination of these events is not captured in the instrumental

record, but can have devastating conse-quences for residents and infrastructure.

The climate-geology- human-erosion linkageA complex set of parameters control sediment transport and erosion on the Earth’s surface, making prediction quite challenging. Sediment transport depends mainly on topography, climate (hydrol-ogy), biota, lithology, and structural evo-lution of the mountain ranges – processes that act on very different timescales. In general, the evolution of landscapes is controlled by the relative magnitude of constructive forces (tectonics) to destruc-tive forces (surface erosion). Whereas tectonic driving forces (i.e., earthquakes)

are commonly considered steady over millennial to million-year timescales (103 to 106 years), erosive forces are much more unstable and change at vary-ing frequencies ranging from daily and annual to millennial and longer. Erosion and soil removal respond to a dynamic and delicate balance (or “competition”) between factors favoring degradation

and those that stabilize landscapes. Taken together, the evolution of mod-ern landscapes is driven mainly by both natural (climate, soil characteristics, and vegetation cover) and anthropogenic forces (agriculture, wildfire manage-ment, infrastructure). Erosion processes are an integral part of the natural system and eroded sediments from mountains play a crucial role for all life forms in the nearby floodplains or marine shelf regions.

Rivers are the primary mode of sediment routing in mountain landscapes. Sedi-ment transport in rivers can vary signifi-cantly on short (daily) timescales. For example, a heavy rainstorm that triggers debris flows or landslides can lead to a significant increase in transported sedi-ment for a few hours to a few days. With the increasing use of river water for hy-dropower, agriculture, and drinking-wa-ter, the demand for sediment-free (clean) water also increases. For example, sedi-ment transported in the water leads to increased abrasion of turbines, shorten-ing hydropower facility lifetimes and rapidly clogging of filters in the case of drinking-water purification. Our chang-ing climate leads to significant changes in the sediment production and transport through rivers and will provide a signifi-cant challenge for infrastructural devel-opment in the coming years.

“Erosion processes are an integral part of the natural system and eroded sediments from mountains play a crucial role for all life forms in the nearby floodplains or marine shelf regions.”


The unpredictive nature of sediment-transport processesThe stochastic nature of sediment-trans-port processes makes it difficult to pre-dict sediment transport and amounts. For example, a recent study from high-eleva-tion watersheds in the western Himalaya indicates that on an annual base, 60-80% of high suspended sediment concentra-tion events coincide with heavy rain-storms and account for about 30% of the suspended sediment flux (Wulf et al., 2012). In other words, one-third of the annual sediment transport occurs during a few days of heavy rainfall. Sediment production from barren, vegetation-free hillslopes is very sensitive to rainfall

events. In the case of the western Hima-laya, rainfall propagating farther into the high elevation, arid regions lead to large sediment discharge events (Bookhagen et al., 2005). The recurrence interval for the larger events in this area is roughly one decade and sediment transport mea-surements need to include these events (or even better, multiple of these events) to provide proper assessments and un-derstandings of the sediment regimes and triggers.

Several studies also highlight the impor-tance of rain-on-snow events, as a rapid increase in river discharge due to rain falling on and melting snow, significantly increases river-water levels and sediment transport capabilities (e.g., Wulf et al., 2012). A similar flooding process results from a landslide-dam break, a somewhat rare, but significant geomorphic process in mountain regions. For example, the Parechu Flood in the western Himalaya on June 26, 2005 transported more than 40% of the annual sediment budget with-in a few days based on conservative esti-

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Figure 1: Topography (A) and mean-annual rainfall (B) with locations of cosmogenic nuclide samples in NW Argentina. Dashed lines in (A) show outline of swath profile depicted in Figure 2.

“.. the Parechu Flood in the western Himalaya on June 26, 2005 transported more than 40% of the annual sediment budget within a few days (...)”

mates of discharge and sediment amount (Wulf et al., 2012). Taken together, a nat-ural consequence of the increase in infra-structure and the higher demand of water in mountain regions are the exposure to rare, but significant hydro-geomorphic events.

Tackling future challenges by looking into the past One of the future challenges is to predict the amount of fluvially transported sedi-ments. Our current predictions are ham-pered by the complex linkages between climate and sediment production and our limited understanding of geomorphic processes. However, we have some un-derstanding of the temporal changes of erosion-rate magnitudes. A steep climate

gradient exists in the northwestern Ar-gentine Andes on the eastern flanks of the Puna Plateau (Figure 1). The erosion in this part of the world is strongly con-trolled by the climatic gradient (Figure 2). During past wet periods, for example during the Late Pleistocene, rainfall was significantly higher in the interior parts of the orogen, as evidenced by higher lake levels and different vegetation cov-ers (e.g., Abbott et al., 2003). By com-bining several sedimentary archives and using geochemical methods for erosion-rate measurements, Bookhagen and Strecker (2012) found that mean catch-ment erosion rates in these mountainous environment during several thousand-year long wet periods (0.5 mm/yr) were one order of magnitude greater than the

Changes in sediment transport rates through time


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Figure 2: Swath profile across the south-central Andes in NW Argentina (see Figure 1 for location). Black line indicates mean topography, blue line shows mean annual rainfall, and red bars show cosmogenic-nuclide erosion rates (mm/yr) averaged over several centuries and millenia. Shading denotes 1-sigma uncertainties. Note the high erosion rates at the wet mountain fronts and the low erosion rates in the semi-arid to arid mountain environments. These areas respond with high erosion rates during wet periods, for example during the Late Pleistocene. Figure modified after Bookhagen and Strecker (2012).

present rate of 0.05 mm/yr. The higher sediment transport led to sediment de-position in places where the river gradi-ents and the energy available to transport sediments decreased. These millennial scale erosion-rate magnitudes are mainly controlled by climatic oscillations. In or-

Author

Bodo BookhagenAssociate Professor, Geography Department, UC Santa Barbara, USA, [email protected]

References

Abbott, M. B., B. B. Wolfe, A. P. Wolfe, G. O. Seltzer, R. Aravena, B. G. Mark, P. J. Polissar, D. T. Rodbell, H. D. Rowe, and M. Vuille (2003), Holocene paleohydrology and glacial history of the central Andes using multiproxy lake sediment studies, Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 194(1-3), 123-138.

Bookhagen, B. and Strecker, M.R. (2012): Spatiotemporal trends in erosion rates across a pronounced rainfall gradient: examples from the southern Central Andes, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2011.

Bookhagen, B., Thiede, R.C., Strecker. M.R. (2005): Abnormal Monsoon years and their control on erosion and sediment flux in the high, arid northwest Himalaya, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 231, 131-146.

Lavé, J. and Burbank, D.W. (2004): Denudation processes and rates in the Transverse Ranges, southern California: Ero-sional response of a transitional landscape to external and anthropogenic forcing, Journal of Geophysical Research, 109, F01006, doi:10.1029/2003JF000023

der to understand sediment transport on human-relevant timescales of decades to centuries, one needs to include the cli-mate predictions and the important rare (or extreme) events.


Ismael Vaccaro and Oriol Beltran

Science Peaks

The twentieth century has deepened and increased global interconnected-ness. Furthermore, the networks that link most places of the world are now dominated by their most powerful nodes: cities. Cities have large socio-ecological footprints (Cronon 1992). Their survival requires large amounts of resources, and their populations constitute large markets with massive demands and disproportionate politi-cal power in comparison to their rural counterparts in terms of votes, infor-mation and organization.

Those of us that are interested in moun-tains must face this reality: directly or indirectly our ranges are strongly in-fluenced and shaped by the presence or the demands of neighboring or remote cities. Some mountainous areas of the world contain large cities as in Mexico, Bolivia (Greenfield 1994), or Ethiopia (Hailemariam and Adugna 2011). In these places one can observe the effects of direct urbanization of the ranges. At a different scale, other mountains of the world are experiencing demographic densification that results not in a me-tropolis but rather in networks of grow-ing small or medium cities as in India Himalayas or East Africa (Callas 1991). These areas are also experiencing direct urbanization although the impact is not spilling over from a very large locale, but from dozens of smaller urbanizing units. Finally, some ranges have experienced an acute depopulation such as in Spain (Ayuda and Pinilla 2002), Italy (Romano 1995), or France (André 1998).

Is urbanization exclusively connected

to demographic increases? We contend that it is not. A mountainous area with-out cities might find itself nevertheless transformed to satisfy the needs and ex-pectations of external consumers. These urban needs might include the desire for contemplation of wildlife and dramatic landscapes, the willingness to consume orderly and safely packaged rural life, or the search for sport related emotions via ski and adventure sports. In any case, the mountains are not untouched but are rather transformed by their managers to serve the needs of an overwhelmingly urban population.

In the Catalan Pyrenees we have been tracking down and analyzing processes

of territorial transformation (Vaccaro and Beltran 2010). These processes have changed and redefined the rural quality of many of the Spanish and European

mountains. This redefinition, which in-cludes economic shifts, cultural transfor-mations, and actual development of in-frastructures and new constructions over the territory, follows a logic designed to cover urban needs. We call this the indi-rect urbanization of the mountains.

„This redefinition (...) follows a logic designed to cover urban needs.“

Pla de L’Ermita, Alta Ribagorça © Oriol Beltran

Consuming space, nature and culturePatterns of mountain indirect urbanization


Figure 2: Protected spaces around the borders (in black) of the Pallars Sobirà district (on the Spanish side) (source: www.gencat.cat)

The Pyrenees experienced demographic and economic collapse between the end of the nineteenth and the end of the twen-tieth centuries (Molina 2002; Soriano 1994). Agriculture in the mountains with their harsh climate and steeped slopes could not compete with the high levels of productivity of the farms and ranch-ing of the low lands. Impoverished, and having no alternatives in the mountains,

their population migrated to the growing cities of the plains where paid jobs were relatively easy to find. Ranching and ag-riculture declined in the late nineteenth century, so that by the mid-twentieth century, 75% of agricultural land was abandoned and livestock numbers were greatly reduced. The Aragon and Catalan High Pyrenees lost 28.6% of its popu-lation between 1950 and 1970, falling from 47,108 to 33,618 inhabitants. This depopulation was slightly less acute in places where hydroelectric projects were implemented. The upper slopes lost most of their population and dozens of villages were completely abandoned (Ayuda and Pinilla 2002).

Once a burst of hydropower construction ended (Boneta 2003) the area suffered a severe disconnection from the regional markets (Vaccaro 2010). In this depopu-lated and economically deprived context, the territory needed a new economic engine based on new commodities and new markets. In the hyper-urbanized late twentieth century the scarcest commodi-ties were nature, dramatic landscapes, healthy ways of life, and tradition. In other words, the mountains had what the cities needed. The economic focus of the mountains shifted towards conservation and the service industry, towards tour-ism (Beltran and Vaccaro 2011). In this context the four Catalan High Pyrenees districts were territorially reshaped by the conservationist effort .

Tourism here must be understood as a complex, multilayered phenomena with

Figure 1: Population distribution in the Pallars Sobirà district, 1857 and 1991. Source: Nomenclátor 1857 and 1991.

Popu la-

tion

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Alta Ribagorça 4.284 42.686 20.929 49.03

Pallars Sobirà 7.548 137.792 95.685 69.44

Val d’Aran 10.192 63.360 37.552 59.27

Total 22.024 243.838 154.166 63.22

Table 1: Districts and protected areas in the Catalan High Pyrenees (2011) (source: idescat.net)

„... by the mid-twentieth century, 75% of agricultural land was abandoned“


Authors

Ismael VaccaroAssociate Professor, Dept. of Anthropology and McGill School of Environment, McGill University [email protected]

Oriol BeltranAssociate profesor, Dept. of Social Anthropology, Universitat de [email protected]

References

André, M. F. 1998. Depopulation, land-use change and landscape transformation in the French Massif Central, Ambio 27 (4): 351- 353.

Ayuda, M.I. and Pinilla, V. 2002. El proceso de desertización demográfica de la montaña pirenaica en el largo plazo: Aragón, Ager: Revista de Estudios de Despoblación y Desarrollo Rural 2: 101-138.

Beltran, O. and Vaccaro, I. 2011. From scenic beauty to biodiversity: the patrimonialization of nature in the Pallars Sobirà, (Cata¬lan Pyrenees). In Roigé, X. and Frigolé, J. Constructing Cultural and Natural Heritage. Parks, museums and rural heritage. Institut Català de Recerca en Patrimoni Cultural, Girona, 91-104.

Boneta, M. 2003. La Vall Fosca: els llacs de la llum. Desenvolupament socioeconòmic a començaments del segle XX. Garsineu, Tremp.

Cronon, W. 1992. Nature’s metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. Norton, New York.

Darby, W. 2000. Landscape and identity: geographies of nation and class in England. Berg, Oxford.

Greenfield, G. (ed.). 1994. Latin American urbanization: historical profiles of major cities. Greenwood, New York.

all sorts of manifestations and conse-quences. It included both mass tourism such as resort-centered skiing and small scale tourism or ecotourism. It has devel-oped infrastructures, second residence villages or neighborhoods, and has at-tracted population back to the area so that after 1990 some areas began a de-mographic recovery (Vaccaro and Bel-tran 2007). Tourism fostered all sorts of economic ventures providing goods and services to visitors interested in quality and tradition: local museums, gastrono-my (slow food, local varieties of fruits, sheep and cows, cheese, cold meats), artisans (iron, baskets, and textiles), and history (castles, churches, and mills).

In the seven districts of the High Pyr-enees, since the 1960s, 13 ski resorts have been built (five in Aragon and

eight in Catalonia, three of which were subsequently abandoned). Real estate management and property values – and speculation – in the Pyrenees has be-come inextricably connected to the plan-ning and development of – sometimes ephemeral – ski resorts. The Catalan High Pyrenees went from 19,949 sec-ond residences in 1981 to 37,435 in 2001, and from 4,852 hotel beds on 1981 to 13,562 in 2010. In Aragon second residences went from 3,511 in 1981 to 13,812 in 2001. Aragon in 1955 had 16 hotels with a total of 638 beds. Supply increased dramatically from 1975 un-til 2010, growing from 3,102 to 14,104 beds. The Aragon municipalities nearby the ski resorts went from 2,469 second residences in 1981, to 6,073 in 1991, and 10,946 in 2001. The Catalan case is even more pronounced, going from 15,890 in

1981, to 25,980 in 1991, and 28,610 in 2001 (Lasanta et al. submitted).

These changes included increased eco-nomic activity, construction, and jobs. On the other hand, the economy of the area became driven by external seasonal behaviors with, as a result, high levels of dependence. Some of these villages, bursting with activity during the tourist season, are empty towns off season.

Thus over the past century, the Spanish Pyrenees lost their original, more self-sufficient, rural character and indeed much of their population, only to be rec-reated as providers of rural goods and experiences for urban populations near to but nonetheless outside the mountains. While appearing rural, they exist within a urban context.

Consuming space, nature, and culture


Hailemariam, A. and Adugna, A. 2011. Migration and Urbanization in Ethiopia: addressing the spatial imbalance. In Teller, Ch., and Hailemariam, A. (eds.) The Demographic Transition and Development in Africa. The unique case of Ethiopia. Springer, London, 145-165.

Lasanta, T., Beltran, O., and Vaccaro, I. Submitted. Socioeconomic and territorial impacts of the ski industry in the Spanish Py-renees: mountain development and leisure induced urbanization. 23

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, November 2012

Molina, D. 2002. El proceso de desertización demográfica de la montaña pirenaica en el largo plazo: Cataluña, Ager. Revista de Estudios sobre Despoblación y Desarrollo Rural 2: 81-99.

Nello, O. 2001. Ciutat de ciutats. Empúries, Barcelona.

Prados, M.J. (ed.). 2008. Naturbanization: new identities and processes for rural-natural areas. CRC Press, London.

Perlik, M. 2011. Alpine gentrification: the mountain village as a metropolitan neighborhood, Revue de Géographie Alpine 99 (1).

Pignatti, S. 1993. Impact of tourism on the mountain landscape of central Italy, Landscape and Urban Planning 24 (1-2): 49-53.

Prats, L. 1997. Antropología y patrimonio. Ariel, Barcelona.

Romano, S. 1995. National parks policy and mountain depopulation: a case study in the Abruzzo Region of the Central Apennines, Italy, Mountain Research and Development 15 (2): 121-132.

Soriano, J.M. 1994. El procés de despoblament a les comarques de la Cerdanya i l’Alt Urgell, Documents d’Anàlisi Geogràfica 25: 141-163.

Vaccaro, I. 2010. Theorizing impending peripheries: postindustrial landscapes at the edge of hypermodernity’s collapse, Journal of International and Global Studies 1 (2): 22-44.

Vaccaro, I. and Beltran, O. 2007. Consuming space, nature and culture: patrimonial discussions in the hyper-modern era, Journal of Tourism Geographies 9 (3): 254-274.

Vaccaro, I, and Beltran, O. 2009. The mountainous space as a commodity: the Pyrenees at the age of globalization, Revue de Géog-raphie Alpine 97 (3).

Vaccaro, I. and Beltran, O. (eds.). 2010. Social and Ecological History of the Pyrenees: state, market and landscape. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek CA.


Critical Zone Observatory: snowline processes in the Southern Sierra Nevada

Peter Hartsough and Matthew Meadows

The Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) was initiated in 2007, one of 3 CZOs funded by NSF to integrate investigations of subsurface processes, landscape processes, and land surface–atmosphere interactions.

The program was expanded to 6 observa-tories in 2009, and NSF has announced plans to further expand to 8 CZOs in 2013. Three CZOs are in mountains in the western part of the United States. A variety of networked studies provide a framework to address climate change in mountain regions using space for time substitutions as well as the limitations that shape ecosystem function now and into the future. The time scales consid-ered in the CZOs range from instanta-

neous changes to geological times. The research in the CZOs is largely hypoth-esis-driven and integrates observations with modeling. The network is expected to serve the international scientific com-munity through providing research infra-structure, data sharing, and model devel-opment (http://criticalzone.org/).

At the California Southern Sierra CZO (SSCZO), the multi-disciplinary research

team measures surface and subsurface processes along a gradient of elevation, energy, water, and soil (Figure 1). We have based the observatory design on a transect across the current rain to snow transition zone, with intensive instru-mentation measuring fluxes of water and energy in this dynamic zone (Bales et al., 2011a). Ongoing work by Bales et al. (2011b) documents the elevation gradient-based pattern of soil moisture response to snowmelt and rainfall at the SSCZO and the local variability caused by hillslope aspect, mixed-conifer cano-py, and soil texture. Much of the physical monitoring is possible due to a wireless mesh network (WSN) designed specifi-

cally for use in complex mountain terrain (Kerkez et al., 2012). Using the WSN to monitor snow melt and soil moisture allows for distributed measurements on a spatial scale that would be almost im-possible otherwise. Placements of WSN sensors to measure snow were evaluated using snow on/snow off LIDAR flights, as well as traditional snow and soil mois-ture surveys.

Using co-located, continuous snow-depth and soil-moisture monitoring over 2 years, Bales et al. (2011b) reported on the relationships of seasonal evapotrans-piration to changes in snowpack and soil moisture storage. They found that about

“The time scales consid-ered in the Sierra Critical Zone Observatories are also unique, and range from in-stantaneous changes to geo-logical times.”

Figure 1: A representation of the monitoring efforts at the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory showing the range of monitoring activities across the rain-snow transition zone (illustration by Jenny Park).

Science Peaks


one-third of annual evapotranspiration was estimated to come from water stor-age below the 1-m soil depth, including from weathered granite. Recharge of this deep water storage occurred locally dur-ing periods of high precipitation and/or rapid snow melt and was available for tree transpiration during summer and fall months when shallow soil water storage was limiting.

This research led to further investigation of deeper subsurface processes, includ-ing porosity development associated with weathering of deep bedrock into saproplite. Geophysical work by Hol-brook et al. (in review) proposes a 40 m deep saprolite of relatively high porosity on top of low porosity bedrock. With ad-ditional monitoring of hydrologic fluxes in this deep vadose zone, we are docu-menting the importance of this deeper storage pool for mountain ecosystem functions.

As part of the SSCZO infrastructure, a network of four eddy covariance flux towers was installed along an elevation gradient, from a low-elevation oak-grassland site at 405 m, through mixed-

conifer forest to an upper–elevation red-fir-transition site at 2700 m (Figure 2). Goulden et al. (2012) report on plant wa-ter use and available surplus along this gradient. They use tower footprint scale gross ecosystem CO2 exchange (GEE) and evapotranspiration (ET) as a gen-eral measure of ecosystem productivity

and compare tower derived ET to remote sensing observations to estimate ET for the upper Kings River basin. Three distinct regions are identified along the transect that show water limitation at the lower elevation, energy and soil limitations at the upper elevation, and a relative sweet spot of maximum photo-synthesis at the middle elevations. This mid-elevation range is characterized by ample soil (and saprolite) water storage

and relatively mild temperatures. Trees at the middle elevation band (1200-2020m) currently span the rain/snow transition zone and are exposed to mod-erate temperatures. Goulden et al. (2012) also show that due to low precipitation, annual ET was 35% lower at 405 m com-pared to the middle elevation band, while annual ET was 40% lower at 2700 m due to colder temperatures. They speculate that within the space for time framework of the experiment, climate change and associated movement of the zero de-gree isotherm upslope may lead to sig-nificantly decreases in runoff as longer growing seasons and year-round trans-piring species, move upslope. However, if the ecosystem is largely controlled by deep water storage, the pace of soil and saprolite production (and therefore stor-age) will influence the temporal scale of species migration.

Manipulative experiments were used to simulate climate change at the SSCZO. Blankinship et al. (in review) manipu-lated snowmelt timing, advancing it by more than 2 weeks while preserving wa-ter quantity, which resulted in drier soil at depths less than 30 cm. After the wet

“ They found that about one-third of annual evapotranspi-ration was estimated to come from water storage below the 1-m soil depth, including from weathered granite.”

Fgure 2: Schematic of four flux towers along an elevation gradient on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada. The straight white lines con-nect the locations of the eddy covariance sites. The inset shows the elevation profiles along the segments of the eddy covariance transect. The scale bar is km, and the blue polygon is the Upper Kings River basin. (modified from Goulden et al., 2012)


Authors

Peter HartsoughPost-doctoral Fellow, University of California Davis, [email protected]

Matthew MeadowsHydrologist, Sierra Nevada Research Institute, University of California Merced, [email protected]

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the SSCZO team for their contributions to the research; see http://czo.ucmerced.edu. This research was supported by the National Science foundation grants EAR-0725097 and EAR-0619947

References

Bales, R. C., M. Conklin, B. Kerkz, S. Glaser, J. W. Hopmans, C. Hunsaker, M. Meadows, and P. C. Hartsough, 2011a, Sam-pling Strategies in Forest Hydrology and Biogeochemistry, in D. Levia, D. Carlyle-Moses, and T. Tanake, eds., Forest Hydrol-ogy and Biogeochemistry: Synthesis of Research and Future Directions, v. Ecological Studies 216, Springer, p. 762.

Bales, R. C., J. W. Hopmans, A. T. O‘Geen, M. Meadows, P. C. Hartsough, C. T. Hunsaker, P. Kirchner, and D. Beaudette, 2011b, Soil moisture response to snowmelt and rainfall in a Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest: Vadose Zone J, v. 10, p. 786-799.

Blankinship, J., M. Meadows, R. Lucas, and S. Hart, in review, The legacy of snowmelt timing on soil moisture in a high elevation Mediterranean climate: Water Resour. Res.

Goulden, M. L., R. G. Anderson, R. C. Bales, A. E. Kelly, M. Meadows, and G. C. Winston, 2012, Evapotranspiration pat-terns with elevation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains: Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, v. 117, p. 13.

Holbrook, S., C. S. Riebe, J. Hayes, K. Reeder, D. Harry, A. Malazian, A. Dosseto, P. C. Hartsough, and J. W. Hopmans, in review, Geophysical Constraints on Deep Weathering and Water Storage Potential in the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Ob-servatory: EPSL.

Kerkez, B., S. D. Glaser, R. C. Bales, and M. W. Meadows, 2012, Design and performance of a wireless sensor network for catchment-scale snow and soil moisture measurements: Water Resour. Res., v. 48, p. W09515.

winter of 2011, drying associated with earlier snowmelt persisted throughout the growing season and decreased soil CO2 emission by 10-35%.

Soil was also moved down in elevation to simulate future climatic warming. El-evation transfer caused 1.4 ºC warming during fall, winter, and spring, but little change in summer temperature or total annual precipitation.

Warming increased soil CO2 emission

during snow-free periods by 32% and increased soil CH4 uptake by 48%. The authors suggest that climatic warming in snow-dominated ecosystems of the Sier-ra will increase net greenhouse gas emis-sion from the soil to the atmosphere in the short-term. However, continued ad-vancement of the snowmelt date without a simultaneous increase in precipitation, will likely constrain the extent of the temperature-induced increase in green-house gas fluxes. This work further il-lustrates the multi-faceted feedbacks

between soil and snow and demonstrates that both the amount and timing of snow-melt need to be considered to constrain soil carbon and greenhouse gas budgets.

In the coming years we aim to extend our research to include feedbacks into weathering, regolith formation, nutrient cycling, and vegetation/ecosystem distri-bution and function along the rain-snow transition vertical transect. The Southern Sierra CZO welcomes new partners and innovation.


200 years of land use change in the Carpathian Basin

Van Butsic

Land use change is a formidable forc-ing of global environmental change. For centuries humans have changed their relationship with land in order to meet their needs, transforming land-scapes in the process. The Carpathian Basin, i.e., the Carpathian Mountains and the Pannonian Plains, of East-ern Europe are a prime example of a system that has been subject to long-term ongoing human-driven land use change.

The Carpathians are unique as they have also been subject to several major socio-economic transformations during the 20th and 21th centuries: World War I and the demise of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, World War II, the rise and fall of socialism, and the eastward expansion

of the European Union. These socio-economic transformations have triggered drastic land use change, including chang-es in mountain farming and forestry.

A team of American, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, Swiss, Ukrainian, and German scientists are working together to quan-tify the long-term changes in land use throughout the Carpathian Mountains and its surrounding lowlands in order to understand better the underlying drivers of these changes. Our research combines historical military maps, remote sensing, and econometric modeling to quantify past land use change, identify drivers of these changes, and project the future of

Science Peaks

land use in the Carpathians. Using the Carpathians as our study area we also hope to address fundamental questions concerning the effects of gradual versus drastic change and regime shifts in land use. While this research is ongoing, we are excited to introduce readers to this understudied mountain range, present our research plan, as well as share a few early lessons learned.

Study areaThe Carpathian Mountains along with the adjacent lowlands are an ideal place

to study long-term patterns and drivers of land use change, as well as the impact of rapid institutional change. In the years leading up to World War II, agricultural expansion increased deforestation and

forestry tended toward large scale spruce plantations. After World War II the adop-tion of socialism lead to collectivization of much of the land base, resulting in massive changes in ownership in many countries. Agriculture intensified and continued to expand, and forestry was considered as a major resource. Even during this period, however, substantial areas of old growth forest survived, as did small scale and self-sufficient agri-culture on more marginal lands, espe-cially in the mountains.

The fall of socialism led to mixed re-sponses in land use, with fragmentation, land restitution, and land abandonment common. As these countries now transi-tion to the European Union (with the ex-

Figure 1: The Carpathian Mountains and adjacent lowlands

„These socio-economic trans-formations have triggered drastic land use change (...).“


ception of Ukraine) they face new pres-sures on land use, including compliance with EU environmental regulation and participation in the Common Agricultur-al Policy. Early indications are that this transition has led to polarization in land use: intensification in some places with continued abandonment in others.

Land use in the Carpathians is not just scientifically fascinating. It is also of key conservation importance. The Carpath-ian Mountains are one of the most biodi-verse regions in Europe, and are a strong-hold for wolf, brown bears, and lynx, as well as over 125 critically endangered plants and animals. Mountain farming in the Carpathians is also a prime example of a tightly coupled human-natural sys-tem, where agricultural practices have developed in conjunction with natural systems. These systems may be under threat due to new external pressures. Conserving both the species that inhabit the Carpathians as well as its indigenous

social systems are of international im-portance.

Quantifying historic land use change in the Carpathian BasinOur analysis of land use change in the Carpathian Basin is based on a compre-hensive dataset of historic maps from the Austro-Hungarian topographic military surveys. Starting in the 18th Century

four such surveys were carried out, circa ~1775, ~1860,~ 1890, and ~1920. We fo-cus our research on the second and fourth surveys. Land cover and land use were surveyed comprehensively, including in-

Figure 2: Landsat composite of the study area. A cloud free, temporal composite of Landsat data, capturing approximately the mid-summer 2000 pe-riod. Visualized are the near Infrared, shortwave Infrared, and visual red bands as RGB. Broadleaved forests appear bright orange, coniferous forests are indicated by darker brown to black colors. Pastures and bare soil appear cyan to turquoise.

formation on forests, shrubland, farm-land, pastures, settlements, water bodies and roads. We also use military maps from the time period around the Second World War, which show the landscape as it was just before collectivization. Fi-nally for the 1970s an area-wide dataset of Soviet topographic maps exists which can be validated using aerial photos from the same time period. Translating these paper maps into usable data requires a laborious process of digitizing, georec-tifying and mosaicing. We record land use based the regular point grid (points spaced 2km) according to the INSPIRE directive, and similar to the LUCAS (Land Use/Cover Area Frame Survey) survey. We record land use changes since 1860s at approximately 100.000 points spanning 2 eco-regions and 7 countries.

„ Translating these paper maps into usable data requires a laborious process of digitizing, georectifying and mosaicing.”

200 years of land use change in the Carpathian Basin


Mapping recent land use change in the Carpathian BasinTo map recent (1985-2010) changes in land use, we rely on Landsat MSS, TM, and ETM+ images. We make use of the full Landsat image archive and atmo-

spherically corrected and cloud-masked over 1400 Landsat images to create area-wide image composites for every five years. These composites now serve as a basis to map changes in forest cover, conversions from agriculture to grass-land, forest recovery on logged sites and former farmland, and land use pattern (e.g., field size) changes. Though this work is ongoing, the project has already generated the first, area-wide forest dis-turbance map, which provides new ways to assess the effect of institutional chang-es on logging patterns and protected area effectiveness (Griffiths et al, accepted). Discovering the drivers of past and present land use changeThe digitized point data from the historic maps as well as the remotely sensed im-agery provide a wealth of data for model-ing the drivers of land use change. Both the historic and recent land use change data are well suited for panel analysis.

Currently, we are using the remotely sensed data to investigate how changes in forest ownership have impacted forest changes. During the recent time period, 1985-2010, several of the countries have undergone large shifts in ownership re-gimes. For example, Romania has un-dergone three waves of land restitution, resulting in around 40% of forested land being privately owned, compared to nearly none in 1990. Interestingly, own-ership in other countries has stayed rela-tively stable (i.e., Poland and Ukraine). Economic theory suggest that privatizing forest may impact harvest rates. Using the pan-Carpathian data we can exploit heterogeneity over time both within and between countries in forest ownership regimes to test if this is true.

Lessons learned thus farOur project thus far has been primarily in the data collection phase, yet has already yielded interesting results. For instance, forest change, a good proxy for forest harvest, decreased in every country di-rectly after the fall of socialism. Since that time, however, in each Carpath-ian nation, forest change has increased in each time period, indicating that the forestry sector may be recovering. In-vestigating what increased forest harvest rates may mean for biodiversity and lo-cal communities is a question we are still investigating.

We have also learned much about do-ing research over a full mountain range.

Mountains ranges can be especially dif-ficult to study because they often form borders between countries. Therefore, even basic data gathering task can be dif-ficult as one relies on agencies in mul-tiple countries, who may speak different languages, and possess data that dif-fers in content and reliability. We have found that having project partners from multiple countries is key to meeting this challenge. Great international partner-ships, however, do not occur overnight. Members of our team have collaborated for nearly a decade, and that long fa-miliarity makes it possible to tackle suc-cessfully a project of such temporal and spatial scope.

„ (...) the project has already generated the first, area-wide forest disturbance map,.“

Figure 3: Reforestation in the Polish Carpathians, Gorce Mts. 1934-2011Original photo by Jarosz Z., 1935, Badania geograficzno-leśne w Gorcach, Prace Rolniczo-Leśne 16, PAU.Recent photo © Dominik Kaim, Jagiellonian University, Krakow.


Author

Van ButsicPost-doctoral researcher, Geography Department, Humboldt University Berlin, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern [email protected]

Project partners

University of Wisconsin Madison, USA: Dr. Volker Radeloff, Dr. Jennifer Alex-Garcia, Catalina Munteanu, Sarah Walker

National Taras Scevchenko University, Ukraine: Dr. Oleksandra Shandra

Jagiellonian University, Poland: Prof Jacek Kozak, Dr Katarzyna Ostapowicz, Dr Krzysztof Ostafin, Dominik Kaim

Slovak Academy of Sciences: Dr. Ľuboš Halada, Dr. Juraj Lieskovský, Dr. Matej Mojses, Dr. Martin Boltižiar, Katarína Kysucká

Humboldt University Berlin: Dr. Patrick Hostert, Dr. Tobias Kuemmerle, Dr. Van Butsic, Patrick Griffths

University of West Hungary: Dr. Éva Konkoly-Gyuró, Dr. Géza Király

Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern Europe (IAMO): Dr. Daniel Müller

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research: Dr. Urs Gimmi

Reference

Griffiths, P., Van der Linden, S., Kuemmerle, T., & Hostert, P. (accepted). A pixel-based Landsat compositing algorithm for large area land cover mapping. Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.


Science Peaks

Urban growth in HimalayaEnvironmental Impacts and Developmental Opportunities

IntroductionThe Himalaya is one of the most tec-tonically unstable, ecologically frag-ile, economically underdeveloped, and densely populated mountain ecosys-tems on the planet. The continuous up-lift has makes these mountain ranges highly vulnerable to large-scale tec-tonic movements (Valdiya and Bartarya

1991). The nature of the terrain imposes severe limitations on the scale of re-source productivity as well as on the ef-

Prakash C. Tiwari and Bhagwati Joshi

„Himalaya represents one of the most densely populated mountain ecosystems on the planet.“

ficiency of infrastructural facilities. As a result, subsistence agriculture consti-tutes the main source of rural food and livelihood even though the availability of arable land is severely limited and agricultural productivity is poor. Dur-ing recent years, a variety of changes have emerged in traditional resource utilization pattern mainly in response to population growth, climate change, economic globalization and urbaniza-tion, leading to land use intensifica-tions and depletion of natural resourc-es. Rapid urban growth has disrupted hydrological regimes of Himalayan headwaters and reduced ground water recharge, depleted forests and biodiver-sity, increased risks of natural hazards and disasters in urban areas as well as in their peri-urban zones, and increased

the vulnerability of mountain in-habitants to food and livelihood in-security (Poudel 2008). However, urbanization has also created op-portunities for the socio-economic development of the region. This pa-per analyzes trends of urban growth and examines its impact on natural ecosystem and socio-economic sus-tainability with case illustration of Uttarakhand Himalaya.

The Himalayan state of UttarakhandThe Himalayan State of Uttara-khand, covering 53066 km2 from the narrow Foothill belt in the south to the Lesser, Great and Trans Hi-malayan ranges in the north, was created in the year 2000. It includes the headwaters of some of the larg-est trans-boundary basins of South Asia. The state consists of 13 dis-tricts of which 10 extend across Hi-malayan mountains and 3 are located in their foothill zone (Figure 1). The total population of Uttarakhand is 6 million of which 26% lives in 86 fast growing and emerging urban centres (Census of India 2001). Tourism is one of the fast growing economic sectors and therefore is emerging as important driving force of urban growth in the State.

MethodologyFast growing towns, one each from the 10 mountainous districts of Ut-tarakhand were selected for a com-prehensive assessment of impacts of urbanization on natural and social systems. In addition to analyzing the opportunity created by urban devel-opment, we examined the depletion of land, forests, biodiversity and

Figure 1: Geographical location and political districts of Uttarakhand


water resources and their impact on tra-ditional agricultural and food systems. Urban land use changes were monitored through digital interpretation of multi-date satellite data of years 1981 and 2011. Other relevant data and informa-tion have been collected through com-prehensive socio-economic surveys and from Census of India 2001.

Urbanization in UttarakhandDuring recent years, Uttarakhand Hi-malaya has experienced rapid urban growth due to population increase, en-hanced transport connectivity, emer-gence of rural growth centres, devel-opment of tourism, improved access to markets, and the lack of effective land use policy. Besides the emergence and growth of a large number of new ur-ban centers, existing towns are rapidly increasing both in size and area. More recently, comparatively less accessible areas have also begun the process of urbanization due to improved road connectivity and growth of tourism. Consequently, there has been tremen-dous increase in density, intensity and

complexity of urban settlements. This is clearly indicated by fast growing ur-ban population in the state, particularly after 1971 (Tiwari & Joshi 2011). In Ut-tarakhand, urban population increased

from 16.36% of the total population in 1971 to 20.7 % in 1981, 22.97 % in 1991, and 25.59 in 2001. The growth of urban population in Uttarakhand dur-ing 1971 – 1981 and 1981 – 1991 was much higher than the national decadal growth of urban population in India as a whole(Census of India 2001).

Environmental impacts Urban growth in Uttarakhand Himalaya is disrupting the hydrological system,

destroying wildlife habitats, depleting biodiversity, increasing vulnerability of urban systems and their surrounding rural areas to a variety of natural risks, and undermining rural food and liveli-hood security through encroachment of prime agricultural land (Tiwari & Joshi 2011). Urban growth caused the loss of 5.85% of natural forests during 1981 – 2011. The changing land use pattern and decline in forest area have decreased ground water recharge and increased run-off (Ives 1989; Tiwari and Joshi 2012a). These hydrological disruptions are resulting into (i) long-term decreas-ing trend of stream discharge (Rawat 2009), (ii) drying of springs (Valdiya and Bartarya 1991), and (iii) dwindling capacity of urban lakes (Rawat 2009; Tiwari and Joshi 2012).

Forty-five percent of natural springs have dried up completely, 21% have become seasonal, and stream discharge has declined by 11% during 1981 – 2011. Consequently, 65% villages are facing acute shortage of freshwater with irri-gation potential declining by 15% (Ti-

Urban Growth in Himalaya

“The growth of urban popu-lation in Uttarakhand during 1971 – 1981 and 1981 – 1991 was much higher than the national decadal growth of urban population in India.”

Figure 2: Agriculturally productive peri-urban areas are now being encroached by speedy urbanization in Kumaon Himalaya, India. © Prakash Tiwari


wari and Joshi 2012). Anthropogenic impact on urban lakes has increased via siltation and pollution. Bathymet-ric investigations revealed that the ca-pacities of Bhimtal and Nainital lakes have decreased respectively by 5494 m3 and 14150 m3 during the last 100 – 110 years due to rapid siltation (Rawat 2009). Run-off generated by urban systems (65% of total rainfall) is much higher than that of forests (4.5%) and agricultural land (15%) Consequently, peak flood rate from urban areas is

35 times higher than that from forests in the region (Rawat 2009). These hy-drological disruptions have increased the incidences of landslides and flash floods respectively by 15% and 17% in the urban areas and their surrounding ru-ral regions during the last 3 decades. Be-

Figure 3: Unplanned and unregulated urbanization on steep slopes in Nainital, Kumaon Himalaya, India. © Prakash Tiwari

sides, 47% of total forest-area situated in the towns and their peri-urban zones has been characterized as highly disturbed and fragmented causing rapid loss of bio-diversity and genetic resources. In Uttarakhand Himalaya, rural areas surrounding fast developing urban cen-tres have lost 9% of their prime agri-cultural land due expansion of urban land use during last 30 years. The loss of fertile agricultural land and decline in irrigation potential has caused 35% decline in agricultural productivity in surrounding areas of 10 urban zones. Consequently, rural settlements situat-ed in fringe of urban complexes are cur-rently facing 80% food deficit increas-ing vulnerability of rural communities to food insecurity (Tiwari and Joshi 2012b). Depletion of forests and de-cline in agricultural productivity have decreased off-farm employment oppor-tunities in traditional forestry and ag-ricultural sectors up-to 65% decreasing community food purchasing power by nearly 10% in peri-urban zones (Tiwari & Joshi 2011). This will have long-term impacts on local food security affect-

ing particularly the poor and socially marginalized communities constituting nearly 75% of total population.

OpportunitiesUndoubtedly, urbanization has contrib-uted significantly to the socio-econom-ic development of Uttarakhand through the improvement of infrastructure and transport connectivity, growth of tour-ism, improved access to markets, and generation of employment opportuni-ties in various emerging sectors, par-ticularly tourism. During the period of global financial crisis (2008 – 2009) Uttarakhand registered respectively 11.73 and 41.81 growth in domestic and foreign arrivals and urbanization con-tributed significantly towards attaining this progress (ICIMOD 2012). Based on the discussion held with local em-ployment authorities, in a tourist city like Nainital tourism industry provided temporary employment for 25% of local youths each year during 2006 – 2011.

Conclusion As in other parts of the world, urban growth cannot be stopped or reduced in Himalaya, but it can be steered in a more sustainable manner through an integrated urban-rural land use planning. Effective land use policies need to be evolved and implemented for the protection and con-servation of forests, biodiversity, water resources and agricultural land. It would also be imperative to develop pragmatic framework for sustainable development of agriculture in peri-uban zone as it is not only an important economic activity, but also constitutes fundamental source of rural food and livelihood, an integral part of culture, history and traditions, and an invaluable treasure of traditional eco-logical knowledge required for adapting to climate change.

“ (...) peak flood rate of urban areas is 35 times higher compared to flood rate of forests in the region.”


Authors

Prakash C. Tiwari Department of Geography, Kumaun University Nainital, [email protected]

Bhagwati JoshiDepartment of Geography, Government Post Graduate College, Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, [email protected]

References

Census of India (2001), Office of Registrar General Census, Government of India, New Delhi.

ICIMOD (2011) Collaborative Project on ‘Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation Initiative Developing a Tran-boundary Framework for Conservation and Sustainable Development’, Draft Report, ICIMOD, Kathmandu.

Ives, J. D. 1989. Deforestation in the Himalaya: The Cause of Increased Flooding in Bangladesh and Northern India. Land Use Policy, 6: pp.187-193.

Poudel, K. R. (2008) Urban Growth and Land Use Change in Himalayan Region: A Case Study of Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City, Nepal, GIS Ostrava (1) pp. 27-30.

Rawat, J. S. 2009. Saving Himalayan Rivers: developing spring sanctuaries in headwater regions. In: Shah B. L. (ed) Natural resource conservation in Uttarakhand. Ankit Prakshan, Haldwani, pp 41–69.

Tiwari, P. C. and Joshi, B. (2012a) Environmental changes and sustainable development of water resources in the Himalayan headwaters of India. International Journal of Water Resource Management, 26 (4): 26 (4), pp. 883–907, 2012. DOI 10.1007/s11269-011-9825-y.

Tiwari, P. C. and Joshi, B. (2012b) Natural and socio-economic factors affecting food securityin the Himalayas, Food Security, 4 (2), pp. 195-207, 2012, DOI 10.1007/s12571-012-0178-z.

Tiwari, P. C. and Joshi, B. (2011), Urban Growth and Food Security in Himalaya, International Working Paper Series, Urbani-zation & Global Environmental Change (UGEC), View Point, International Human Dimension Programme (IHDP), 1(5):20-23.

Valdiya, K. S. and Bartarya, S. K. (1991) Hydrological Studies of Springs in the Catchment of Gaula River, Kumaon Lesser Himalaya, India. Mountain Research and Development, 11: 17-25.



Mountain and highland initiatives: AfroMont’s heritage and lessons To build a research network on African mountains, it is essential to capital-ize on the legacy that has been left by previous mountain initiatives, learning both from their strengths and failures. Among the circumstances that motivat-

ed mountain initiatives in Africa, one could cite the rapid population growth, fragile ecosystems, economic pres-sures, and transboundary conflicts. The consequences of such issues have compromised population livelihood in terms of water shortages, land degrada-tion, change in rainfall seasons, inva-sive pests and diseases and increased poverty in many African countries.

The African Mountains Association (AMA)This ambitious initiative was created by African researchers with a non-gov-ernmental Pan-African status. Formed in Ambo, Ethiopia, in 1986, its objec-tives were to create a venue for inter-action between African researchers and to influence policy. The Associa-tion contributed to the discussions on the Mountain Agenda which led to the inclusion of a chapter on sustainable mountain development (Chapter 13) in Agenda 21. Despite the enthusiasm and determination by organizing meetings across the continent (Morocco, Kenya, and Lesotho) and publishing news-

AfroMontGlobal Change Research Network of African Mountains: Legacy, Role and Visions

Editorial“These regional networks are where “real people do real research.” We will persist in our attempt to keep these networks functioning, to make manifest those potential communities of researchers” Greg Greenwood the Executive Director of MRI.

Mountain research has received very little attention and publicity in African countries. African mountains and high-lands are however the most important assets of the continent contributing significantly to the socioeconomic de-velopment in terms of water, land and other essential resources. Unfortunate-ly, there has been no significant impact of research outputs on governance and policy making over the last decades.The rapid utilisation of natural resourc-es and the lack of relevant policies of conservation for sustainability will cer-tainly lead to frequent disasters such as drought, famine and starvation, which in many situations have been wrongly attributed to the “never-ending saga” of global change. The degradation of eco-systems and the exploitation of natural resources will decimate the unique bio-diversity of this continent if decisions to reverse this trend are not taken.

Networking and coordination are prom-ising initiatives that consolidate moun-tain research all over the world. How-

ever, in Africa such initiatives should be backed by a strong enthusiasm from African governments. As far as moun-tains are concerned, supporting poli-cies are necessary to overcome these prophesied calamities often credited to global change. It is within this framework that MRI through the Food Agriculture Orga-nization (FAO) initiated an African global change research network for mountains - AfroMont - to promote and facilitate communication among moun-tain researchers and stakeholders, and to inform policy. During the last year, this initiative has mobilized signifi-cant support for the generation of new knowledge on long term sustainability in African mountains.

Saliou NiassyNetwork Coordinator

MRI Coordinator for AfroMontCentre for Environmental StudiesUniversity of [email protected]: saliou.niassyLandline +27124204527Fax +27124203210http://mri.scnatweb.ch/mri-africa

Saliou Niassy and Willem Ferguson

„To build a research network on African mountains it is essential to capitalize the legacy that has been left by previous mountain initiatives.“


letters and proceedings, AMA went through a period of silence due to fi-nancial and logistical difficulties. The decline of AMA could be attributed lack of commitment of members.

African Highlands Initiative (AHI) The African Highlands Initiative, launched in 1995, was a conglomerate of Eastern African and international research organizations that worked with local communities, governments and others NGOs in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. This regional program hosted by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nai-robi was an initiative of the Consulta-tive Group for International Agricul-tural Research (CGIAR) and a network of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA). Its objec-tives were to improve livelihoods of highlands of eastern and central Africa, which were shown to be highly vulner-able to climate change and population growth. AHI’s objectives were to de-

News from AfroMont

Lebialem Waterfall Forest Area, Cameroon © Saliou Niassy

velop an “integrated natural resource management” (INRM) program in collaboration with beneficiaries (high-land communities) and partners such as national and international research organizations and networks, organiza-tions, local government, policy makers, community-based organizations, and male and female farmers. The African Highland Initiative no longer appears very active: its website has not been up-dated since 2006.

Maloti-Drakensberg Trans-frontier Programme (MDTP)The Kingdom of Lesotho and the Republic of South Africa signed a memorandum in 2001 to establish the Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation and Development Area. The area is known to be an important centre of endemism and is currently considered as a World Heritage Site. The project was funded by World Bank to ensure the conservation of the biodi-versity and the cultural heritage left by the Khoi-San. Today the programme is still running with bilateral commitment

to maintain in a sustainable manner to benefit generations in future. However there is little emphasis which consists in put on research programmes.

Cameroon Highland InitiativeThis mountain initiative in Camer-oon is unknown to many mountain researchers in Africa. Mountain areas in Cameroon are rich in diversity of flora and fauna. There is high resul-tant ecological diversity combined with high species richness, high endemism, “l’Afrique en miniature”, a well-known expression referring to this richness. Due to non-sustainable utilization of resources, mountains in Cameroon are subjected to threats that endanger many plant and animal species. There are re-ports of extinction, habitat fragmenta-tion and this has been aggravated by the conversion of large forest areas into agricultural lands using very non sus-tainable approaches (slash, burns etc...).

Due to mounting population pres-sure and livelihood challenges, uni-versities and NGOs took the lead to


Preparatory meeting for the Mountain Conference in Buea-Dschang, Cameroon, 21-25 January 2013 © Saliou Niassy.

investigate mountain issues. Several non-governmental attempts such as the Cameroon Mountains Conservation Foundation (CAMCOF) and the Environ-ment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF) have also been initiated to pro-mote the conservation and sustainable de-velopment of those precious areas.

In its Mountain initiative, EruDeF fo-cussed on the Lebialem division in the South West Province of Cameroon and the Mont Bamboutos in the North East, characterized by the highest number of landslides and destruction of arable and productive landscapes and property lost. Mt. Bamboutos is a source for wa-ter to many major rivers in Cameroon. The Mount Cameroon initiative, though not well supported by the Cameroonian government, aims at continuing the policies of conservation of mountain resources initiated by Germans and French during the colonial era through education, sensitizing and sustainable development projects.

Fouta Djallon InitiativeA number of countries in West Africa, including Senegal, Mali, Niger and the Gambia, are largely depend on wa-ter resources from the Fouta Djallon. Due to the economic situation in those countries the Guinea Mountain initia-tive over the last three decades relied

exclusively on international interven-tion aiming at the conservation and development of natural resources in the Fouta Djallon Mountains, and the promotion of sustainable community development.

Regional efforts such as « l’Observatoire Régional des Ressources Naturelles et de l’Environnement du Massif du Fouta Djallon (ORMFD) » have been created for the management of natural resources. The FAO-funded regional programme for integrated development of Fouta Djallon was also launched in 2008. All these initiative focus on pro-moting conservation activities in the management and protection of water resources, and national parks respec-tively between Senegal, Mali, Maurita-nia and Guinea and between Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea.

Current situation of Mountain research in AfricaThe common situation in Africa is a neglect of mountains by African gov-ernments, resulting in non-sustainable practices in these fragile environments. Research programmes are being con-ducted in Africa mostly by academics though international collaborations and non-governmental organizations with often little connection one another. With the global awareness of climate

change, there is significant input from external funding aimed at promoting adaptation and sustainable develop-ment in mountain areas. But mountain research is still neglected.

Apart from the AHI, which focussed essential on community livelihoods, little is known about the governments’ measures on mountain areas. However, AHI focused exclusively on communi-

ties in East Africa. There has been little contribution from African governments for the conservation of mountains else-where.

In central and west Africa, little is known about mountain research initia-tives and the governance of sustainable development in mountain areas. There are reports of external funding but there is no visibility in term of scien-tific outputs and their conversion into policy or practice.

„The common situation in Africa is a neglect of African mountains by African governments, resulting in non-sustainable practices in these fragile environments.“


News from AfroMont

The role of AfroMontSince the creation of the Global Change Research Network in African Moun-tains in Kampala in 2007 and the im-plementation of the FAO-funded co-ordination in Africa in August 2011,

AfroMont has garnered a large amount of continent-wide awareness and sup-port through a series of visits in all sub-Saharan mountain regions. AfroMont aims at promoting an African network of mountain research based on previous experiences of African initiatives. The previous lack of coordination has been the major issue in African mountain research. Irregularities of mountain forum and meetings, situations where no news, abstracts or proceedings are produced, have significantly hampered mountain research in Africa.

AfroMont’s aim is also to facilitate regional and continental branches throughout the montane parts of Africa. In November 2011, there was a fruitful contribution of AfroMont in the Inter-national Conference in East African Mountains (ICEAM). In August 2012, in collaboration with the MDTP, Af-roMont organized for a regional moun-tain Workshop in Lesotho involving

Lesotho © Willem Ferguson

South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Malawi, and which provided a platform for both researchers to perform regional research prioritization and for politi-cians to make contact with scientists involved in research that may enlighten sustainable resources in mountain ar-eas within the context of global change. A database of researchers is currently under reconstruction. AfroMont pro-vides regular communications to the MRI newsletter and close contact with scientists through telephone, email and Skype. A website was created to pro-mote interaction and knowledge shar-ing among African researchers.

AfroMont’s vision and road map AfroMont has two main areas of focus:

1. Collaborative continental and re-gional research programmes.In an evaluation of the effect of global change on mountain ecosystems, the most important inhibiting factor is a lack of long term regional and conti-nent-wide data collected in a compa-rable way. AfroMont attempts to en-courage regional and continent-wide research collaboration by the initiation of research that addresses this lack of information. The Lesotho meeting for-mulated a southern African research agenda that needs to be integrated with a continent-wide set of research pri-orities. A continent wide database for long-term monitoring of global change is a key programme and a monitor-ing network comprising an African environmental observatory should be

established to assess the degradation of natural resources in respect to cli-mate change and population growth in mountain regions. Based on previous contacts with Cameroonians mountain researchers, AfroMont is looking for-ward to organize a Mountain Confer-ence in Cameroon to mobilize all sub-Saharan researchers.

2. Science-policy interaction.AfroMont informs and brings aware-ness on mountain issues with respect to global change in Africa, especially since both mountain landscapes and down-stream non-mountain landscapes benefit from mountain resources. Mountain re-

searchers and policy makers, two groups of people who have historically tended to avoid each other, must work together with least disturbance to the ecosystem for the benefit of communities living in mountains. This situation has been exacerbated by the lack of funding sup-port from local governments. African researchers always need to outsource funding from overseas to run their proj-ects. A lot of funding has been dedicated to achieve mountain sound initiatives such as African Highland Initiative, the Cameroon initiative and FAO initiative

„AfroMont has garnered a large amount of continent-wide awareness and support through a series of visits in all sub-Saharan mountain regions.“

„The Lesotho meeting formulated a southern African research agenda that needs to be integrated with a continent-wide set of research priorities. “


in Fouta Djallon. The consequences of such practices explain the fact that re-search outputs are published abroad and are therefore not seen by local policy makers to influence local policies.

AfroMont will certainly be a key ac-tor on the implementation of the Future Earth programme in Africa by using its connections with African scientists and researchers currently focussing of Glob-al Change in African mountains.

AfroMont up to date

News: subscribe to the AfroMont RSS feed or the Newsflash at http://mri.scnatweb.ch/mri-africa

2011-12 Report: http://mri.scnatweb.ch/background-documents/view-category

Mountain Conference in Buea-Chang, 21-25 January 2013: http://mri.scnatweb.ch/mri-africa/mountain-conference-in-buea-dschang-cameroon-21-25-january-2013

References

African Highlands Initiative (AHI) 2008 External review and impact assessment, Program Evaluation Report

African Highlands Initiative 2005 Report for the AHI Priority Setting Exercise AHI Strategy for ASARECA 2005–2010, Compiled by Ann Stroud and Derek Peden

Bruno Messerli, Hans Hurni, Bekure Wolde-Semayat, Shibru Tedla, Jack D. Ives and Mesfin Wolde-Mariam 1988 Af-rican Mountains and Highlands: Introduction and Resolutions. Mountain Research and Development, African Moun-tains and Highlands, Vol. 8, No. 2/3, pp. 93-100

ERuDeF Project document, Community-based Management and Conservation of Cross River gorilla at the Lebialem -Mone Forest Landscape, Western Cameroon

Greg Greenwood, 2011. Real Projects in Real Places. Newsletter of the Mountain Research Initiative MRI NEWS. No. 6, October

Ojany F. F. 1992. Introduction African Mountains and Highlands: Crisis in Africa-Needed Research and Action, with Special Reference to Kenya, Mountain Research and Development, Vol. 12, No. 4 pp. 309-314

Scope of AfroMont as of November 2013


MRI in the AmericasTransecto Cordillera Americana (TCA)

Christian Devenish

EditorialMountains and global change research in light of Rio+20 CONDESAN and MRI participated actively in the build-up to Rio+20, the UN’s flagship conference on sustain-able development, with activities in-cluding an assessment of sustainable development in the Andes over the last 20 years, and the organization of a Mountain Pavilion during the con-ference. This brief reflexion asks what can we learn from this event, and how global change researchers can partic-ipate in sustainable development in mountains.

Although global changes in mountains are increasingly well documented, sometimes it seems to be only enough to cause concern, but not enough to force concrete actions and agreements, as Rio+20 made only too clear. Howev-er, even though the outcome document of the conference contained less com-mitment than could have been desired, mountains at least feature prominently, and build on their inclusion in Agenda 21. This provides us with further op-portunities for global change research to feed into activities aimed at achiev-

ing sustainable development.

Two aspects of CONDESAN and MRI’s participation at Rio+20 provided the core content and the stage to showcase the capacity of mountains both to witness the global changes that are making our

existence unsustainable and to provide solutions to mitigate their impacts. The Mountain Pavilion was hosted by the Pe-ruvian Government, and coordinated by a committee of organizations with a spe-cial, or exclusive, interest in mountains, including the Mountain Partnership, CONDESAN, ICIMOD and UNEP, with funding provided by the Swiss Agen-cy for Development and Cooperation, amongst others. During the conference, the Pavilion provided an opportunity for a diverse community of researchers, civil society, policy advisers and States to present the current status of mountains

and their contribution to sustainable de-velopment.

Much of the Pavilion’s content was based on a series of regional reports, charting the progress of sustainable de-velopment in different mountain regions of the world, and providing the rationale for organizing the Pavilion’s activities around five key thematic areas:

• Adaptation to Climate Change and Disaster reduction

• Water and Mountains• Investment in Mountain: Extractive

industries, tourism, Infrastructure, clean energy and land-use changes

• Food Security, Food Sovereignty and gender

• Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity

What then, for the role of researchers in global changes in mountains? What should our part be in supporting pro-cesses such as Rio+20? Some of the key conclusions from the regional reports provide clear areas for future research as the following examples show. The importance of mountain ecosystems (e.g. paramos and bofedales) for water regulation was highlighted, but also made clear the need for more informa-tion on the functioning of these ecosys-

„The Pavilion provided an opportunity for a diverse community of researchers, civil society, policy advisers and States to present the current status of mountains (....)”



tems, especially under climate change, and in light of impacts on water pro-vision. Native mountain products and agrobiodiversity were also featured as

important in both the Andes and glob-ally, requiring inputs as to crop suitabil-ity under climate change and the effects of land use change on biodiversity, to guarantee their sustainable production. Extractive industries are a staple of An-dean economies, but increasingly cause controversy and conflict among com-munities, especially with regard to water use. Other land use changes, combined with the effects of climate change, will have increasingly serious effects on the ecosystem services that are vital for both mountain and lowland communities. Thus, the way that people interact with their environment, at different scales, re-mains a priority topic for research, but also provides a unifying currency to the above examples and many other key ar-eas, in that there is a need for increased and combined research in both ecological and social systems.

La Paz with Illimani

Christian DevenishTCA co-coordinatorMRI - CONDESAN, Lima, Peru

Calle Mayorazgo 217San Borja, Lima, PerúTel. +51 1 6189400 Ext. [email protected]/mri-tca

The Mountain Pavilion showed that a diversity of approaches and disciplines can come together in search of common objectives. Sometimes, it is difficult to see how results from the incredibly fo-cused and specific nature of much aca-demic research can filter into processes

that will engender real policy changes, especially when mountains as such, do not share the same limelight as some of our “wealthier cousins” such as forests or small islands in the international are-na. And this is where the importance of (mountain-specific) networks, such as MRI, becomes evident, working to-gether to achieve a more systemic ap-proach in our search for solutions to the issues associated with global changes.

A recent opinion piece by Robert Hof-stede[1] , in attempting to reason why mountains, as a thematic component of

1 See http://www.infoandina.org/node/139122

international agreements had not en-joyed better prominence, attributed this to their incredible diversity, as a defo-cusing influence, effectively spreading strengths too thin. This is an astute rea-soning, but to take it further, we then must use this diversity, in the physical, biological and human environments, to our advantage, in promoting moun-tains not just as the witnesses of global change in all its forms, but also, as the centres of origin of a diversity of solu-tions.

CONDESAN

„Native mountain products and agrobiodiversity were also featured as important in both the Andes and globally.“

„And this is where the impor-tance of (mountain-specific) networks, such as MRI, becomes evident, working together to achieve a more systemic approach (...).“


News from the Transecto Cordillera Americana TCA

News from the Americas

New coordination for TCAThe beginning of 2012 saw a change in coordination of MRI in the Ameri-cas region, whereby CONDESAN, a regional organization working towards sustainable development in the Andes, took on a more active role in coordinat-ing activities for the American Cordil-lera Transect, the regional network of the Mountain Research Initiative. As of April 2012, Bert De Bièvre and Chris-tian Devenish took on the task of over-seeing MRI activities in the region.

Bert De Bièvre, resident in Ecuador over the last 20 years, has a strong background in hydrology and water resources management, with MSc and PhD studies. After almost 15 years at the Universidad de Cuenca, Bert joined CONDESAN in 2006 to coordinate the Proyecto Páramo Andino in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. Over a six year period, this GEF funded project worked towards biodiversity conserva-

tion and developing our understand-ing of the hydrological importance of highland Andean ecosystems known as paramos[2] .

Christian Devenish, resident in North-ern South America since 1998, is a biol-ogist, with a background in biodiversity conservation, especially Neotropical birds. Having worked on the Colom-bian and Americas Important Bird Area programmes, Christian joined CONDESAN to work on an assessment of sustainable development in the An-des over the last 20 years, presented at the Mountain Pavilion in Rio+20 where he was responsible for the thematic and programmatic content.

Recent activities in the Andes Over recent months, MRI has been picking up speed in bringing global change researchers together in the An-des. A key part of recent activities have concentrated on reactivating the MRI

2 A 250 page synthesis of the project available here: http://www.condesan.org/portal/publicaciones/puent-es-entre-alturas

TCA Newsflash[3], a bimonthly bul-letin detailing news, projects, events and publications relevant to global change research in the region, and the regional website[4] , including the TCA blog. Guest bloggers welcome! As well as ground work for what we hope will be fruitful future collaborations, other principal activities and relevant events have included the following.

WorkshopsTwo key contact workshops were held over the last year. Pablo Lagos, the for-mer MRI coordinator organized an event in Santiago, Chile, on 16 November 2011, bringing together researchers at-tending the IGU Regional Geographic Conference.

A further workshop to exchange infor-mation on current and future research projects and interests was organized in collaboration with the Bolivian Moun-tain Institute in La Paz, on 22 August 2012[5] , to coincide with a Seminar on Climate Change and Sustainable De-velopment in Mountain Regions in Bo-livia, held the day before. In total, 24 people attended the event, with 16 brief presentations given, as well as break-ing into smaller groups for discussion. Researchers in the fields of natural and social sciences participated, work-ing on topics such as climate change,

3 See recent bulletins here: http://mri.scnatweb.ch/download-document?gid=1831; http://mri.scnatweb.ch/download-document?gid=1808; http://mri.scnatweb.ch/download-document?gid=14214 http://mri.scnatweb.ch/mri-tca5 Workshop report available here: http://mri.scnat-web.ch/easyblog/entry/investigadores-de-cambios-globales-en-montanas-se-juntan-en-la-paz-bolivia-para-dos-jornadas-de-intercambio

Left and middle: Monitoring of change in mountains: how can research feed policy for sustainable development? Mountain Pavilion, Rio+20, June 2012. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. © CONDESAN. Right: Key Contact Workshop, August 2012. La Paz, Bolivia.

Bert de Bièvre © E. Quiroz

Christian Devenish © E. Quiroz

CONDESAN


At the Mountain Pavilion, MRI began a campaign for more high altitude observation stations at global level, framed within the following research que-stion: Is Global Warming Proceeding Faster at Higher Elevations and If So, Why? The campaign was launched with this poster displayed at the “Water and Mountains” thematic stand. CONDESAN


hydrology, glaciology, ecology and distribution of Andean species, eco-system mapping and migration. Ensu-ing discussions also included practical applications of research, such as plan-ning and management of ecosystems and implementation of climate change adaptation actions.

Bert de Bièvre attended the UNESCO Inception workshop on “The Impact of

Glacier Retreat in the Andes: Interna-tional Multidisciplinary Network for Adaptation Strategies”, organized in partnership with CONDESAN. The aim of the UNESCO s International Hydrological Programme and Man and the Biosphere project is to establish a multidisciplinary network to enhance resilience to changes, particularly cli-mate change, through improved under-standing of vulnerabilities, opportuni-

ties and potentials for adaptation.

The network will develop strategies and policy advice based on sound scientif-ic knowledge for the Andean region. Three working groups were established at the workshop, on 1) Climate impact assessment: snow, glacier, and water resources; 2) Vulnerability assessment in the Andean Region; and 3) Policy as-sessment in the Andean Region, with recommendations including the es-tablishment of a centre of excellence for glacier research in Peru, as well as defining the importance of glaciers in water regulation, among many others. This initiative is very much in line with MRI objectives and MRI in the Ameri-cas will be following progress closely and looking for ways to support the net-work.

Rio+20As mentioned above, MRI-TCA also ac-tively participated at the recent Rio+20 Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 12-22 June 2012, with an important role in the organization and programmatic content of the Mountain Pavilion[6] .

6 See complete programme and materials here: http://

The Pavilion, hosted by the Peruvian Government, and implemented by a committee including the Mountain Partnership, CONDESAN and MRI, provided ample opportunity for partici-pation on the part of organizations and countries from all mountain regions of the world.

Is global warming proceed-ing faster at higher eleva-tions, and, if so, why? At the Mountain Pavilion, MRI began a campaign for more high altitude obser-vation stations at global level, framed within the following research question: Is Global Warming Proceeding Faster at Higher Elevations and If So, Why? The campaign was launched with a poster[7] (see previous page) displayed on the “Water and Mountains” thematic stand. The basic research question will be a crucial component of monitoring initia-tives, as well as the prediction of future water availability in the Andes. In addi-tion to attempting to answer this ques-tion, the call also responds to a need for

pavilion.minam.gob.pe/7 http://pavilion.minam.gob.pe/sites/default/files/USB/High%20Elevation%20Observation%20-%20MRI_0.pdf

News from the Transecto Cordillera Americana

“The network will develop strategies and policy advice based on sound scientific knowledge for the Andean region. “

Monitoring equipment at high altitudes in the Andes. CONDESAN/Iniciativa MHEA


Water for the city of El Alto and La Paz

better monitoring (and its coordination) of mountain climate at very high alti-tudes, with applications in regional cli-mate models, among others. MRI TCA

has participated in the discussion of this issue, and has begun making contacts to build up regional baseline information in the Andes. A first step, is the inven-tory of current monitoring stations, and a gap analysis using both physical loca-tion and current model weaknesses to inform where the network of stations can best be strengthened.

Round table discussionMRI in the Americas and CONDESAN also convened a round table discus-sion[8] at the Mountain Pavilion, on 16

8 http://mri.scnatweb.ch/easyblog/entry/contribu-tions-to-policy-from-scientific-research-a-view-from-

June 2012, titled “Monitoring of change in mountains: how can research feed policy for sustainable development?” Speakers presented perspectives from four continents: Himalayas (ICIMOD), Carpathians (UNEP-Carpathian Con-vention), USA (Boulder University and the Andes (CONDESAN), sharing expe-riences and challenges on how to bring science and policy closer for sustainable development in mountains.

Based on the presentations and discus-sion, recommendations to promote bet-ter, and greater, articulation between scientific research and the process of policy making highlighted the impor-tance of factoring in the involvement of policy makers at the beginning of proj-ects, clarifying which policy level are being aimed at with respect to the pri-orities and objectives, and the need for novel formats of data exchange. Empha-sis was also placed on the importance of collaboration between scientists within a region to achieve compatibility between environmental monitoring systems, and in the development of new regional in-formation systems.

the-mountains

Recent research published in the region

Recent research on global changes in the Andes is listed in the bimonthly MRI Americas (TCA) Newsflash, and is maintained on the MRI webpage[9] . Some highlights showing the breadth of research in the Andes on the topic of wa-ter resources and global change are sum-marized here:

The first tree-ring based precipitation reconstruction for the Central Andes is given by Morales et al (2012)[10] , us-ing Polylepis tarapacana. The record characterizes the occurrence of extreme events and consistent oscillations over a 700 year period showing ENSO-like patterns and a persistent negative trend in rainfall since 1930s. The paper warns that the potential coupling of natural and anthropogenic-induced droughts may affect socio-economic activities in the region, requiring adaptation strategies on the part of those managing water re-sources. Knowledge of high altitude pre-cipitation was also improved by a study in the semi-arid Andes of Chile (Bourgin

9 http://mri.scnatweb.ch/mri-tca10 http://www.dendrocronologia.cl/pubs/2012_Pre-cipitation%20changes%20in%20the%20South%20American%20Altiplano.pdf

“The basic research question will be a crucial component of monitoring initiatives, as well as the prediction of future water availability in the Andes. “

CONDESAN


References

Bourgin, P.Y., Andreassian, V., Gascoin, S., Valery, A. 2012. Que sait-on des précipitations en altitude dans les Andes semi-arides du Chili? [What do we know about high-altitude precipitation in the semi-arid Andes of Chile?] Houille Blanche 2: 12-17

Buytaert, W., De Bièvre, B. D. 2012. Water for cities: The impact of climate change and demographic growth in the tropical Andes. Water Resources Research 48: W08503.

McDowell, J. Z., Hess, J. J. 2012. Accessing adaptation: Multiple stressors on livelihoods in the Bolivian highlands under a changing climate. Global Environmental Change 22 (2): 342-352

Morales, M. S., Christie, D. A., Villalba, R., Argollo, J., Pacajes, J., Silva, J. S., Alvarez, C. A., Llancabure, J. C., Soliz Gam-boa, C. C. 2012. Precipitation changes in the South American Altiplano since 1300 AD reconstructed by tree-rings. Climate of the Past 8: 653–666. http://www.dendrocronologia.cl/pubs/2012_Precipitation%20changes%20in%20the%20South%20American%20Altiplano.pdf

Soruco Sologuren, A. 2012. Medio Siglo de fluctuaciones glaciares en la Cordillera Real y sus efectos hidrológicos en la ciu-dad de La Paz. IRD. La Paz: Bolivia.

et al 2012)[11] , implementing an inter-polation method developed specifically for mountain areas, and producing a more realistic hydrological balance of the high-altitude watershed.

A different coupling of factors affecting water resources was evaluated by Buy-taert & De Bièvre (2012)[12] , with simi-lar implications for future water man-agement, in an attempt to differentiate between the effects of population growth and climate change on water availability in four cities in the high Andes. Despite uncertainties, they conclude that the ex-pected demographic changes are likely to outpace the impact of climate change on water availability and should therefore be the priority for local policy making.

11 http://www.shf-lhb.org/index.php?option=com_article&access=standard&Itemid=129&url=/articles/lhb/abs/2012/02/lhb2012010/lhb2012010.html 12 http://192.102.233.13/journals/pip/wr/2011WR011755-pip.pdf

The topic of water supplies in Andean cities was also included in a recent book (Soruco 2012) published in Bolivia,

documenting most of Alvaro Soruco’s doctoral thesis. A chapter on estimating the current contribution of glaciers to, and the impact of their retreat on, water supplies in the city of La Paz concludes that glaciers contribute 15% of water in four river basins supplying La Paz annu-ally (12% in the wet season, 27% in the dry season).

Vulnerability to water stress for farmers in the highlands of Bolivia was also one of the multiple stressors identified by

McDowell & Hess (2012)[13] in a study demonstrating the interactions between stressors and adaptation - examining how stressors deplete resources available for adaptation under increasing climate change.

Without a doubt, changes in water re-gimes and the hydrological balance of river basins under global changes is a major, as well as unifying, topic within global change research in mountains, it is also a key topic for feeding into regional, national and local policy and strategies to improve livelihoods in the Andean region, where further linkage between social and ecological systems research could greatly benefit this thematic area.

13 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378011001890

“ (...) concludes that glaciers contribute 15% of water in four river basins supplying La Paz annually (...)“



Since 2002, the United Nations General Assembly has designated 11 December as International Mountain Day (IMD). The occasion has been celebrated each year from 2003 onwards, highlighting a different theme relevant to sustainable mountain development. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the International Year of Mountains in 2002 and, as such, International Mountain Day 2012 will not be devoted to a specific theme but to sustainable mountain development as a whole.

In the Andean region, the decentralized hub of the Mountain Partnership Sec-retariat –CONDESAN- is promoting a regional celebration, integrating national and local activities. Activities are aimed at raising awareness amongst govern-ments, scientists, the private sector and

International Mountain Day 2012An opportunity to promote global change research in the Andes

civil society in the region on the effects of human actions on mountain ecosys-tems and livelihoods. As highlighted at the Mountain Pavilion during Rio+20, it is clear that the Andes will continue to face challenges in issues such as climate change, extractive industries, natural di-sasters, water resources, land-use chang-es and food security in the near future. The role of research in global changes is crucial to develop strategies to mitigate impacts from these drivers of change.

International Mountain Day is at once an opportunity to showcase and promote re-search on global changes in mountains, and especially, its relevance to regional, national or local processes and initiatives within sustainable mountain develop-ment. As such, activities this year will include conferences and panel discus-

sions as well as cultural and educational activities, with the support of govern-ments, universities and NGOs.

Further information:http://www.fao.org/mnts/home/en/http://www.mountainpartnership.org/www.infoandina.org

ContactDora Arévalo V.Mountain Partnership Secretariat OfficerDecentralised Node for Latin AmericaCONDESAN. Lima, Peru [email protected]

Huayna Potosi, Bolivia CONDESAN


The tropical Andes are the longest and widest cool region in the tropics, as they extend over 1.5 million km2, from 11º N to 23º S, occupying an elevation range from around 600-800 m up to some 6,000 m above sea level. Besides the charac-teristic Andean features of steep slopes, deep gorges, and wide valleys, a vast mountain plain, the Altiplano, extends at elevations above 3,500 m across much of southern Peru and western Bolivia. A large number of snow-capped peaks are found throughout the tropical Andes. The treeline occurs between 3,800–4,500 m near the equator and above 4,500 m from 15º S to the southern limit of the region Josse et al. 2011). Further, the tropical Andes top the list of worldwide hotspots for endemism and the number of species/area ratio (Myers et al. 2000).

In addition the Andes have been inhab-ited for millennia by people who have adapted to climatic and eco-geographical characteristics of these mountains, and

whom in turn, have transformed the sur-rounding landscape continually. None-theless, global environmental changes further exacerbate environmental degra-dation and vulnerability of Andean eco-systems and their inhabitants (Cuesta et al. 2012). Unfortunately, the Andean re-gion is characterized by a lack of knowl-edge of these changes which is needed to support policy makers in addressing

their impacts. Most information avail-able in the Andean countries is based on simulations and modeling, rather than observed data. For instance, the density of hydrometeorological monitoring sta-tions above 3.000 meters above sea level in the region is insufficient to allow an understanding of basic ecological pro-cesses in Andean ecosystems, and less so, to predict future trends linked to cli-mate change.

With this background, CONDESAN is currently implementing the Project “Knowledge generation and capac-ity building as an adaptive response to environmental changes in the Andes – Project CIMA”, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Coop-eration (SDC). Its objective is to lay the social, scientific and technological

foundations for establishing monitoring systems that can assess the impacts of social and environmental changes in the region. The project supports the imple-mentation of observation and monitoring systems in more than 20 sites along the Andes, ranging from Merida, Venezuela in the north, to Cumbres Chalchaquies, Argentina in the south. Among them, two have been chosen as integrated sites –Pichincha in Ecuador, and Tiquipaya in Bolivia– where an integrative approach is being employed, linking dynamics of land use and climate change to ecosys-tem processes expected to ensure the so-cietal benefits of maintaining biodiver-sity, carbon stocks and water sources in the Andes.

In order to have comparable and suit-able results, the project is designing

Project CIMACIMA strengthens links between the generation of information and the making of policy

Macarena Bustamante and Francisco Cuesta

Researchers setting-up climate change experiments (Open Top Chambers) in the Tropical Grasslands (paramos) of Pichincha, Ecuador. Proyecto CIMA/CONDESAN

“Most information avail-able in the Andean coun-tries is based on simula-tions and modeling, rather than observed data.”



simple and replicable methods and pro-tocols in each thematic area, which are discussed and agreed upon among sci-entists working in the region, including The Global Observation Research Initia-tive In Alpine Environments (GLORIA) programme, and the Regional Initiative of Hydrological Monitoring in Andean Ecosystems (MHEA).

Recognizing that timely and robust in-formation is critical for natural resource management in the region, the project seeks to integrate the monitoring system with decision-making processes at mul-tiple levels (e.g. local, regional) as a way to strengthen capacities and foster adap-tive management. Even though decision makers require continuously relevant in-formation to support the design of public policies, the generation of scientific in-formation in the Andean region, in addi-tion to being scarce and not replicated in time, has often been unarticulated from the needs and priorities of decision mak-ers. The lack of dialogue and of adequate

Authors

Macarena Bustamante [email protected]

Francisco Cuesta [email protected]

Iniciativa de Estudios Ambientales AndinosCONDESANQuito, Ecuadorhttp://www.condesan.org/cima

collaborative mechanisms between sci-entists and policy makers are shown

through scarce and weak research agen-das that could guide information genera-tion processes in the region.

Therefore, Project CIMA is aiming to ar-ticulate the on-going efforts of research-ers with policymakers’ information needs to support decision making at regional, national and local levels. While local stakeholders, such as communities and local governments, are being engaged within the design and implementation of monitoring systems, at the national and regional level the project seeks to share

its monitoring protocols with environ-mental authorities to complement gov-ernments’ on-going efforts in the Andes.

In that vein, Project CIMA is promo-ting the exchange among researchers in the region and technical representatives and policymakers, as a basis for mutual learning and building bridges between policy and science. With the support of the General Secretariat of the Andean Community (SGCAN), a working meet-ing between government researchers, delegates from the Ministries of Envi-ronment of the Andean countries, and scientists was held to discuss hydro-logical monitoring protocols in Andean ecosystems (Lima, 1-2 August 2012). During October, a second meeting was organized in Lima (22-25 October 2012) to discuss a protocol aimed at monitor-ing Montane forest dynamics, biodiver-sity and carbon fluxes.

Further, a peer-reviewed manuscript is being produced with the goal of com-paring forest trend dynamics among the available permanent plots in the Andean region. Lastly, as an outcome of this meeting a regional research network of montane forest was created that inte-grates scientists and technicians of the Andean countries and the National park services. . Through these opportunities, the project expects to develop collab-orative mechanisms with governmental agencies and jointly identify minimum methodological agreements as a pre-requisite to complement, and to ensure greater sustainability, of monitoring sys-tems in Andean ecosystems.

Map 1. Distribution of Project CIMA sites along the Andes (CONDE-SAN, 2012)

“CIMA is aiming to artic-ulate the on-going efforts of researchers with policy-makers’ information needs (...).”



The 2012 course of the International Programme on Research and Training on Sustainable Management of Moun-tain Areas (IPROMO) summarized the state of the art on the relationship be-tween mountains and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Likewise, the most important international agreements reached in order to stabilize greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations, such as the United Nations Framework Conven-tion on Climate Change, and the Kyoto Protocol, were analysed in the light of mountain concerns.

The Andes are the most populated moun-tain region in the world and are incred-ibly important for the economies of the seven Andean countries, providing ag-ricultural area, mineral resources, and water (Condesan 2012). However, sev-eral pressures related to global change threaten the stability and increase the vulnerability of this region (Garcia & Rodriguez 2012).

These pressures were discussed at IPRO-MO 2012, with reference to how the challenges imposed by climate change can be exacerbated by current trends of expanding populations (growth and mi-

Climate change in mountain ecosystems An Andean perspective at IPROMO 2012

Jason Garcia Portilla

Table 1. Comparative values of stored Carbon (tonnes/ha) at highland and lowland sites. Source: Hofstede et al 1999

Figure 1. Altitude-Temperature Vs. Soil Carbon in a transect of the Andes in Colom-bia. Source: Pichot, et al. 1978 cited in Garcia (2003)

“ (...) it was evident that some of the important tech-nical issues have not yet gained appropriate recog-nition in international re-ports. “

Compartment High mountain (paramo -‐ puna)

Rainforest (lowland)

Vegetation 20 250 Soil 1700 50 Total 1720 300 Source: Hofstede et al 1999

gration), expanding agricultural areas and intensification, and increasing min-eral extraction.

In terms of the carbon cycle in Andean ecosystems, it was evident that some of the important technical issues have not yet gained appropriate recognition in in-ternational reports. For instance, moun-tain soils in the Andes can retain three

times more carbon than vegetation giv-en the low rates of mineralization and nutrient cycling at high altitudes, lead-ing to a net absorption of atmospheric CO2, which is stored in soils, contrary to low-land ecosystems (Garcia 2003) (Table 1 and Figure 1).

Similarly, the high vulnerability of Andean ecosystems to climate change


Figure 2. Vulnerability of Andean ecosystems to climate change under 2 x CO2 scenario. B - An-dean forest; B/P - High Andean Forest and subparamo; P - “Mid” paramo; SP - Superparamo; N - Permanent snow/glacier. Source: Van der Hammen et al 2002

was highlighted. For example, high mountain ecosystems, such as paramos or puna, could lose 75% of their origi-nal surface area under a scenario with a doubled CO2 concentration in the atmo-sphere (Figure 2).

Finally, in terms of further research

needs on climate change and mountains in the Andes, the importance of detailed vulnerability analyses at regional and sub-regional levels was highlighted, in-tegrating the framework and variables included in a recent report on managing the risks of extreme events and disasters (IPCC 2012). These analyses should

Author

Jason Garcia Portilla, AdviserTerritorial Approach to Climate Change (TACC) - Colombia, United Nations Development [email protected]

References

CONDESAN 2012. Why the Andes matter. Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Available at: http://www.condesan.org/portal/publicaciones/why-andes-matter

Garcia, J. & Rodriguez, M. (2012). Las políticas de prosperidad económica y la adaptación al cambio climático ¿Choque de locomotoras?. En: Cárdenas M. & Rodríguez M (Eds). Las locomotoras de desarrollo y la adaptación al cambio climático. Bogotá, FESCOL.

Garcia, J. 2003. Carbon fixation in soils and climate change in peatlands and high mountain “paramo” ecosystems. Ori-ginal in Spanish: Análisis del potencial de emisión de dióxido de carbono del páramo de Chingaza y lineamientos para su conservación en el contexto del Mecanismo de Desarrollo Limpio.

Hofstede, R. 1999. El páramo como espacio para la fijación de carbono atmosférico. En: Medina, G. y Mena (Eds). El pára-mo como espacio para la mitigación del carbono atmosférico. Serie Paramo 1 GTP/Abya Yala. Quito. Ecuador.

Van der Hammen, T., J. D. Pabón-Caicedo, H. Gutiérrez & J. C. Alarcón. 2002. El cambioglobal y los ecosistemas de Alta Montaña de Colombia. En: C. Castaño-Uribe (ed.) Páramos y ecosistemas Alto Andinos de Colombia en Condición hotspot y global climatictensor: 163-209. IDEAM, Bogotá.

IPCC 2012. Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation (SREX).

consider the influence of explicit and im-plicit sectorial policies with potential to influence the vulnerability and stability of the region. Furthermore, it is impor-tant to circulate widely information and research results so that they are included and recognized at a global level in inter-national reports.

current actual

Bioclimatic zone

Displaced area (% total)

Andean forest

47.60

Paramo 75.75

Super-paramo

85.20

Glacier 94.48


MRI Europe Progress Report

EditorialTrain passengers traveling from Bern to Innsbruck will note the smooth shift from the throat-clearing Swiss dia-lect to the yodeling Austrian dialect of Vorarlberg and Tyrol. From a visual point of view, the Swiss-Austrian bor-der is hardly detectable. The moun-tains look the same, as do the grazing cows and red-and-white flags, the av-alanche barriers and winding railway tracks and tunnels. Only the soaring number of solar panels on many roofs announces the crossing of the Austri-an border! Indeed, Switzerland and Austria have much in common.

Both countries are mountain countries with stable economies, strong tourism sectors, large infrastructure investments in difficult topographical terrain and, last but not least, a highly qualified mountain research community. Indeed, the per cap-ita ranking of mountain and alpine pub-lications lists Switzerland and Austria among the top three (Körner 2009). The countries reinforce this position by host-ing international scientific networks such as the World Glacier Monitoring Service, the Global Mountain Biodiversity As-sessment and the MRI in Switzerland, and the Institute of Mountain Research: Man and Environment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences based in Innsbruck and Vienna (GLORIA Programme) in

Austria. Despite these common strengths and interests, Switzerland and Austria do not have a distinct tradition of research collaboration. Joint research projects and the exchange of expertise are the excep-tion rather than the rule.

But this is about to change. With the signature of the Memorandum of Un-derstanding establishing the ‘Swiss-Austrian Alliance for the promotion of basic and applied research to support sustainable development in the mountain regions of Europe’ the Swiss State Secre-tariat for Education and Research at the Swiss Federal Department of Home Af-

fairs of the Swiss Confederation and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research declared their interest to strengthen and expand the bilateral activ-ities in the field of science and research in mountain regions.

The Memorandum is a landmark on the way from Bern to Innsbruck, a landmark reminding us to join forces in Swiss and Austrian mountain research. To this end, we may have to move some mountains – or dig some tunnels. However, with a shared vision and a strong faith in re-search partnerships we will succeed! The Carpathian science community

Astrid Björnsen Gurung

„With the signature of the Memorandum of Understand-ing (...) the Swiss State Secretariat for Education and Research (...) and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research declared their interest to strengthen and expand the bilateral activities in the field of science and research in mountain regions”.

clearly achieved success in the field of cross-border collaboration. Under the lead of Lubos Halada, Institute of Land-scape Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sci-ences, members of the Science for the Carpathians (S4C) network organized the 2nd Forum Carpaticum in Stara Le-

sna, Slovakia not only to bridge the gap between national research efforts and scientific disciplines, but also between science and policy.

Important efforts to foster international collaboration in mountain research in Southeastern Europe were made by Mehmet Somuncu, Ankara University, who organized the 3rd SEEmore Confer-ence in Ankara, Turkey. Under the head-ing ‘Mountain resources and their re-sponse to Global Change’ the conference enlarged the network in Turkey, estab-lished contacts with colleagues working

in the Caucasus and Iran and put SEE-more on a more independent footing.

Astrid Björnsen GurungScientific Program ManagerMRI-Europe, Institute of Geography, University of [email protected]

„The Carpathian science community clearly achieved success in the field of cross-border collaboration.“

„Important efforts (...) were made by Mehmet Somuncu, Ankara University, who organized the 3rd SEEmore Conference in Ankara, Turkey. “



achievements of the Institute of Moun-tain Research (IGF), which is a partner institute of the MRI-Europe Program since 2008, and on the experiences of the MRI in terms of networking and program development. At the same time, it takes stock from the Alpine research networks that were mainly established through the efforts of ICAS and ISCAR. Ac-cordingly, both the IGF (Valerie Braun) and the MRI (Astrid Björnsen Gurung) administer the Alliance as a joint effort to strengthen and develop bilateral ac-tivities in the field of mountain research. This includes the promotion of new sci-entific networks, the coordination of the-matic activities and the facilitation of the dialogue between research and practice.

Objectives of the AllianceThe Alliance’s objectives go beyond the Swiss and Austrian mountain ranges and stay in line with the earlier commitment towards international outreach, interdis-

Cappadocia in eastern Anatolia, situated in the center of Turkey, has a unique historical and cultural heritage. © Astrid Björnsen Gurung

The Swiss-Austrian AllianceSince its launch in 2007, the MRI-Europe network worked at the European scale paying particular attention to the emerg-ing science networks in Central (S4C) and Southeastern Europe (SEEmore). The Alpine community was, and still is, well looked after by the Interacademic

Commission for Alpine Studies (ICAS), the International Scientific Committee for Research in the Alps (ISCAR) and other organizations, with which the MRI Office collaborated.

With the recent mandate of the Swiss State Secretariat for Education and Re-search and the Austrian Ministry for Sci-ence and Research the picture changed. The Alliance is meant to capitalize on the

„This includes the promotion of new scientific networks, the coordination of thematic activities and the facilitation of the dialogue between research and practice. “

ciplinarity and the transfer from science to practice. The Alliance’s Memorandum of Understanding outlines five general objectives:

1. Strengthening and development of bi-lateral activities in the field of moun-tain research.

2. Maintenance and expansion of the role of European research activities on sustainable development of mountain areas in the international context.

3. Promotion of scientific networks be-tween Universities and other research institutions in European mountain re-search and coordination of thematic scientific activities.

4. Development of cooperation between research and practice (policy, admin-istration, business, civil society).

5. Overall social innovation and synergy through regional and transnational, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research efforts.

What response do these objectives evoke from the Swiss and Austrian mountain research communities? Is there a felt need to strengthen research partnerships


at the bilateral level? Swiss-Austrian Mountain Days 2013The Alliance will do good to avoid two things: the duplication of already exist-ing activities and wasted efforts in activi-ties without real demand. Before jumping into action, the Alliance must generate sound information on ongoing projects and established contacts between the two countries. Further, to develop a shared vision, active mountain researchers need to be consulted in the early program stage in order to set achievable targets reflecting their needs.

Aiming at the exchange of information related to ongoing and planned research activities in Switzerland and Austria, the Swiss-Austrian Mountain Days or-ganized in Mittersill, Austria on 11-13 June 2013, will provide such opportu-nity. Apart from offering space for fos-tering existing research partnerships and networks, it provides the opportunity to setup new thematic networks and to identify emerging themes for mountain research to champion not only at the national, but also at the Alpine or Euro-pean level. Participants of the Mountain Days 2013 are expected to outline future activities to be sized in the frame of the CH-AT Alliance. Central to the success of the Alliance is the question, how those emerging networks and research projects will be funded. A first step will be taken in Mittersill.

From Science to PracticeMany of you will remember mountain.TRIP, the FP7 project that transformed research into practice between 2009 and 2011. The project was a very creative

and appealing attempt to facilitate the dialogue between practitioners and re-searchers. The CH-AT Alliance took over the legacy of mountain.TRIP, although at a far smaller scale. The exploitation of scientific findings for practical use will remain a top priority on the Alliance’s agenda and Elmar Fleschutz, IGF, will maintain the related webpage.

In line with the mountain.TRIP mission is the linkage between the Alliance’s Mountain Days 2013 and the Sympo-sium for Research in Protected Areas on 10-12 June 2013 in Mittersill, Austria. Although separate events, the overlap-ping program allows participants to benefit from the practice-oriented view of a very broad audience. The organi-zers encourage interested participants to attend both meetings.

Science for the Carpathians: Forum Carpaticum 2012The remote location in the High Tatras of Slovakia, spiced with few encounters with brown bears, provided a stimulat-ing framework for the assembly of 184 mountain researchers from 13 countries. The various presentations and workshops covering diverse topics from natural and social science had one thing in common: All authors were requested to identify the link between their research and the Data-Knowledge-Action cycle, and to provide ideas on how to improve the relevance and impact of their efforts for the sus-tainable development of the Carpathian region. These insights, together with the feedbacks from the Session Chairs, will be processed in the Forum’s synthesis publication.

The keynote speakers of the Forum fu-eled the spirit and willingness to move Carpathian science towards more open data and information sharing. The open-access advocate Cameron Neylon jolted the audience with an arousing presenta-tion on ‘Network enabled research’ to rethink academic conventions and to use the innovative potential of web-based technologies. The keynote on ‘The SEIS role in support of pan-European envi-ronmental data sharing’ by Stefan Jen-sen reminded the S4C community of the wealth of existing data sharing platforms and the need to relate Carpathian efforts with global and European initiatives.Obviously, data sharing is of high interest to both, policy and science. On occasion of the S4C Scientific Steering Committee Meeting held in Stara Lesna, Slovakia, the collaboration between S4C and the Carpathian Convention represented by

the United Nations Environmental Pro-gram (UNEP) Vienna Office – Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (ISCC) was enforced through a Memo-randum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU was signed by Rastislav Rybanič on behalf of the Slovak presidency of the Carpathian Convention, Harald Egerer of

Forum Carpaticum 2012. Field trip to the Tatra National Park, north Stará Lesná, where the heavy windstorm of 2004 downed 12‘000 ha of forest, which triggered extensive international ecological research on the site. © Astrid Björnsen Gurung

„ (...) the collaboration between S4C and the Carpa-thian Convention represented by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) Vienna Office (...) was enforced through a Memorandum of Understand-ing (MoU).“

News from MRI Europe


present their research.Turkey is an amazing country in terms of history, culture, nature and – science! The investments in research and devel-opment are increasing, the performance indicator shows a steady incline and the country takes a good position in interna-tional rankings. The number of research-ers tripled in the last 12 years and, if we look for mountain researchers, we had to

the UNEP-ISCC, and the new S4C Chair Lubos Halada. The targeted fields of col-laboration include the implementation of the ‘Research Agenda for the Carpath-ians’, the establishment of a ‘Carpathian Research Area’ and ‘Data management and access issues in the Carpathians’. Thus, the Forum strengthened the com-mitment to devote significant attention to data and information sharing tools and mechanisms at the Carpathian scale, and to seek linkages to thematic databases at the European or global scale.

South Eastern European Mountain Research Network Meeting in AnkaraAfter the launch of the SEEmore net-work in 2008 and the 2nd SEEmore Conference in 2010, Prof. Mehmet So-muncu, Ankara University, organized the 3rd Meeting in Ankara on 5-8 July 2012. The event provided an opportunity to enlarge the network in Turkey and to establish contacts with colleagues work-ing in the Caucasus and Iran. Under the heading ‘Mountain resources and their response to Global Change’ more than 30 researchers attended the meeting to

Field trip of SEEmore Conference participants to the heavily eroded volcano Erciyes (3’916 m), the highest mountain in central Anatolia. © Veliddin Balcı

„Conversation map“ documenting the discussion on future SEEmore activities during the planning workshop in Ankara, July 2012. © Astrid Björnsen Gurung

screen more than 180 Universities! Yet,

only a small fraction of Turkish research-ers know about the SEEmore or the MRI

„Consequently, informing the Turkish science community about SEEmore and MRI is an obvious priority.“


networks, even though 78% of Turkey is labeled as mountain area (EEA Report 6, 2010). Consequently, informing the Turkish science community about SEE-more and MRI is an obvious priority.However, due to the shifted focus of the MRI-Program on the Swiss-Austrian Alliance, the active involvement of the MRI-Program Manager was terminated by the end of July 2012, but not before

the future of the SEEmore network had been discussed in a workshop conducted in the framework of the SEEmore Con-ference. Several researchers, namely Mariyana Nikolova, Georgi Zhelezov and their Bulgarian colleagues, but also Mehmet Somuncu with a growing com-munity of Turkish scientists, are ready to take the lead in developing SEEmore fur-ther, which includes a concept and nomi-

nation process to build a Scientific Steer-ing Committee, the launch of a Turkish Mountain Research Platform and the draft of an ‘Ankara Memorandum 2012’.

News from MRI Europe

CH-AT Alliance: 3 questions for Rolf Weingartner Claudia Drexler

MRI Communication Manager Clau-dia Drexler spoke to Rolf Weingart-ner about the Swiss Austrian Alliance. Rolf Weingartner is Head of the Insti-tute of Geography at the University of Bern, Head of the Hydrology group, and MRI’s Principal Investigator.

MRI: What will a success-ful CH-AT Alliance have achieved after 5 years?

RW: Two countries with similar or al-most identical research questions will have realized that collaboration takes them further. They will have learned that to tackle the same research questions

from different backgrounds and with a combination of approaches will lead to an added value. Also, ideally, interdisci-plinary projects will have increased after 5 years.

Let me explain with the example of flood predictions for mountain streams. The University of Innsbruck has developed specific methods, as have the Hydrol-ogy group of the University of Bern and other institutes. Traditionally, flood as-sessments would be handled nationally, through a mandate by national or region-al authorities to a national institute which would use their own models for the as-sessments. A successful CH-AT Alliance will have established standard procedure whereby the “contractors” collaborate in such a mandate, combining their meth-ods and models. All assessments will be better when approaches and models are combined! There is also an added value scientifically: collaboration will stimu-late the further development of methods and models.

A big advantage for the CH-AT Alliance is that its partners work in the same geo-graphical space: the Alps. Collaborations are much easier when the parties meet in a concrete space with concrete question

and when they can set off together to find solutions.

MRI: The Mountain Research Initiative was one of the promoters of the CH-AT Alliance. Why?

To bring mountain researchers together is one of the core competences of the MRI. At the same time concrete collaborations of the neighbors Switzerland and Austria are surprisingly rare, and the MRI with its global scope has not yet promoted them so far.

The Institute for Mountain Research of the University of Innsbruck (IGF) and the Institute of Geography of Bern have collaborated for many years and this col-laboration has been part of my personal agenda. With the CH-AT Alliance run jointly by IGF and MRI it will be pos-sible to give this Swiss-Austrian connec-tion a long term basis and to expand it.

MRI: A young researcher reads about CH-AT and likes the idea. What can she do to join the effort?

I would recommend that she join the


Weblinks

Swiss-Austrian Alliance: www.chat-mountainalliance.eu

Swiss-Austrian Mountain Days 2013: http://www.chat-mountainalliance.eu/de/gebirgstage.html

Symposium for Research in Protected Areas: www.hohetauern.at/symposium2013

Forum Carpaticum 2012: http://uke.sav.sk/fc/fc_2012/FC_2012.html

SEEmore Conference 2012: http://csaum.ankara.edu.tr/index_en.php?bil=bil_icerik&icerik_id=30 or

http://mri.scnatweb.ch/archive/mountain-resources-and-their-response-to-global-change-5-8-july-2012-ankara-turkey

Publications

EEA Report (2010). Europe’s ecological backbone: recognizing the true value of our mountains. 248 pp.

Körner Ch. (2009). Global Statistics of “Mountain” and “Alpine” Research. Mountain Research and Development 29(1): 97-102.

Swiss-Austrian Mountain Days planned for 11-13 June 2013 (see link below). With this event we want to see the Al-liance take off, and we need the inputs of interested people in order to define concrete actions. The Mountain Days will also be a research market place for people of both countries working in the Alps.

Apart from the institutional collaborations described above the CH-AT Alliance aims at bi-national research initiatives and proj-ects. We need researchers interested in leading or joining such efforts.

Personally, I want to emphasize another focus of the Alliance: the transfer of sci-entific knowledge to diverse audiences. Both the Alliance and the MRI have im-portant roles to play at the interface be-tween researchers and the public.

Let me say that with the available fund-ing the CH-AT Alliance can provide in-centives and support for collaboration. Success will then depend on the will-ingness of the young researcher and her colleagues to collaborate. But of course success will not only depend on inter-ested researchers: both the Swiss and the

Austrian funding agencies will have to support and fund interdisciplinary and transnational research proposals.

A measure of success will be the number of transnational and/or interdisciplinary research projects that we initiated and got funding.

To conclude let me emphasize that the Ministries of Research and Education in both countries have recognized the potential of transnational collaboration. With their support of the CH-AT Alliance the ministries have also shown that they value the quality of mountain research in both Austria and Switzerland.

Austria or Switzerland? Similar landscapes with often identical research questions © Claudia Drexler


S4C, Science for the Carpathians S4C focuses on the transfer of scientific knowledge to practice and policy

With the Forum Carpaticum 2012 and significant changes in the organi-zational structure of the Science for the Carpathians (S4C) network these last months were an important peri-od.

Forum Carpaticum 2012S4C pays increased attention to the transfer of scientific knowledge to prac-tice and policy. This focus was evident in the title of the Forum Carpaticum 2012 (FC2012): “From Data to Knowl-edge, from Knowledge to Action”. The FC2012 participants were asked to re-flect this focus of the conference in their presentations and to include recommen-dations for improvements of the data-

Ľuboš Halada

knowledge-action cycle.

The S4C Scientific Steering Committee had been augmented with a few external members. The Committee played a cru-cial role in the preparation of FC2012 as the FC2012 Scientific Board. Thanks to the enthusiasm of its members the Scien-tific Board reviewed a great number of abstracts in a short time of a few weeks and selected 76 oral presentations and 64 posters in its meeting on 2-3 February 2012 in Smolenice (Slovakia).

The FC2012 was held on 30 May – 2 June 2012 in Stará Lesná (High Ta-tra Mts., Slovakia) under the honor-ary patronage of His Excellency Ivan

Gašparovič, president of the Slovak Re-public and with financial support of the International Visegrad Fund and the Slo-vak Academy of Sciences. The FC2012 Scientific Board was chaired by Ľuboš Halada, the main person responsible for the event. The organization committee was chaired by Andrej Bača, also from the Institute of Landscape Ecology SAS. FC2012 had four plenary presentations, 14 thematic sessions running in parallel, poster sessions, six workshops, the con-ference walk and post-conference excur-sions to three destinations.

The conference started with the plenary speech of Cameron Neylon, entitled “Network Enabled Research: Not just

Participants of the Forum Carpaticum 2012 in front of the venue © Matej Demko



ian mountain research community moved from the expression of interest to collaborate at the pan-Carpathian scale (in 2008), to the prioritization of research needs (2010) and to a strong expression towards a data and infor-mation sharing strategy for the Carpathian area (2012)“ – see http://mri.scnatweb.ch/easyblog/entry/forum-carpaticum-2012-liv-ing-the-q4-isq.

S4C Scientific Steering CommitteeThe FC2012 was also an opportunity for a meeting of the S4C Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) at which the previous-ly proposed and discussed changes in the SSC structure were approved. New mem-bers were nominated and approved. The SSC now consists of 30 members. This size of SSC induced a need to establish an Executive Committee, subsequently elected by the SSC. The Executive Com-mittee will work in this structure: Ľuboš Halada (chair), Astrid Björnsen-Gurung (co-chair), Jacek Kozak, Katalin Mázsa, Ivan Kruhlov (members). The next Fo-rum Carpaticum will be held in 2014 in the Lviv region (Ukraine).

The effort for a closer collaboration of the S4C with the Carpathian Con-vention (CC) resulted in the signature

better, but different” advocating for open data access, data sharing and networking. It introduced perfectly the scope of the conference. Other plenary presentations such as “The SEIS role in support of pan-European environmental data sharing” by Stefan Jensen, “Remote Sensing of Mountain Environment – Sate of the Art and Outlook” by Marc Zebish and “The Carpathian Convention - A platform for cooperation and interaction between Car-pathian science and policy” by Harald Egerer, addressed the FC2012 theme in

specific fields. Parallel sessions covered a broad scale of themes and fields ranging from the abiotic domain (e.g. landforms dynamics and recent soils changes) to the socio-economic domain (e.g. the human dimension of nature management). The session “From Knowledge to Action” focused entirely on the main conference topic.

The workshops featured the Carpathian Convention, various organizations and projects with the pan-Carpathian scope such as the WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme, the European Forest Insti-tute, CARPIVIA project or focussed on specific themes such as nature protec-tion from a stakeholders view, or the role of the National Platform of Covenant of Mayors in the adaptation to climate change.

In the closing session, the participants discussed four questions related to open access and data sharing as ways to achieve pan-Carpathian collaboration and to promote the transfer of research results to the public and to policy mak-ers.

The scientific programme was balanced with more relaxing activities: a mid-con-ference walk to the High Tatra Mts. re-search sites and museum, the conference dinner with Slovak folklore, the Ukrai-nian music group (thanks to Saskia War-ners), and post-conference excursions to High Tatra Mts., Dunajec river, and the Spiš region.

The FC represented an important milestone. Astrid Björnsen characterized its place in the short history of the S4C: “the Carpath-

Peter Fleischer (Research Station of the TANAP State Forest) lead the conference walk to the research sites in forest damaged by windstorm in 2004 © Astrid Björnsen Gurung

“The conference started with the plenary speech of Cameron Neylon: Network Enabled Research: not just better, but fundamentally different.”


of the Memorandum of Understand-ing (MoU) during the FC2012. The MoU was signed by Rastislav Rybanič (Ministry of Environment of Slovakia, the CC presidency country), Harald Egerer (CC Interim Secretariat) and Ľuboš Halada (S4C chair). The MoU

provides a durable basis for collaboration in the fields of scientific research, project development and implementation, infor-mation exchange and knowledge transfer in the field of nature protection and sus-tainable development.

Collaboration in the development of the Information Strategy for the Carpathians and participation of S4C in the prepara-tion of the Carpathian Convention proto-cols were identified as priorities for the coming months. The first practical steps have already been taken.

The S4C with the support of the Moun-tain Research Initiative (MRI) organized a survey among the S4C network mem-bers about the establishment of a Car-pathian data portal. Both the CC Interim Secretariat and S4C participated in the meeting with the European Environment Agency (EEA) aiming at the preparation of the agreement on future cooperation between EEA and CC. The CC and S4C aim at developing a common project that could initiate the development of a Car-

“The S4C Scientific Steering Committee now consists of 30 members.“

pathian information system.

Two protocols of the Carpathian Con-vention are under preparation currently: the Protocol on sustainable agriculture and rural development and the Protocol on sustainable transport and infrastruc-ture. The S4C Executive Committee identified experts in the S4C community ready to comment on the protocols and approached some experts outside the network, e.g. from IENE, the Infra Eco Network Europe. S4C comments were recently delivered to the Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention.

Thus MoU implementation has already begun and hopefully it will bring good results for the contracting parties as well as for the Carpathians.

Signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Carpathian Convention . Rastislav Rybanic, Harald Egerer and Lubos Halada. © UNEP, Vienna

AuthorĽuboš HaladaInstitute of Landscape Ecology SAS, [email protected]

Weblinks

http://mri.scnatweb.ch/mri-europe-carpathians

Forum Carpaticum 2012: http://uke.sav.sk/fc/fc_2012/FC_2012.html

The Carpathian Convention: www.carpathianconvention.org/

Infra Eco Network Europe (IENE): www.iene.info/

S4C Scientific Steering Committee: http://mri.scnatweb.ch/mri-europe/carpathians/s4c-scientific-steering-committee


Traditional environmental knowledge Summary Report of the Saem Majnep Memorial Symposiumheld at the University of Goroka, Papua New Guinea31 October – 2 November 2012

Colin Filer

Meeting Notes

The Saem Majnep Memorial Sympo-sium was named in honour of one of PNG’s first internationally recognized indigenous knowledge experts, who was born in a mountainous corner of Madang Province around 1948, before his Kalam people had any contact with the Austra-lian colonial administration. In collabo-ration with anthropologist Ralph Bulmer and linguist Andrew Pawley, Saem wrote two books and several articles document-ing the traditional environmental knowl-edge of the Kalam people, for which he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of PNG in 1989.

The symposium organized in his honour was largely funded by The Christensen Fund, with additional support from the University of Goroka, the Australian National University and the University of Aberdeen. The basic aim of the sym-posium was to enhance the capacity of universities in PNG to train students in the appreciation and documentation of traditional environmental knowledge, engage them in deeper processes of in-teraction with the local holders of such knowledge, and involve them in wider processes of bio-cultural education, ex-pression, and revitalization.

The symposium was attended by roughly 100 people with an interest in this sub-ject, including the Director of PNG’s National Museum, staff and students from five of PNG’s six universities, staff from a number of conservation organi-zation active in PNG, and a number of local village experts who have followed

Saem Majnep’s example by working in partnership with outsiders to document traditional environmental knowledge.

Most of the discussion at the symposium was taken up with:• a review of what has so far been

achieved in the documentation and dissemination of traditional environ-mental knowledge in and from PNG, with particular focus on partnerships between scientific and local experts, and on the relationship between re-search and education; and

• a review of new technologies for documentation and dissemination of traditional environmental knowledge at local, national and international scales, with appropriate recognition

Participants follow local landowner representatives into the opening plenary. © Colin Filer

of issues involving intellectual prop-erty rights.

In light of these discussions, plans are now underway to develop a set of web-based resources to facilitate the docu-mentation and dissemination of tradi-tional environmental knowledge through systems of formal and informal educa-tion in PNG.

For further information on the progress of these plans, contact [email protected]

The Mountain Research Initiativec/o Institute of Geography, University of Bern Erlachstrasse 9a, Trakt 33012 BernSwitzerland+41 (0)31 631 51 41

[email protected]://mri.scnatweb.ch

The Mountain Research Initiative, Newsletter no. 7

Documents

Transcript of The Mountain Research Initiative, Newsletter no. 7