Global Change and Mountain Regions - The Mountain Research Initiative

Edited by
ALFRED BECKER[1] & HARALD BUGMANN[2],[3]

IGBP REPORT 49
International Goesphere-Biosphere Programme

GTOS REPORT 28
Global Terrestrial Observing System

IHDP REPORT 13
International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change

Table of Contents

The international planning and coordination of the IGBP is supported by national contributions and the International Council of Science (ICSU).

Implementation Strategy

This document describes an implementation strategy for Global Change and Mountain Regions as an Initiative for Collaborative Research and is approved by the Scientific Steering Committees of the projects of the Inter-national Geosphere-Biosphere Programme BAHC (Biospheric Aspects of the Hydrological Cycle), GCTE (Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosys-tems), PAGES (Past Global Changes), LUCC (Land-Use and Land-Cover Change), The Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS). LUCC is a joint project of IGBP and the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP).

The IGBP Report Series is published as an annex to the Global Change NewsLetter and distributed free of charge to scientists involved in global change research. Both publications can be requested from the IGBP Secretariat, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Box 50005, S -104 05 Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected]

Cover illustration: The Dischma Valley in Switzerland, exemplifying the link-ages between hydrological, ecological and land-use processes in mountain regions. Photo: Harald Bugmann

Layout and Technical Editing: John Bellamy

Copyright © IGBP 2001. ISSN 0284-8015

[1] Postdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, P.O. Box 601203, D-14412 Postdam, Germany
[2] Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, and National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80307-3000, USA
[3] Present address: Mountain Forest Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich, ETH-Zentrum, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland

Table of Contents

Forward

Preface

List of Contributors

Executive Summary

I. Introduction and Rationale

II. Objectives

III. Integrated Interdisciplinary Approach

IV. Research Activities and Tasks

Activity 1: Long-term monitoring and analysis of indicators of environmental change in mountain regions

Task 1.1: Cryosphere
Task 1.2: Terrestrial ecosystems
Task 1.3: Freshwater ecosystems
Task 1.4: Watershed hydrology

Activity 2: Integrated model-based studies of environmental change in different mountain regions

Task 2.1: Coupled ecological, hydrological and land use models
Task 2.2: Regional scale models of land-atmosphere interactions
Task 2.3: Integrated analysis of environmental change
Task 2.4: Regional scale field experiment

Activity 3: Process studies along altitudinal gradients and in associated headwater basins

Task 3.1: Indicators of ecosystem response to environmental forcing factors
Task 3.2: Runoff generation and flowpath dynamics
Task 3.3: Diversity and ecosystem function

Activity 4: Sustainable land use and natural resource management

Task 4.1: Forest resources
Task 4.2: Agriculture
Task 4.3: Water resources

V. Conclusions and Recommendations

References

Appendix I: List of Acronyms

Appendix II: Participants of the Pontresina Workshop