Human activities are profoundly affecting the world’s climate, and mountains are a sensitive indicator of that effect. Because of their altitude, slope and orientation to the sun, mountain ecosystems are easily disrupted by variations in climate. Many scientists believe that the changes occurring in mountain ecosystems may provide an early glimpse of what could come to pass in lowland environments.
As the world heats up, mountain glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates, while rare plants and animals struggle to survive over ever diminishing areas, and mountain peoples, already among the world’s poorest citizens, face even greater hardships.
Changes in the volume of mountain glaciers and in their seasonal melting patterns have an impact on water resources in many parts of the world. Changes in water availability due to climate change are taking place at a time when pressure on water resources for irrigation and food production, industrialization and urbanization is increasing.
Understanding how climate change affects mountains is vital as governments and international organizations develop strategies to reverse current global warming trends, elaborating treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In addition, local community empowerment can be an essential step towards building climate change resilience in mountains.
![]() AfDB and WWF to launch Africa Ecological Footprint ReportnewsThe African Development Bank (AfDB) and global conservation group WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) have launched today a joint report on the state of Africa’s environment. The Africa Ecological Footprint Report takes stock of the health of Africa’s ecosystems, as well as trends in resources use... Read more » |
![]() Bonn UN Climate Change meeting delivers progress on key issuesnewsMeeting in Bonn for the first time after the historic UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, governments made progress in ensuring that this year’s conference in Doha, at the end of 2012, can take the next essential steps towards meeting the long-term challenge of climate change. Progress was...
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![]() ICIMOD Working Paper 2012/4: Towards Developing the Brahmaputra-Salween Landscape : Report on the Experts Regional Consultation for Transboundary Biodiversity Management and Climate Change AdaptationpublicationThe International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) new publication, gives a brief overview of the regional consultation facilitated by ICIMOD and the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry, Myanmar, to improve collaboration between China, India, and Myanmar in the Brahmaputra-Salween Landscape. The paper gives highlights of the consultation and... Download » |
![]() ICIMOD Working Paper 2012/3: Towards Developing the Karakoram-Pamir Landscape : Report of the Regional Consultation to Develop Future Strategic Programme for Biodiversity Management and Climate Change AdaptationpublicationThe International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) new publication, gives a brief overview of the regional consultation facilitated by ICIMOD to improve collaboration between China and Pakistan in the Karakoram-Pamir Landscape. The paper gives highlights of the consultation held in December in Kathmandu, Nepal and lists past efforts made... Download » |
![]() Malnutrition Increases in South Asia: Cut Climate Change To Cut Hunger!newsAccording to “Impact of Climate Change and Bioenergy on Nutrition”, a joint report by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), malnutrition is worsening in developing countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and India because of the impacts... Read more » |
![]() Workshop: The Impact of Retreating Glaciers in the Andes - Multidisciplinary International Network for Adaptation StrategieseventThe workshop, organized by the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) and the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme of UNESCO, with the support of the Mountain Partnership Secretariat at FAO, the Consortium for Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion (CONDESAN), the Andean Climate Change Interamerican Observatory Network (ACCION), the Working Group... Read more » |
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