The Mountain Research Initiative, Newsletter no. 7 by MRI Scnatweb

Global Change in Mountain Regions The Mountain Research Initiative

Newsletter of the Mountain Research Initiative

MRI NEWS no. 7, 2012

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

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

33 38 45 46 48 50 54 56

Meeting Reports Colin Filer: Traditional environmental knowledge

The Mountain Research Initiative c/o Institute of Geography, University of Bern Erlachstrasse 9a, Trakt 3, 3012 Bern, Switzerland +41 (0)31 631 51 41, mri@giub.unibe.ch This Newsletter is published once a year. Editors: Claudia Drexler and Gregory Greenwood. Design and Layout: Claudia Drexler The 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 to http://mri.scnatweb.ch

Editorial

MRI Communications: choose your favorite format

MRI communications have changed in the last years in line with the larger revolution in daily and professional communications. While 10 years ago corporate communications were still about broadcasting undifferentiated messages to a mass audience, corporations now send customized messages, often calibrated on individual preferences. Similarly, in addition to sending out messages to our entire mailing list, we target segments of our audience to receive specific information. Regional networks: customized information MRI’s regional networks define specific target audiences for our communication 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 networks that MRI maintains. Their respective websites on mri.scnatweb.ch are the pivot of the information flow. We have spent a lot of time investigating 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 system 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.

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

The audience should talk back Corporate communications have not only become customized, but also interactive. And this is where you come in. The MRI community has a long tradition of contributing content. A good part of the regional news and the newsflashes 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 Wikipedia to tell and gather stories about those mountain ranges less researched. Tibesti, Itombwe, Koytendag and Nahuelbuta – there are many, and we only know only a little about them.

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 location and who suggests the perfect products to buy.” Frank Schirrmacher [1] .

Paper: something special You might wonder what all this talk about customized information and social media has to do with this very traditional Newsletter no.7 in front of you. We believe that in the world of customized 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 actually 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 urbanization in mountains.

Claudia Drexler, MRI Communications Manager

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

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

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

Director‘s Notes

MRI: What Comes Next? tem of atmosphere, oceans and continents - is one of MRI’s principal scientific 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.

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 activities, synthesis workshops, and new communication modes, but is going beyond them now to investigate more sustained efforts.

This emphasis on whole systems creates 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 system, MRI must at the same time promote the continual interrogation of how these parts come together to create a whole system.

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

To achieve an understanding of the whole system, MRI must work to create true community out of a collection of disparate researchers and institutions. Whenever MRI invokes “community” it is perhaps more a statement of a goal than a

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

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

characterization of the current condition. MRI works toward community via entities such as its regional networks in Africa, 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 3: Brainstorming the MRI’s future: Dr. Hilde Eggermont (University of Ghent) describes her vision, Dr. Greg Greenwood listens while Dr. Astrid Björnsen Gurung captures the ideas in a mind map.

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

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, Implementation of research, Integration of results and Information for stakeholders. To date we have concentrated our effort on Initiation via our Key Contact Workshops and regional networks, Integration via our Synthesis Workshops and Information through Mountain.TRIP. As we are not funded to do research ourselves, it is difficult to approach Implementation directly. The best we can do is to attempt to align researchers in different countries around common research themes, so that their research, funded through their particular mechanisms, creates a longer-term coherent program. MRI Global Commission The 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 future 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 respect 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 descriptions 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 portraying 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 influence 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 questions regarding coupled human-natural systems in mountains. 9. A book project on the nature and drivers of human use of mountains

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Much more detailed description of each of these “Concerted Efforts” can be found on the MRI website http://mri. scnatweb.ch/team/second-global-commision-meeting. In addition I have described 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/program/) 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 similar to them, will very likely form a major part of MRI’s next three year program.

References Björnsen Gurung, Astrid, Susanne Wymann von Dach, Martin F. Price, Richard 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/MRDJOURNAL-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

Greg Greenwood Executive Director, MRI green@giub.unibe.ch http://mri.scnatweb.ch/the-mri/news/ mri-director-s-blog.html

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

Science Peaks

Five-tiered integrated climaterelated 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. Longterm climate change and rapid landuse change are both threatening the integrity and functioning of Andean ecosystems and thereby the environmental goods and services they provide to humans (Herzog et al., 2011). Whereas numerous global and regional climate models exist, climate change and vulnerability analyses at a local scale – the scale most relevant to decision makers and land-use planners – are virtually non-existent in the Andes.

ing near-term climate change trends, land-use patterns, biodiversity patterns and gradients, the vulnerability of species and ecosystems to changes in historical climatic conditions, as well as local perceptions of climate variability and change in two binational transboundary

With regard to biodiversity, large-scale patterns and gradients of species richness are fairly well established in the region 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 biological inventory data, where available, have not been integrated into multidisciplinary analyses. Furthermore, although recent advances in the mapping and classification of Andean ecosystems represent 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 approaches into local-scale analyses represents a novel approach in the Andes.

study areas: on the Pacific slope of the northern Andes in the border region between Colombia (Nariño department) and Ecuador (Carchi province), and on the Amazonian slope of the central Andes in the border region between Bolivia and Peru, in the Madidi – Apolobamba – Bahuaja-Sonene – Tambopata protected area complex. These regions are renowned for their exceptional biodiversity and endemism and have been considered key Andean biodiversity hotspots. Results 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 (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru) in the implementation of a standard methodology for estimating climate change

In this five-tiered project we are study-

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

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risks for biodiversity at a local scale that could subsequently be expanded to other strategic areas. The overall goal is to support and guide adaptation measures and sustained conservation programs for key tropical environments. Here we briefly describe some recent advances of the climate analyses and summarize the objectives of the main components (climate, biodiversity, social, land use/cover, and outreach and capacity building) of our ongoing research project[1] . The climate component The main objective of the climate component[2] is to develop knowledge on 1 The multidisciplinary project “Impacts of climate change on biodiversity in the Tropical Andes: climaterelated 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 (Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Medellín), Dr. Laia Andreu Hayles (The Tree Ring Laboratory, LamontDoherty 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 Climate and Society, Columbia University in the City of

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

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 latitudinal 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.

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

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

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

Los Nevados Natural Park in the Colombian 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 annual near-surface and free air temperatures, environmental lapse rates, dew points, specific humidity, squared moist and dry Brunt-Väisälä frequencies, lifting condensation levels, and convective available potential energies, all of them suggested by ensemble simulation outputs. Analyses of regional conditions are complemented with the study of cloud

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

Colombian-Ecuadorian Altitudinal Ecotransect © Daniel Ruiz Carrascal

characteristics suggested by satellite records and monthly sea surface temperature anomalies observed in the spatial 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 sensors measuring temperature and relative humidity at hourly intervals have been installed in each of the study areas to complement the available hydrometeorological 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 elevational intervals of 500 meters across two ca. 4,500 m altitudinal gradients (Figure 2) and in as many ecosystems as possible. Gathered data are improving our understanding of the physical processes taking place along the altitudinal transects such as conditions of atmospheric instability, and local seasonal temperature and precipitation anomalies. A better understanding of local mechanisms and their relationships with interannual (El Niño-Southern Oscillation

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.

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

events) to multi-decadal phenomena will provide elements for the analysis of long-term changes and for better simulation 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-

“Digital sensor data are currently being combined with weather station records, whose historical periods span over 50 years” spheric instability and moist convection in the two study areas. The dendrochronological work, in turn, aims to reconstruct the past ca. 100-200 years along the upper portion of the elevational gradients. A long list of Andean tree species has been analyzed to identify key species with sufficiently wide elevational ranges, distinctive annual rings, and long life spans. The result, a short list of tree species with dendrochronological potential 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 individuals of the selected tree species have been georeferenced, initially in the ColombiaEcuador border area, in relatively well 9

Five-tiered integrated climate-related biodiversity vulnerability assessment in the Tropical Andes 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 radiocarbon analyses will be used to assess periodicity (i.e. annual) of tree rings in different species. The biodiversity component The main objectives of the biodiversity component include: (i) to develop knowledge on current biodiversity patterns (by ecosystem) and gradients (by elevation) using several higher taxonomic groups of plants (e.g., ferns, bromeliads, palms) and two animal groups (birds, dung beetles) as proxies for overall diversity, based on existing specieslocality data and on field inventories where knowledge gaps exist; and (ii) to evaluate the vulnerability of species and ecosystems (based on the pooled vulnerability of their component species) to climate change using the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index (http:// www.natureserve.org/prodServices/climatechange/ccvi.jsp). The social component The main objective of the social component is to consult local communities on ecosystem goods and services of particular 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 climate change. Within this component, the Corporación Grupo Randi Randi, based in Quito, Ecuador, conducted a survey

“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 (...).” of 545 persons (50% women) during 2011 to learn more about local perceptions of climate change and how people are making adaptations to changes perceived in their local climates. The survey sites comprise a series of transects across sections of the western flanks of the Andes in the north (southern Colombia and northern Ecuador), and sections of the eastern flanks in the south (southern 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 component The land-use component aims to determine land-use types and patterns based on satellite imagery and local information, and to relate biodiversity and vulnerability patterns/gradients to existing climate gradients, climate change trends and forecasts, land-use patterns, and predicted changes in land-use due to climate change using Geographic Information Systems. The outreach/capacity building component Finally, the main objectives of the outreach and capacity building component include: (a) to determine potential adaptive management measures and actions to increase the resilience of high-risk biodiversity areas to climate change; (b) to provide capacity building on the developed tools and analysis to institutions in Andean countries including Ministries of Environment, National Climate Change Adaptation Programs, meteorological services, universities, and non-governmental organizations to ensure that the approach can be replicated elsewhere; and (c) to disseminate the results and conclusions in order to facilitate their incorporation into action plans of national and international institutions.

Authors Daniel Ruiz Carrascal1 Associate Professor, Escuela de Ingeniería de Antioquia – EIA, Colombia, pfcarlos@eia.edu.co, International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) – Columbia University in the City of New York, USA pfcarlos@iri.columbia.edu 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

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References Hastings, D.A., Dunbar, P.K., 1999. Global land one-kilometer base elevation (GLOBE) digital elevation model, Documentation, 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 Andes. 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., Schulzweida, 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.

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Science Peaks

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

Mountain regions are characterized by historical and natural assets, as well as by traditional knowledge related to human adaptation to the environment, frequently leading to a particular cultural landscape closely associated with the mountain ecosystem. Such is the case in both the Andes and the Pyrenees. However both the Andes and the Pyrenees are undergoing rapid modernisation, and commodification through tourism exploitation with both cultural and environmental impacts. Environmental knowledge and the continuity of these mountain cultures are thus in danger. This study argues that landscape management could contribute to a comprehensive conservation of cultural landscapes, enabling change while simultaneously respecting the right to cultural continuity of mountain communities. Cultural landscapes The conservation of dynamic cultural landscapes is a complex task. A landscape 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 changing over time. In 1992, ‘cultural landscapes’ became a category of heritage within the framework of the UNESCO 1972 Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. This new category signals a shift 12

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

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

2003; UNESCO, World Heritage Committee 2011).

Our research compares two models of protection in areas where agro-pastoralism has been essential for the adaptation 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 Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park (PNOMP)[2] in the Spanish Pyrenees, part of the transnational property Pyrenees/Mont Perdu, inscribed in the World Heritage List in 1997.

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

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

“In 1992, ‘cultural landscapes’ became a category of heritage within the framework of the UNESCO 1972 Convention (...).”

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

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

In an Archaeological Park, policies focus 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 strategies trigger conflicts with local communities in terms of placing protection boundaries, restricting access to resources and to specific places significant for inhabitants. Landscape management refers to the “action to ensure the regular upkeep of a landscape within a perspective of sustainable development so as to guide and harmonise changes which are brought about by social, economic and environmental 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 regeneration. First are the local communities who shape the ‘living landscape’ through their day-to-day activities. Second is the state as an external actor that regards landscape as a resource repository and implements policies in order to put these resources in value. The shaping of the landscape is performed by policies either directing local communities’ activities (e.g. sub-

“However, in both case studies, no formal landscape management plan has been established. ” 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 communities both receive a feedback for their practices and policies.

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The methodological design of the research 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 management to people’s perception. Three sets of maps, one for each group of actors (state, local communities and visitors) portray the results. An overlay 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 findings The two models affect local communities in different ways. The National Park precludes human occupation entirely while in the Archaeological Park the settlements 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 13

the sites as possessing unique landscapes of outstanding value. However, it is evident that the three groups of actors differ in their sense of value.

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

• Local communities value their cultural landscape as an inheritance from their ancestors. For them, the protection of heritage is part of their way of life. Landscape as a whole has significance as a habitat and is perceived as being progressively degraded by abandonment (in the Pyrenees) or mismanagement (in Peru). • States value certain landscape resources - biodiversity, geological features, architectural structures, tradition, folklore - with a utilitarian vision based on their possible utilization for economic and political interests. • Visitors, as external actors, value the

From the perspective of the state, traditional activities such as non-industrialized agriculture, pastoralism, transhumance, 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 abandoning their cultural practices, causing the gradual loss of their habitats. This loss is illustrated by the change of landscape 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 species. The disappearance of habitats brings about the change of the landscape, questioning the very concept of conservation and leading to the transformation of heritage in a direction that is difficult 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 actors in the landscape.

Authors Maya Ishizawa Ph.D. candidate, International Graduate School ‘Heritage Studies’, Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus, Germany ishizawa.maya@gmail.com Gerhard Wiegleb Professor, Chair General Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Process Engineering, Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus, Germany wiegleb@tu-cottbus.de

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 Heritage Centre. UNESCO, World Heritage Committee, 2011. Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, Paris: UNESCO.

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

Science Peaks

Changes in sediment transport rates through time What are the linkages among sediment transport, climate, and climate change? Bodo Bookhagen

During this time of climate change in mountainous environments, changes in water resources command most of the attention. While the hydrologic cycle is an integral part of mountain environments and an important expression of climate, sediment erosion and transport may be equally important factors for shaping landscape and environments, but operate at distinctively different frequencies and timescales. For example, it has long been recognized that understanding reservoir filling of hydropower 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 construction 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 Angeles (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 preceding wildfires. The landscape’s erosional response to the combination of these events is not captured in the instrumental

record, but can have devastating consequences for residents and infrastructure. The climate-geologyhuman-erosion linkage A 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 (hydrology), biota, lithology, and structural evolution 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 destructive forces (surface erosion). Whereas tectonic driving forces (i.e., earthquakes)

“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.” are commonly considered steady over millennial to million-year timescales (103 to 106 years), erosive forces are much more unstable and change at varying 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

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

and those that stabilize landscapes. Taken together, the evolution of modern landscapes is driven mainly by both natural (climate, soil characteristics, and vegetation cover) and anthropogenic forces (agriculture, wildfire management, 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. Sediment transport in rivers can vary significantly on short (daily) timescales. For example, a heavy rainstorm that triggers debris flows or landslides can lead to a significant increase in transported sediment for a few hours to a few days. With the increasing use of river water for hydropower, agriculture, and drinking-water, the demand for sediment-free (clean) water also increases. For example, sediment transported in the water leads to increased abrasion of turbines, shortening hydropower facility lifetimes and rapidly clogging of filters in the case of drinking-water purification. Our changing climate leads to significant changes in the sediment production and transport through rivers and will provide a significant challenge for infrastructural development in the coming years.

Changes in sediment transport rates through time

4-5

3-4

Drainage Network [x103 km2]

Altiplano-Puna Plateau

2-3

1-2

Kilometers

100

Elevation asl [km]

22°S

0.5 - 1

B < 100

CRN Erosion rates [mm/yr] 100 - 500

500 - 1000

> 1000

Mean annual rainfall [m/yr] < 0.25

0.5 - 0.75

1-2

0.25 - 0.5

0.75 - 1

1-5 5 - 10 > 10

Humahuaca

24°S

The unpredictive nature of sediment-transport processes The stochastic nature of sediment-transport processes makes it difficult to predict sediment transport and amounts. For example, a recent study from high-elevation watersheds in the western Himalaya indicates that on an annual base, 60-80% of high suspended sediment concentration events coincide with heavy rainstorms 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

26°S

Calchaquíes

swath profile 15°S

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

Sierra de Quilmes

Several studies also highlight the importance 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 within a few days based on conservative esti-

Fiambalá 66°W

Tucumán

64°W

70°W

30°S

events. In the case of the western Himalaya, 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 measurements need to include these events (or even better, multiple of these events) to provide proper assessments and understandings of the sediment regimes and triggers.

28°S

Sierra de Aconquija

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.

mates of discharge and sediment amount (Wulf et al., 2012). Taken together, a natural consequence of the increase in infrastructure 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 sediments. Our current predictions are hampered by the complex linkages between climate and sediment production and our limited understanding of geomorphic processes. However, we have some understanding of the temporal changes of erosion-rate magnitudes. A steep climate

gradient exists in the northwestern Argentine Andes on the eastern flanks of the Puna Plateau (Figure 1). The erosion in this part of the world is strongly controlled 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 covers (e.g., Abbott et al., 2003). By combining several sedimentary archives and using geochemical methods for erosionrate measurements, Bookhagen and Strecker (2012) found that mean catchment erosion rates in these mountainous environment during several thousandyear long wet periods (0.5 mm/yr) were one order of magnitude greater than the

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

AltiplanoPuna Plateau

Santa María Basin (Calchaquíes Basin)

0.10±0.04 mm/yr, n=4

1.5

Tucumán Basin

0.50±0.3 mm/yr, n=15

0.05±0.02 mm/yr n=4

0.13±0.004 mm/yr, n=1

0.02±0.01 mm/yr, n=5

0.5

0.02±0.004 mm/yr, n=1

0 0

100 150 W-E distance along swath (km)

mean annual rainfall (m/yr) mean CRN erosion rate (mm/yr)

Elevation (km)

200

250

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 deposition in places where the river gradients and the energy available to transport sediments decreased. These millennial scale erosion-rate magnitudes are mainly controlled by climatic oscillations. In or-

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

Author Bodo Bookhagen Associate Professor, Geography Department, UC Santa Barbara, USA, bodo@eri.ucsb.edu

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: Erosional response of a transitional landscape to external and anthropogenic forcing, Journal of Geophysical Research, 109, F01006, doi:10.1029/2003JF000023

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

Science Peaks

Consuming space, nature and culture Patterns of mountain indirect urbanization Ismael Vaccaro and Oriol Beltran

The twentieth century has deepened and increased global interconnectedness. Furthermore, the networks that link most places of the world are now dominated by their most powerful nodes: cities. Cities have large socioecological footprints (Cronon 1992). Their survival requires large amounts of resources, and their populations constitute large markets with massive demands and disproportionate political power in comparison to their rural counterparts in terms of votes, information and organization. Those of us that are interested in mountains must face this reality: directly or indirectly our ranges are strongly influenced 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 metropolis but rather in networks of growing 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 18

Pla de L’Ermita, Alta Ribagorça © Oriol Beltran

to demographic increases? We contend that it is not. A mountainous area without cities might find itself nevertheless transformed to satisfy the needs and expectations 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

„This redefinition (...) follows a logic designed to cover urban needs.“ mountains. This redefinition, which includes economic shifts, cultural transformations, and actual development of infrastructures and new constructions over the territory, follows a logic designed to cover urban needs. We call this the indirect urbanization of the mountains.

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

The Pyrenees experienced demographic and economic collapse between the end of the nineteenth and the end of the twentieth 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 ranching of the low lands. Impoverished, and having no alternatives in the mountains,

„... by the mid-twentieth century, 75% of agricultural land was abandoned“ their population migrated to the growing cities of the plains where paid jobs were relatively easy to find. Ranching and agriculture 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 population 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 depopulated 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 commodities 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 tourism (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.

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

Popula-

Surface

Protected

tion

(ha)

(% )

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)

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

Consuming space, nature, and culture all sorts of manifestations and consequences. It included both mass tourism such as resort-centered skiing and small scale tourism or ecotourism. It has developed infrastructures, second residence villages or neighborhoods, and has attracted population back to the area so that after 1990 some areas began a demographic recovery (Vaccaro and Beltran 2007). Tourism fostered all sorts of economic ventures providing goods and services to visitors interested in quality and tradition: local museums, gastronomy (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 Pyrenees, 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 become inextricably connected to the planning and development of – sometimes ephemeral – ski resorts. The Catalan High Pyrenees went from 19,949 second 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 until 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 economic 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 selfsufficient, rural character and indeed much of their population, only to be recreated 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.

Authors Ismael Vaccaro Associate Professor, Dept. of Anthropology and McGill School of Environment, McGill University ismael.vaccaro@mcgill.ca Oriol Beltran Associate profesor, Dept. of Social Anthropology, Universitat de Barcelona obeltran@trivium.gh.ub.es

References André, M. F. 1998. Depopulation, land-use change and landscape transformation in the French Massif Central, Ambio 27 (4): 351353. 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.

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

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 Pyrenees: 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 Géographie 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.

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

Science Peaks

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 observatories 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 considered in the CZOs range from instanta-

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 instrumentation 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 canopy, 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 impossible otherwise. Placements of WSN sensors to measure snow were evaluated using snow on/snow off LIDAR flights, as well as traditional snow and soil moisture surveys. Using co-located, continuous snowdepth and soil-moisture monitoring over 2 years, Bales et al. (2011b) reported on the relationships of seasonal evapotranspiration to changes in snowpack and soil moisture storage. They found that about

“The time scales considered in the Sierra Critical Zone Observatories are also unique, and range from instantaneous changes to geological times.” neous changes to geological times. The research in the CZOs is largely hypothesis-driven and integrates observations with modeling. The network is expected to serve the international scientific community through providing research infrastructure, data sharing, and model development (http://criticalzone.org/). At the California Southern Sierra CZO (SSCZO), the multi-disciplinary research 22

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).

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

Fgure 2: Schematic of four flux towers along an elevation gradient on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada. The straight white lines connect 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)

one-third of annual evapotranspiration was estimated to come from water storage below the 1-m soil depth, including from weathered granite. Recharge of this deep water storage occurred locally during 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, including porosity development associated with weathering of deep bedrock into saproplite. Geophysical work by Holbrook et al. (in review) proposes a 40 m deep saprolite of relatively high porosity on top of low porosity bedrock. With additional monitoring of hydrologic fluxes in this deep vadose zone, we are documenting 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 oakgrassland site at 405 m, through mixed-

conifer forest to an upperâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;elevation redfir-transition site at 2700 m (Figure 2). Goulden et al. (2012) report on plant water use and available surplus along this gradient. They use tower footprint scale gross ecosystem CO2 exchange (GEE) and evapotranspiration (ET) as a general measure of ecosystem productivity

â&#x20AC;&#x153; They found that about onethird of annual evapotranspiration was estimated to come from water storage below the 1-m soil depth, including from weathered granite.â&#x20AC;? 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 photosynthesis at the middle elevations. This mid-elevation range is characterized by ample soil (and saprolite) water storage

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

and relatively mild temperatures. Trees at the middle elevation band (12002020m) currently span the rain/snow transition zone and are exposed to moderate temperatures. Goulden et al. (2012) also show that due to low precipitation, annual ET was 35% lower at 405 m compared 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 degree isotherm upslope may lead to significantly decreases in runoff as longer growing seasons and year-round transpiring species, move upslope. However, if the ecosystem is largely controlled by deep water storage, the pace of soil and saprolite production (and therefore storage) will influence the temporal scale of species migration. Manipulative experiments were used to simulate climate change at the SSCZO. Blankinship et al. (in review) manipulated snowmelt timing, advancing it by more than 2 weeks while preserving water quantity, which resulted in drier soil at depths less than 30 cm. After the wet 23

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. Elevation transfer caused 1.4 ÂşC 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 Sierra will increase net greenhouse gas emission from the soil to the atmosphere in the short-term. However, continued advancement of the snowmelt date without a simultaneous increase in precipitation, will likely constrain the extent of the temperature-induced increase in greenhouse gas fluxes. This work further illustrates the multi-faceted feedbacks

between soil and snow and demonstrates that both the amount and timing of snowmelt 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 distribution and function along the rain-snow transition vertical transect. The Southern Sierra CZO welcomes new partners and innovation.

Authors Peter Hartsough Post-doctoral Fellow, University of California Davis, USA phartsough@ucdavis.edu Matthew Meadows Hydrologist, Sierra Nevada Research Institute, University of California Merced, USA mmeadows@ucmerced.edu

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, Sampling Strategies in Forest Hydrology and Biogeochemistry, in D. Levia, D. Carlyle-Moses, and T. Tanake, eds., Forest Hydrology and Biogeochemistry: Synthesis of Research and Future Directions, v. Ecological Studies 216, Springer, p. 762. Bales, R. C., J. W. Hopmans, A. T. Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;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. 786799. 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 patterns 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 Observatory: 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. 24

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

Science Peaks

200 years of land use change in the Carpathian Basin Van Butsic

Land use change is a formidable forcing of global environmental change. For centuries humans have changed their relationship with land in order to meet their needs, transforming landscapes in the process. The Carpathian Basin, i.e., the Carpathian Mountains and the Pannonian Plains, of Eastern Europe are a prime example of a system that has been subject to longterm ongoing human-driven land use change. The Carpathians are unique as they have also been subject to several major socioeconomic 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

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 area The Carpathian Mountains along with the adjacent lowlands are an ideal place

forestry tended toward large scale spruce plantations. After World War II the adoption 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 agriculture on more marginal lands, especially in the mountains.

â&#x20AC;&#x17E;These socio-economic transformations have triggered drastic land use change (...).â&#x20AC;&#x153; of the European Union. These socioeconomic transformations have triggered drastic land use change, including changes in mountain farming and forestry. A team of American, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, Swiss, Ukrainian, and German scientists are working together to quantify 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

Figure 1: The Carpathian Mountains and adjacent lowlands

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

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

The fall of socialism led to mixed responses in land use, with fragmentation, land restitution, and land abandonment common. As these countries now transition to the European Union (with the ex25

200 years of land use change in the Carpathian Basin

Figure 2: Landsat composite of the study area. A cloud free, temporal composite of Landsat data, capturing approximately the mid-summer 2000 period. 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.

ception of Ukraine) they face new pressures on land use, including compliance with EU environmental regulation and participation in the Common Agricultural 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 Carpathian Mountains are one of the most biodiverse regions in Europe, and are a stronghold 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 system, 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 26

social systems are of international importance. Quantifying historic land use change in the Carpathian Basin Our analysis of land use change in the Carpathian Basin is based on a comprehensive dataset of historic maps from the Austro-Hungarian topographic military surveys. Starting in the 18th Century

â&#x20AC;&#x17E; Translating these paper maps into usable data requires a laborious process of digitizing, georectifying and mosaicing.â&#x20AC;? four such surveys were carried out, circa ~1775, ~1860,~ 1890, and ~1920. We focus our research on the second and fourth surveys. Land cover and land use were surveyed comprehensively, including in-

formation on forests, shrubland, farmland, 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. Finally 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, georectifying 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.

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

Mapping recent land use change in the Carpathian Basin To 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-

„ (...) the project has already generated the first, area-wide forest disturbance map,.“ spherically corrected and cloud-masked over 1400 Landsat images to create areawide image composites for every five years. These composites now serve as a basis to map changes in forest cover, conversions from agriculture to grassland, 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 disturbance map, which provides new ways to assess the effect of institutional changes on logging patterns and protected area effectiveness (Griffiths et al, accepted). Discovering the drivers of past and present land use change The digitized point data from the historic maps as well as the remotely sensed imagery provide a wealth of data for modeling 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 regimes. For example, Romania has undergone three waves of land restitution, resulting in around 40% of forested land being privately owned, compared to nearly none in 1990. Interestingly, ownership in other countries has stayed relatively 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.

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

Lessons learned thus far Our 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 directly after the fall of socialism. Since that time, however, in each Carpathian nation, forest change has increased in each time period, indicating that the forestry sector may be recovering. Investigating what increased forest harvest rates may mean for biodiversity and local communities is a question we are still investigating. We have also learned much about doing research over a full mountain range.

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

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

Author Van Butsic Post-doctoral researcher, Geography Department, Humboldt University Berlin, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern Europe vanbutsic@gmail.com

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.

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

Science Peaks

Urban growth in Himalaya

Environmental Impacts and Developmental Opportunities Prakash C. Tiwari and Bhagwati Joshi

the vulnerability of mountain inhabitants to food and livelihood insecurity (Poudel 2008). However, urbanization has also created opportunities for the socio-economic development of the region. This paper analyzes trends of urban growth and examines its impact on natural ecosystem and socio-economic sustainability with case illustration of Uttarakhand Himalaya.

Figure 1: Geographical location and political districts of Uttarakhand

Introduction The Himalaya is one of the most tectonically unstable, ecologically fragile, economically underdeveloped, and densely populated mountain ecosystems on the planet. The continuous uplift has makes these mountain ranges highly vulnerable to large-scale tectonic movements (Valdiya and Bartarya

â&#x20AC;&#x17E;Himalaya represents one of the most densely populated mountain ecosystems on the planet.â&#x20AC;&#x153; 1991). The nature of the terrain imposes severe limitations on the scale of resource productivity as well as on the ef-

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

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

The Himalayan state of Uttarakhand The Himalayan State of Uttarakhand, covering 53066 km2 from the narrow Foothill belt in the south to the Lesser, Great and Trans Himalayan ranges in the north, was created in the year 2000. It includes the headwaters of some of the largest trans-boundary basins of South Asia. The state consists of 13 districts of which 10 extend across Himalayan 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.

Methodology Fast growing towns, one each from the 10 mountainous districts of Uttarakhand were selected for a comprehensive assessment of impacts of urbanization on natural and social systems. In addition to analyzing the opportunity created by urban development, we examined the depletion of land, forests, biodiversity and 29

Urban Growth in Himalaya

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

water resources and their impact on traditional agricultural and food systems. Urban land use changes were monitored through digital interpretation of multidate satellite data of years 1981 and 2011. Other relevant data and information have been collected through comprehensive socio-economic surveys and from Census of India 2001. Urbanization in Uttarakhand During recent years, Uttarakhand Himalaya has experienced rapid urban growth due to population increase, enhanced transport connectivity, emergence of rural growth centres, development 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 urban 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 tremendous increase in density, intensity and 30

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

“The growth of urban population in Uttarakhand during 1971 – 1981 and 1981 – 1991 was much higher than the national decadal growth of urban population in India.” 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 during 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 livelihood 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 decreasing 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 irrigation potential declining by 15% (Ti-

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ing particularly the poor and socially marginalized communities constituting nearly 75% of total population. Opportunities Undoubtedly, urbanization has contributed significantly to the socio-economic development of Uttarakhand through the improvement of infrastructure and transport connectivity, growth of tourism, improved access to markets, and generation of employment opportunities in various emerging sectors, particularly 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 contributed significantly towards attaining this progress (ICIMOD 2012). Based on the discussion held with local employment authorities, in a tourist city like Nainital tourism industry provided temporary employment for 25% of local youths each year during 2006 – 2011. Figure 3: Unplanned and unregulated urbanization on steep slopes in Nainital, Kumaon Himalaya, India. © Prakash Tiwari

wari and Joshi 2012). Anthropogenic impact on urban lakes has increased via siltation and pollution. Bathymetric investigations revealed that the capacities 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

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

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

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 biodiversity and genetic resources. In Uttarakhand Himalaya, rural areas surrounding fast developing urban centres have lost 9% of their prime agricultural 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 situated in fringe of urban complexes are currently facing 80% food deficit increasing vulnerability of rural communities to food insecurity (Tiwari and Joshi 2012b). Depletion of forests and decline in agricultural productivity have decreased off-farm employment opportunities in traditional forestry and agricultural 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-

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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 conservation 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 ecological knowledge required for adapting to climate change.

Authors Prakash C. Tiwari Department of Geography, Kumaun University Nainital, India pctiwari@yahoo.com Bhagwati Joshi Department of Geography, Government Post Graduate College, Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, India bhawanatiwari@yahoo.com

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 security in 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, Urbanization & 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.

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News from MRI’s Regional Networks

AfroMont

Global Change Research Network of African Mountains: Legacy, Role and Visions Saliou Niassy and Willem Ferguson Mountain and highland initiatives: AfroMont’s heritage and lessons To build a research network on African mountains, it is essential to capitalize on the legacy that has been left by previous mountain initiatives, learning both from their strengths and failures. Among the circumstances that motivat-

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 highlands are however the most important assets of the continent contributing significantly to the socioeconomic development in terms of water, land and other essential resources. Unfortunately, there has been no significant impact of research outputs on governance and policy making over the last decades. The rapid utilisation of natural resources and the lack of relevant policies of conservation for sustainability will certainly 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 ecosystems and the exploitation of natural resources will decimate the unique biodiversity of this continent if decisions to reverse this trend are not taken. Networking and coordination are promising initiatives that consolidate mountain research all over the world. How-

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

Saliou Niassy Network Coordinator MRI Coordinator for AfroMont Centre for Environmental Studies University of Pretoria niassy@zoology.up.ac.za Skype: saliou.niassy Landline +27124204527 Fax +27124203210 http://mri.scnatweb.ch/mri-africa

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

„To build a research network on African mountains it is essential to capitalize the legacy that has been left by previous mountain initiatives.“ ed mountain initiatives in Africa, one could cite the rapid population growth, fragile ecosystems, economic pressures, and transboundary conflicts. The consequences of such issues have compromised population livelihood in terms of water shortages, land degradation, change in rainfall seasons, invasive 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-governmental Pan-African status. Formed in Ambo, Ethiopia, in 1986, its objectives were to create a venue for interaction between African researchers and to influence policy. The Association 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 news33

News from AfroMont

Lebialem Waterfall Forest Area, Cameroon © Saliou Niassy

letters and proceedings, AMA went through a period of silence due to financial 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 Nairobi was an initiative of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and a network of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA). Its objectives were to improve livelihoods of highlands of eastern and central Africa, which were shown to be highly vulnerable to climate change and population growth. AHI’s objectives were to de34

velop an “integrated natural resource management” (INRM) program in collaboration with beneficiaries (highland communities) and partners such as national and international research organizations and networks, organizations, 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 updated since 2006. Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier 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 biodiversity 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 Initiative This mountain initiative in Cameroon is unknown to many mountain researchers in Africa. Mountain areas in Cameroon are rich in diversity of flora and fauna. There is high resultant 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 reports of extinction, habitat fragmentation and this has been aggravated by the conversion of large forest areas into agricultural lands using very non sustainable approaches (slash, burns etc...). Due to mounting population pressure and livelihood challenges, universities and NGOs took the lead to

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investigate mountain issues. Several non-governmental attempts such as the Cameroon Mountains Conservation Foundation (CAMCOF) and the Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF) have also been initiated to promote the conservation and sustainable development of those precious areas. In its Mountain initiative, EruDeF focussed 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 water 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 Initiative A number of countries in West Africa, including Senegal, Mali, Niger and the Gambia, are largely depend on water resources from the Fouta Djallon. Due to the economic situation in those countries the Guinea Mountain initiative over the last three decades relied

exclusively on international intervention 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 promoting conservation activities in the management and protection of water resources, and national parks respectively between Senegal, Mali, Mauritania and Guinea and between Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea.

Current situation of Mountain research in Africa The common situation in Africa is a neglect of mountains by African governments, resulting in non-sustainable practices in these fragile environments. Research programmes are being conducted 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 development 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-

„The common situation in Africa is a neglect of African mountains by African governments, resulting in non-sustainable practices in these fragile environments.“ ties in East Africa. There has been little contribution from African governments for the conservation of mountains elsewhere. In central and west Africa, little is known about mountain research initiatives and the governance of sustainable development in mountain areas. There are reports of external funding but there is no visibility in term of scientific outputs and their conversion into policy or practice.

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

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

News from AfroMont

Lesotho © Willem Ferguson

The role of AfroMont Since the creation of the Global Change Research Network in African Mountains in Kampala in 2007 and the implementation of the FAO-funded coordination in Africa in August 2011,

„AfroMont has garnered a large amount of continentwide awareness and support through a series of visits in all sub-Saharan mountain regions.“ AfroMont has garnered a large amount of continent-wide awareness and support through a series of visits in all subSaharan 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 International Conference in East African Mountains (ICEAM). In August 2012, in collaboration with the MDTP, AfroMont organized for a regional mountain Workshop in Lesotho involving 36

South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Malawi, and which provided a platform for both researchers to perform regional research prioritization and for politicians to make contact with scientists involved in research that may enlighten sustainable resources in mountain areas within the context of global change. A database of researchers is currently under reconstruction. AfroMont provides regular communications to the MRI newsletter and close contact with scientists through telephone, email and Skype. A website was created to promote interaction and knowledge sharing among African researchers. AfroMont’s vision and road map AfroMont has two main areas of focus: 1. Collaborative continental and regional 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 continent-wide data collected in a comparable way. AfroMont attempts to encourage regional and continent-wide research collaboration by the initiation of research that addresses this lack of information. The Lesotho meeting formulated a southern African research agenda that needs to be integrated with a continent-wide set of research priorities. A continent wide database for long-term monitoring of global change is a key programme and a monitoring network comprising an African environmental observatory should be

established to assess the degradation of natural resources in respect to climate change and population growth in mountain regions. Based on previous contacts with Cameroonians mountain researchers, AfroMont is looking forward to organize a Mountain Conference in Cameroon to mobilize all subSaharan researchers. 2. Science-policy interaction. AfroMont informs and brings awareness on mountain issues with respect to global change in Africa, especially since both mountain landscapes and downstream non-mountain landscapes benefit from mountain resources. Mountain re-

„The Lesotho meeting formulated a southern African research agenda that needs to be integrated with a continent-wide set of research priorities. “ 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 support from local governments. African researchers always need to outsource funding from overseas to run their projects. A lot of funding has been dedicated to achieve mountain sound initiatives such as African Highland Initiative, the Cameroon initiative and FAO initiative

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in Fouta Djallon. The consequences of such practices explain the fact that research outputs are published abroad and are therefore not seen by local policy makers to influence local policies. AfroMont will certainly be a key actor on the implementation of the Future Earth programme in Africa by using its connections with African scientists and researchers currently focussing of Global Change in African mountains.

Scope of AfroMont as of November 2013

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 2005â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 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 African Mountains and Highlands: Introduction and Resolutions. Mountain Research and Development, African Mountains 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 Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

News from MRI’s Regional Networks

MRI in the Americas Transecto Cordillera Americana (TCA) Christian Devenish

Editorial

Mountains 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 sustainable development, with activities including an assessment of sustainable development in the Andes over the last 20 years, and the organization of a Mountain Pavilion during the conference. This brief reflexion asks what can we learn from this event, and how global change researchers can participate 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. However, even though the outcome document of the conference contained less commitment than could have been desired, mountains at least feature prominently, and build on their inclusion in Agenda 21. This provides us with further opportunities 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

„The Pavilion provided an opportunity for a diverse community of researchers, civil society, policy advisers and States to present the current status of mountains (....)” existence unsustainable and to provide solutions to mitigate their impacts. The Mountain Pavilion was hosted by the Peruvian Government, and coordinated by a committee of organizations with a special, or exclusive, interest in mountains, including the Mountain Partnership, CONDESAN, ICIMOD and UNEP, with funding provided by the Swiss Agency 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 development. Much of the Pavilion’s content was based on a series of regional reports, charting the progress of sustainable development 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 processes 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 information on the functioning of these ecosys-

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

La Paz with Illimani

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

„Native mountain products and agrobiodiversity were also featured as important in both the Andes and globally.“ important in both the Andes and globally, requiring inputs as to crop suitability under climate change and the effects of land use change on biodiversity, to guarantee their sustainable production. Extractive industries are a staple of Andean economies, but increasingly cause controversy and conflict among communities, 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, remains a priority topic for research, but also provides a unifying currency to the above examples and many other key areas, in that there is a need for increased and combined research in both ecological and social systems.

CONDESAN

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 focused and specific nature of much academic research can filter into processes

„And this is where the importance of (mountain-specific) networks, such as MRI, becomes evident, working together to achieve a more systemic approach (...).“ 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 arena. And this is where the importance of (mountain-specific) networks, such as MRI, becomes evident, working together to achieve a more systemic approach in our search for solutions to the issues associated with global changes. A recent opinion piece by Robert Hofstede[1] , in attempting to reason why mountains, as a thematic component of

international agreements had not enjoyed better prominence, attributed this to their incredible diversity, as a defocusing influence, effectively spreading strengths too thin. This is an astute reasoning, but to take it further, we then must use this diversity, in the physical, biological and human environments, to our advantage, in promoting mountains not just as the witnesses of global change in all its forms, but also, as the centres of origin of a diversity of solutions.

Christian Devenish TCA co-coordinator MRI - CONDESAN, Lima, Peru Calle Mayorazgo 217 San Borja, Lima, Perú Tel. +51 1 6189400 Ext. 514 christian.devenish@condesan.org mri.scnatweb.ch/mri-tca

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

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

News from the Transecto Cordillera Americana TCA

News from the Americas New coordination for TCA The beginning of 2012 saw a change in coordination of MRI in the Americas region, whereby CONDESAN, a regional organization working towards sustainable development in the Andes, took on a more active role in coordinating activities for the American Cordillera Transect, the regional network of the Mountain Research Initiative. As of April 2012, Bert De Bièvre and Christian Devenish took on the task of overseeing MRI activities in the region.

Bert de Bièvre © E. Quiroz

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 understanding of the hydrological importance of highland Andean ecosystems known as paramos[2] .

Christian Devenish © E. Quiroz

Christian Devenish, resident in Northern South America since 1998, is a biologist, with a background in biodiversity conservation, especially Neotropical birds. Having worked on the Colombian and Americas Important Bird Area programmes, Christian joined CONDESAN to work on an assessment of sustainable development in the Andes 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 Andes. 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/puentes-entre-alturas

TCA Newsflash[3], a bimonthly bulletin 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. Workshops Two key contact workshops were held over the last year. Pablo Lagos, the former MRI coordinator organized an event in Santiago, Chile, on 16 November 2011, bringing together researchers attending the IGU Regional Geographic Conference. A further workshop to exchange information on current and future research projects and interests was organized in collaboration with the Bolivian Mountain Institute in La Paz, on 22 August 2012[5] , to coincide with a Seminar on Climate Change and Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions in Bolivia, held the day before. In total, 24 people attended the event, with 16 brief presentations given, as well as breaking into smaller groups for discussion. Researchers in the fields of natural and social sciences participated, working 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=1421 4 http://mri.scnatweb.ch/mri-tca 5 Workshop report available here: http://mri.scnatweb.ch/easyblog/entry/investigadores-de-cambiosglobales-en-montanas-se-juntan-en-la-paz-boliviapara-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. CONDESAN

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

At the Mountain Pavilion, MRI began a campaign for more high altitude observation 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 this poster displayed at the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Water and Mountainsâ&#x20AC;? thematic stand. CONDESAN

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

News from the Transecto Cordillera Americana hydrology, glaciology, ecology and distribution of Andean species, ecosystem mapping and migration. Ensuing discussions also included practical applications of research, such as planning and management of ecosystems and implementation of climate change adaptation actions. Bert de Bièvre attended the UNESCO Inception workshop on “The Impact of

“The network will develop strategies and policy advice based on sound scientific knowledge for the Andean region. “ Glacier Retreat in the Andes: International 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 climate change, through improved understanding of vulnerabilities, opportuni-

Monitoring equipment at high altitudes in the Andes.

ties and potentials for adaptation. The network will develop strategies and policy advice based on sound scientific 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 assessment in the Andean Region, with recommendations including the establishment 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 Americas will be following progress closely and looking for ways to support the network. Rio+20 As mentioned above, MRI-TCA also actively 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 participation on the part of organizations and countries from all mountain regions of the world. Is global warming proceeding faster at higher elevations, and, if so, why? At the Mountain Pavilion, MRI began a campaign for more high altitude observation 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 initiatives, as well as the prediction of future water availability in the Andes. In addition to attempting to answer this question, 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-%20 MRI_0.pdf

CONDESAN/Iniciativa MHEA

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

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

“The basic research question will be a crucial component of monitoring initiatives, as well as the prediction of future water availability in the Andes. “ 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 inventory of current monitoring stations, and a gap analysis using both physical location and current model weaknesses to inform where the network of stations can best be strengthened. Round table discussion MRI in the Americas and CONDESAN also convened a round table discussion[8] at the Mountain Pavilion, on 16 8 http://mri.scnatweb.ch/easyblog/entry/contributions-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 Convention), USA (Boulder University and the Andes (CONDESAN), sharing experiences and challenges on how to bring science and policy closer for sustainable development in mountains. Based on the presentations and discussion, recommendations to promote better, and greater, articulation between scientific research and the process of policy making highlighted the importance of factoring in the involvement of policy makers at the beginning of projects, clarifying which policy level are being aimed at with respect to the priorities and objectives, and the need for novel formats of data exchange. Emphasis 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 information systems. the-mountains

Water for the city of El Alto and La Paz

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

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 water resources and global change are summarized here: The first tree-ring based precipitation reconstruction for the Central Andes is given by Morales et al (2012)[10] , using 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 resources. Knowledge of high altitude precipitation was also improved by a study in the semi-arid Andes of Chile (Bourgin 9 http://mri.scnatweb.ch/mri-tca 10 http://www.dendrocronologia.cl/pubs/2012_Precipitation%20changes%20in%20the%20South%20 American%20Altiplano.pdf

CONDESAN

News from the Transecto Cordillera Americana TCA et al 2012)[11] , implementing an interpolation 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 Buytaert & De Bièvre (2012)[12] , with similar implications for future water management, 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 expected 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_ar ticle&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,

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

References Bourgin, P.Y., Andreassian, V., Gascoin, S., Valery, A. 2012. Que sait-on des précipitations en altitude dans les Andes semiarides 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 Gamboa, 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%20 American%20Altiplano.pdf Soruco Sologuren, A. 2012. Medio Siglo de fluctuaciones glaciares en la Cordillera Real y sus efectos hidrológicos en la ciudad de La Paz. IRD. La Paz: Bolivia.

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

International Mountain Day 2012 An opportunity to promote global change research in the Andes 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 Secretariat â&#x20AC;&#x201C;CONDESAN- is promoting a regional celebration, integrating national and local activities. Activities are aimed at raising awareness amongst governments, scientists, the private sector and

civil society in the region on the effects of human actions on mountain ecosystems 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 disasters, water resources, land-use changes 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 research on global changes in mountains, and especially, its relevance to regional, national or local processes and initiatives within sustainable mountain development. As such, activities this year will include conferences and panel discus-

Huayna Potosi, Bolivia

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

sions as well as cultural and educational activities, with the support of governments, universities and NGOs. Further information: http://www.fao.org/mnts/home/en/ http://www.mountainpartnership.org/ www.infoandina.org Contact Dora ArĂŠvalo V. Mountain Partnership Secretariat Officer Decentralised Node for Latin America CONDESAN. Lima, Peru dora.arevalo@condesan.org

CONDESAN

News from the Transecto Cordillera Americana TCA

Project CIMA

CIMA strengthens links between the generation of information and the making of policy Macarena Bustamante and Francisco Cuesta 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 characteristic 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 inhabited for millennia by people who have adapted to climatic and eco-geographical characteristics of these mountains, and

“Most information available in the Andean countries is based on simulations and modeling, rather than observed data.” whom in turn, have transformed the surrounding landscape continually. Nonetheless, global environmental changes further exacerbate environmental degradation and vulnerability of Andean ecosystems and their inhabitants (Cuesta et al. 2012). Unfortunately, the Andean region is characterized by a lack of knowledge of these changes which is needed to support policy makers in addressing 46

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

their impacts. Most information available in the Andean countries is based on simulations and modeling, rather than observed data. For instance, the density of hydrometeorological monitoring stations above 3.000 meters above sea level in the region is insufficient to allow an understanding of basic ecological processes in Andean ecosystems, and less so, to predict future trends linked to climate change. With this background, CONDESAN is currently implementing the Project “Knowledge generation and capacity building as an adaptive response to environmental changes in the Andes – Project CIMA”, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (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 implementation 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 ecosystem processes expected to ensure the societal benefits of maintaining biodiversity, carbon stocks and water sources in the Andes. In order to have comparable and suitable results, the project is designing

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

simple and replicable methods and protocols in each thematic area, which are discussed and agreed upon among scientists working in the region, including The Global Observation Research Initiative In Alpine Environments (GLORIA) programme, and the Regional Initiative of Hydrological Monitoring in Andean Ecosystems (MHEA). Recognizing that timely and robust information is critical for natural resource management in the region, the project seeks to integrate the monitoring system with decision-making processes at multiple levels (e.g. local, regional) as a way to strengthen capacities and foster adaptive management. Even though decision makers require continuously relevant information to support the design of public policies, the generation of scientific information in the Andean region, in addition to being scarce and not replicated in time, has often been unarticulated from the needs and priorities of decision makers. The lack of dialogue and of adequate

collaborative mechanisms between scientists and policy makers are shown

its monitoring protocols with environmental authorities to complement governments’ on-going efforts in the Andes.

“CIMA is aiming to articulate the on-going efforts of researchers with policymakers’ information needs (...).”

In that vein, Project CIMA is promoting 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 meeting between government researchers, delegates from the Ministries of Environment of the Andean countries, and scientists was held to discuss hydrological 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 monitoring Montane forest dynamics, biodiversity and carbon fluxes.

through scarce and weak research agendas that could guide information generation processes in the region. Therefore, Project CIMA is aiming to articulate the on-going efforts of researchers 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

Further, a peer-reviewed manuscript is being produced with the goal of comparing 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 integrates scientists and technicians of the Andean countries and the National park services. . Through these opportunities, the project expects to develop collaborative mechanisms with governmental agencies and jointly identify minimum methodological agreements as a prerequisite to complement, and to ensure greater sustainability, of monitoring systems in Andean ecosystems.

Authors Macarena Bustamante R. macarena.bustamante@condesan.org Francisco Cuesta C. francisco.cuesta@condensan.org Iniciativa de Estudios Ambientales Andinos CONDESAN Quito, Ecuador http://www.condesan.org/cima Map 1. Distribution of Project CIMA sites along the Andes (CONDESAN, 2012)

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

News from the Transecto Cordillera Americana TCA

Climate change in mountain ecosystems An Andean perspective at IPROMO 2012 Jason Garcia Portilla

The 2012 course of the International Programme on Research and Training on Sustainable Management of Mountain Areas (IPROMO) summarized the state of the art on the relationship between 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 Convention on Climate Change, and the Kyoto Protocol, were analysed in the light of mountain concerns.

Compartment Vegetation Soil Total

High mountain Rainforest (paramo -‐ puna) (lowland) 20 1700 1720

250 50 300

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

The Andes are the most populated mountain region in the world and are incredibly important for the economies of the seven Andean countries, providing agricultural area, mineral resources, and water (Condesan 2012). However, several pressures related to global change threaten the stability and increase the vulnerability of this region (Garcia & Rodriguez 2012).

“ (...) it was evident that some of the important technical issues have not yet gained appropriate recognition in international reports. “ These pressures were discussed at IPROMO 2012, with reference to how the challenges imposed by climate change can be exacerbated by current trends of expanding populations (growth and mi48

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

gration), expanding agricultural areas and intensification, and increasing mineral 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 international reports. For instance, mountain soils in the Andes can retain three

times more carbon than vegetation given the low rates of mineralization and nutrient cycling at high altitudes, leading 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

Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

current

actual

Figure 2. Vulnerability of Andean ecosystems to climate change under 2 x CO2 scenario. B - Andean 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 original surface area under a scenario with a doubled CO2 concentration in the atmosphere (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, integrating the framework and variables included in a recent report on managing the risks of extreme events and disasters (IPCC 2012). These analyses should

Bioclimatic zone Andean forest Paramo

Displaced area (% total) 47.60

Super- paramo Glacier

85.20

75.75

94.48

consider the influence of explicit and implicit sectorial policies with potential to influence the vulnerability and stability of the region. Furthermore, it is important to circulate widely information and research results so that they are included and recognized at a global level in international reports.

Author Jason Garcia Portilla, Adviser Territorial Approach to Climate Change (TACC) - Colombia, United Nations Development Programme jason.garcia@pnud.org.co 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. Original 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 páramo 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 cambio global 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 climatic tensor: 163-209. IDEAM, Bogotá. IPCC 2012. Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation (SREX). Mountain Research Initiative Newsletter no. 7, 2012

News from MRI’s Regional Networks

MRI Europe Progress Report Astrid Björnsen Gurung

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 exception rather than the rule.

Editorial Train passengers traveling from Bern to Innsbruck will note the smooth shift from the throat-clearing Swiss dialect to the yodeling Austrian dialect of Vorarlberg and Tyrol. From a visual point of view, the Swiss-Austrian border is hardly detectable. The mountains look the same, as do the grazing cows and red-and-white flags, the avalanche barriers and winding railway tracks and tunnels. Only the soaring number of solar panels on many roofs announces the crossing of the Austrian 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 capita ranking of mountain and alpine publications lists Switzerland and Austria among the top three (Körner 2009). The countries reinforce this position by hosting international scientific networks such as the World Glacier Monitoring Service, the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment 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 50

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

„With the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding (...) 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”. fairs of the Swiss Confederation 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. 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 research partnerships we will succeed! The Carpathian science community

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

„The Carpathian science community clearly achieved success in the field of crossborder collaboration.“ 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 Conference in Ankara, Turkey. Under the heading ‘Mountain resources and their response to Global Change’ the conference enlarged the network in Turkey, established contacts with colleagues working

„Important efforts (...) were made by Mehmet Somuncu, Ankara University, who organized the 3rd SEEmore Conference in Ankara, Turkey. “ in the Caucasus and Iran and put SEEmore on a more independent footing.

Astrid Björnsen Gurung Scientific Program Manager MRI-Europe, Institute of Geography, University of Bern astrid.bjoernsen@giub.unibe.ch

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

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

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

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

achievements of the Institute of Mountain 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. Accordingly, both the IGF (Valerie Braun) and the MRI (Astrid Björnsen Gurung) administer the Alliance as a joint effort to strengthen and develop bilateral activities in the field of mountain research. This includes the promotion of new scientific networks, the coordination of thematic activities and the facilitation of the dialogue between research and practice.

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

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

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

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1. Strengthening and development of bilateral activities in the field of mountain 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 between Universities and other research institutions in European mountain research and coordination of thematic scientific activities. 4. Development of cooperation between research and practice (policy, administration, 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 51

News from MRI Europe at the bilateral level? Swiss-Austrian Mountain Days 2013 The Alliance will do good to avoid two things: the duplication of already existing activities and wasted efforts in activities 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 organized in Mittersill, Austria on 11-13 June 2013, will provide such opportunity. Apart from offering space for fostering 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 European 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 Practice Many 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 researchers. 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 Symposium for Research in Protected Areas on 10-12 June 2013 in Mittersill, Austria. Although separate events, the overlapping program allows participants to benefit from the practice-oriented view of a very broad audience. The organizers encourage interested participants to attend both meetings. Science for the Carpathians: Forum Carpaticum 2012 The remote location in the High Tatras of Slovakia, spiced with few encounters with brown bears, provided a stimulating 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 DataKnowledge-Action cycle, and to provide ideas on how to improve the relevance and impact of their efforts for the sustainable 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 fueled the spirit and willingness to move Carpathian science towards more open data and information sharing. The openaccess advocate Cameron Neylon jolted the audience with an arousing presentation 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 environmental data sharing’ by Stefan Jensen 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 collaboration between S4C and the Carpathian Convention represented by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) Vienna Office (...) was enforced through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).“ the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) Vienna Office – Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (ISCC) was enforced through a Memorandum 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

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

the UNEP-ISCC, and the new S4C Chair Lubos Halada. The targeted fields of collaboration include the implementation of the ‘Research Agenda for the Carpathians’, the establishment of a ‘Carpathian Research Area’ and ‘Data management and access issues in the Carpathians’. Thus, the Forum strengthened the commitment 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 Ankara After the launch of the SEEmore network in 2008 and the 2nd SEEmore Conference in 2010, Prof. Mehmet Somuncu, 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 working in the Caucasus and Iran. Under the heading ‘Mountain resources and their response to Global Change’ more than 30 researchers attended the meeting to

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

screen more than 180 Universities! Yet,

„Consequently, informing the Turkish science community about SEEmore and MRI is an obvious priority.“ only a small fraction of Turkish researchers know about the SEEmore or the MRI

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

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News from MRI Europe networks, even though 78% of Turkey is labeled as mountain area (EEA Report 6, 2010). Consequently, informing the Turkish science community about SEEmore 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 Conference. Several researchers, namely Mariyana Nikolova, Georgi Zhelezov and their Bulgarian colleagues, but also Mehmet Somuncu with a growing community of Turkish scientists, are ready to take the lead in developing SEEmore further, which includes a concept and nomi-

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

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

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

MRI: What will a successful CH-AT Alliance have achieved 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 Hydrology group of the University of Bern and other institutes. Traditionally, flood assessments would be handled nationally, through a mandate by national or regional authorities to a national institute which would use their own models for the assessments. A successful CH-AT Alliance will have established standard procedure whereby the “contractors” collaborate in such a mandate, combining their methods and models. All assessments will be better when approaches and models are combined! There is also an added value scientifically: collaboration will stimulate the further development of methods and models.

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

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

MRI Communication Manager Claudia Drexler spoke to Rolf Weingartner about the Swiss Austrian Alliance. Rolf Weingartner is Head of the Institute of Geography at the University of Bern, Head of the Hydrology group, and MRI’s Principal Investigator.

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 collaboration has been part of my personal agenda. With the CH-AT Alliance run jointly by IGF and MRI it will be possible to give this Swiss-Austrian connection 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

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Swiss-Austrian Mountain Days planned for 11-13 June 2013 (see link below). With this event we want to see the Alliance 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 projects. We need researchers interested in leading or joining such efforts. Personally, I want to emphasize another focus of the Alliance: the transfer of scientific knowledge to diverse audiences. Both the Alliance and the MRI have important roles to play at the interface between researchers and the public. Let me say that with the available funding the CH-AT Alliance can provide incentives and support for collaboration. Success will then depend on the willingness of the young researcher and her colleagues to collaborate. But of course success will not only depend on interested 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.

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.

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News from MRI’s Regional Networks

S4C, Science for the Carpathians S4C focuses on the transfer of scientific knowledge to practice and policy Ľuboš Halada With the Forum Carpaticum 2012 and significant changes in the organizational structure of the Science for the Carpathians (S4C) network these last months were an important period. Forum Carpaticum 2012 S4C pays increased attention to the transfer of scientific knowledge to practice and policy. This focus was evident in the title of the Forum Carpaticum 2012 (FC2012): “From Data to Knowledge, from Knowledge to Action”. The FC2012 participants were asked to reflect this focus of the conference in their presentations and to include recommendations for improvements of the data-

knowledge-action cycle. The S4C Scientific Steering Committee had been augmented with a few external members. The Committee played a crucial role in the preparation of FC2012 as the FC2012 Scientific Board. Thanks to the enthusiasm of its members the Scientific 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 Tatra Mts., Slovakia) under the honorary patronage of His Excellency Ivan

Gašparovič, president of the Slovak Republic and with financial support of the International Visegrad Fund and the Slovak 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 conference walk and post-conference excursions to three destinations. The conference started with the plenary speech of Cameron Neylon, entitled “Network Enabled Research: Not just

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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 panEuropean 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 Carpathian science and policy” by Harald Egerer, addressed the FC2012 theme in

“The conference started with the plenary speech of Cameron Neylon: Network Enabled Research: not just better, but fundamentally different.” 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 Institute, CARPIVIA project or focussed on specific themes such as nature protection from a stakeholders view, or the role of the National Platform of Covenant of Mayors in the adaptation to climate change.

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 information sharing strategy for the Carpathian area (2012)“ – see http://mri.scnatweb.ch/ easyblog/entry/forum-carpaticum-2012-living-the-q4-isq.

The scientific programme was balanced with more relaxing activities: a mid-conference walk to the High Tatra Mts. research sites and museum, the conference dinner with Slovak folklore, the Ukrainian music group (thanks to Saskia Warners), and post-conference excursions to High Tatra Mts., Dunajec river, and the Spiš region.

S4C Scientific Steering Committee The FC2012 was also an opportunity for a meeting of the S4C Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) at which the previously proposed and discussed changes in the SSC structure were approved. New members 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 Committee will work in this structure: Ľuboš Halada (chair), Astrid Björnsen-Gurung (co-chair), Jacek Kozak, Katalin Mázsa, Ivan Kruhlov (members). The next Forum Carpaticum will be held in 2014 in the Lviv region (Ukraine).

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

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

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 makers.

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

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

of the Memorandum of Understanding (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

“The S4C Scientific Steering Committee now consists of 30 members.“ provides a durable basis for collaboration in the fields of scientific research, project development and implementation, information exchange and knowledge transfer in the field of nature protection and sustainable development.

Collaboration in the development of the Information Strategy for the Carpathians and participation of S4C in the preparation of the Carpathian Convention protocols were identified as priorities for the coming months. The first practical steps have already been taken. The S4C with the support of the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) organized a survey among the S4C network members about the establishment of a Carpathian 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-

pathian information system. Two protocols of the Carpathian Convention are under preparation currently: the Protocol on sustainable agriculture and rural development and the Protocol on sustainable transport and infrastructure. 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.

Author Ľuboš Halada Institute of Landscape Ecology SAS, Slovakia lubos.halada@savba.sk

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 58

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Meeting Notes

Traditional environmental knowledge Summary Report of the Saem Majnep Memorial Symposium held at the University of Goroka, Papua New Guinea 31 October – 2 November 2012 Colin Filer The Saem Majnep Memorial Symposium 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 Australian colonial administration. In collaboration with anthropologist Ralph Bulmer and linguist Andrew Pawley, Saem wrote two books and several articles documenting the traditional environmental knowledge 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 symposium 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 interaction with the local holders of such knowledge, and involve them in wider processes of bio-cultural education, expression, and revitalization. The symposium was attended by roughly 100 people with an interest in this subject, including the Director of PNG’s National Museum, staff and students from five of PNG’s six universities, staff from a number of conservation organization 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 environmental knowledge in and from PNG, with particular focus on partnerships between scientific and local experts, and on the relationship between research 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

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of issues involving intellectual property rights. In light of these discussions, plans are now underway to develop a set of webbased resources to facilitate the documentation and dissemination of traditional environmental knowledge through systems of formal and informal education in PNG. For further information on the progress of these plans, contact Colin.Filer@anu.edu.au

The Mountain Research Initiative c/o Institute of Geography, University of Bern Erlachstrasse 9a, Trakt 3 3012 Bern Switzerland +41 (0)31 631 51 41 mri@giub.unibe.ch http://mri.scnatweb.ch