Mountains under Pressure

• Other Authors: Marchant, Rob (Editor), Cuni-Sanchez, Aida (Editor)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2023
• Subjects: Research & information: general; Geography; environmental perceptions; land function; rural space; karst mountain area; Mediterranean; Montenegro; mountain; katun; traditional architecture; vernacular heritage; transhumance; extensive cattle rearing; ecological indices; land abandonment; land management; meadows; mountain agroecosystems; mowing tolerance; mountain vegetation; pastures; spreadsheet; fractal characteristics; natural geographical features; water-facing distribution; suitable space; rural mountain settlements; population; population trends; urbanisation; sustainable development; deforestation; shifting cultivation; traditional fallow; swiddens; land-use change; spatial effects; small-scale context; socio-economic drivers; policy assessment; CAP; policy trade-offs; mitigation policies; gully agricultural production transformation; rural development; sustainable land use; geographically and temporally weighted regression; gully land consolidation; farmer; Chagga; gender; East Africa; local knowledge; Kilimanjaro; Hehe; Udzungwa; wealth groups; alpine and montane ecosystems; austral perspective; environmental sustainability; global change; long-term research; mountain observatories; multi-disciplinary research; social context; socio-ecological coupling; Southern Africa; model complexity; model validation; Landsat; satellite data; species distribution models; connectivity; fragmentation; Maxent; functional traits; environmental drivers; mycorrhizas; fourth corner; RLQ; Andean forests; alpine; mountains; climate change; experimental manipulations; PRISMA; precipitation; drought; vegetation; New Zealand; hill country; poplar; kānuka; agroforestry; silvopasture; soil conservation; erosion; ecosystem services; alien species; biological invasions; citizen science; elevation; species abundance; tree invasions; woody plant encroachment; adaptation strategies; ethnicity; farmers; Itombwe Mountains; perceptions; wealth group; n/a
• Online Access: DOAB: download the publication; DOAB: description of the publication

Mountain forests and alpine ecosystems are rich in biodiversity and endemism, and they are also large global carbon stores. They are highly threatened by climate change, population growth and land use change. Mountains represent an ideal natural laboratory in which the evolution of social-ecological systems can be investigated and to the current challenges and opportunities that this past evolution has created can be assessed. Mountains have been centres of past development and conduits for the spread of crops, populations and technologies. They were and remain a locus for cultural interaction, as manifested recently in many parts of the world at the local level through pastoral-agricultural-urban interactions over access to space and resources, particularly water. The relevance and impact of this Special Issue on mountains goes beyond academia, as practitioners and policymakers need key information on the dynamics and changes in threatened ecosystems to help design and implement appropriate management strategies for sustainable mountain futures.