Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation

ISBN-13: 9781482208900 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 528 str.

Velma I. Grover; Axel Borsdorf; Jurgen Breuste

Opis

Mountain regions encompass nearly 24 percent of the total land surface of the earth and are home to approximately 12 percent of the world s population. Their ecosystems play a critical role in sustaining human life both in the highlands and the lowlands. During recent years, resource use in high mountain areas has changed mainly in response to the globalization of the economy and increased world population. As a result, mountain regions are undergoing rapid environmental change, exploitation, and depletion of natural resources leading to ecological imbalances and economic unsustainability. Moreover, the changing climatic conditions have stressed mountain ecosystems through higher mean annual temperatures and the melting of glaciers and snow. Altered precipitation patterns have also had an impact. This book addresses these critical issues and looks at ways to stop the downward spiral of resource degradation, rural poverty, and food and livelihood insecurity in mountain regions. The book also discusses new and comprehensive approaches to mountain development that are needed to identify sustainable resource development practices, how to strengthen local institutions and knowledge systems, and how to increase the resilience between mountain environments and their inhabitants."

Spis treści

INTRODUCTION. Prelude: Mountains in an Uncertain World. Introduction and Road Map for Impact of Global Changes on High-Mountains. DRIVERS FOR CHANGE and IMPACT OF GLOBAL CHANGES ON MOUNTAINS. Impacts and Risks of Global Change. ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION: STRATEGIES AND MODELS. Global Change and Mountains: Consequences, Responses and Opportunities. Adaptation to Climate Change in Mountain Regions: Global Significance of Marginal Places. Adaptation Frameworks for Climate Change – Eloquent to Himalayan Ecosystems. GOVERNANCE AND LEGAL ISSUES IN MOUNTAINS. Governance and Laws of Mountains. CASE STUDIES. Global Change and Sustainable Mountain Tourism: The Case of Mount Kenya. Managing Ecosystem Services for Enhancing Climate Change Adaptation in the Hindu Kush Himalayas. Future Sustainability Challenges in Hindu Kush-Himalaya: Adaptation Challenges to Global Changes in Hindu Kush-Himalaya. Climate Change and its Impacts on Community Food and Livelihood in Kumaun Himalaya: A Case Study of Dabka Catchment. Land Use/Cover Changes in the Kewer Gadhera Sub-Watershed, Central Himalaya. Hindu Kush, Karakorum, Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau Glaciers: Tipping Point. Glacier Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) – Mapping the Hazard of a Threat to High Asia and Beyond. Impact of Socioeconomic Factors and Environmental Changes on Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands. High Tatra – The Challenges of Natural Disaster Recovery and Complex Changes. Local Responses to Global Change: Community Alternatives for "good living" in Latin America. Projected Climate Change and Variability and Their Impact on the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Environmental and Socio-Economic Changes in the Rural Andes: Human Resilience and Adaptation Strategies. Climate Change and the Rocky Mountains. Climate Change Impacts on the North Western Andean (NOA) and Western (Cuyo) Andean Regions of Argentina. Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Case Study of Brazil.

O autorze

Velma I. Grover, Axel Borsdorf, Jürgen Heinz Breuste, Prakash Chandra Tiwari, Flavia Witkowski Frangetto