Mountain areas cover almost one quarter of the earth's land surface, with a quarter of the global population living on them or very close by, and they are sources of water, food, timber, minerals and other natural resources. They provide many opportunities for recreation, as well as being centres of biological and cultural diversity and religious significance. Unfortunately, mountain environments and populations are also particularly threatened by climate change and political conflicts, and their inhabitants include many of the poorest and most vulnerable in the world. This publication includes a number of papers which explore a range of sustainable development challenges for mountain regions.

This book breaks the ground in Geographical texts by transcending a strictly regional or topical focus. It presents the opportunities and constraints that mountains and their resources offer to local and global populations; the impacts of environmental and economic change, development and globalisation on mountain environments. Part of the Ecogeography series edited by Richard Hugget

Mountain Environments and Communities explains the background physical environment and then explores the environmental and social dimensions of mountain regions. This critical review of the concepts currently employed in mountain research, draws upon a wide range of examples from developed and developing countries. The dynamics of mountain life are described through both historical accounts of village-based systems and examples of the contemporary impact of global capital and sustainable development strategies.

This Book Demonstrates The Highly Varied Nature Of Mountain Studies, The Role Of Mountain Forests, Hazards And Risks, Mine Reclamation And Wildlife Habitat, Global Climate Change, Recreation And Tourism, Agricultural Biodiversity, Protected Areas And Vegetation With Special Focus On Change In Perception Of Nature Of Risk From Biophysical Properties Of Mountains To Damage Caused By Human Agencies.

Mountain environments are often perceived to be austere, isolated, and inhospitable. In fact, these areas are of immense value to mankind, providing direct life support to close to 10 percent of the world's population and sustaining a wide variety of species - many of which are endemic to this environment. 'Environmental Change in Mountains and Uplands' provides detailed account of the fragile and marginal physical and socio-economic systems which make up the world's mountain regions. Discussing the direct and indirect impacts of human interference on environmental ecosystems, it then turns to the social and economic consequences of such environmental change - both upon the mountain environment itself and upon the populations who depend on mountain resources for their economic sustenance. This book includes a review of possible implications for adaption and mitigation strategies in a global context. Working within a broad temporal scale, it draws upon paleoenvironmental records to document past changes which have occured in the absence of major anthropogenic influences, as well as utilising modelling as a means to assessing future environmental change.

Environment, mountain biodiversity, ecological changes.