Mitigating global environmental problems requires most societies to focus on sustainability. To support the corresponding reorientation of priorities, researchers need to complement their rather isolated investigations of individual phenomena with studies that involve humans more deeply. The scientific community must continue to contribute to both the accumulation and the implementation of knowledge. To effectively translate knowledge into action, all actors and all parties affected must be involved. Because international agreements on measures to mitigate key problems of global change are very difficult to reach, they must be complemented by regional views, which have a much greater chance of enactment. The syndrome approach evoked in this article—which is based on an earlier collaborative study—is a research framework that can provide the necessary scientific basis for regional decisions within a global context. It seems particularly appropriate for identifying and tackling problems of global change in mountain regions.

Shepherds on horseback tend sheep on green mountain pastures: an idyllic image of Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous country in the heart of Asia, that hides the harsh reality of life after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The radical change from a planned economy to a free market economy caused an almost complete breakdown of Kyrgyzstan's industry and interrupted trade flows. Today, many families in rural areas depend on subsistence agriculture, living below the poverty line. Kyrgyzstan has formed a new agricultural advisory service to render assistance to rural families in this difficult transition period. In the absence of adequate formal research, this extension service relies on participatory methods to develop messages adapted to the new situation. It makes use of a participatory smallholder research methodology known as participatory technology development.

Despite important technological achievements, agricultural research in Mexico has had little impact on the improvement of rural livelihoods in the mountains of Central Mexico. The reason for this is its failure to focus on the development of highland campesino agriculture. The Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Agropecuarias (CICA, Research Center in Agricultural Science) of the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico has set itself the objective of using research to improve living conditions in campesino households and communities. This places CICA at the interface between research and development. A participatory research project on the management of agrodiversity by indigenous campesinos in San Pablo Tlalchichilpa, in the mountains of the State of Mexico (Figure 1), underlines the importance of taking into account all environmental, social, economic and technological aspects of campesino agriculture as well as the interactions between these elements. Without a more profound understanding of these elements, research cannot contribute to improving campesino livelihoods in a sustainable way.

The east African mountain region provides living testimony to what can go wrong when the traditional balance between people, their habitat and the socio-economic context breaks down. The problems posed by population growth, land pressure, food scarcity, and degradation of a fragile environment with finite natural resources are aggravated by insecurity, civil war and cross-border refugee camps. In the face of these odds, the CGIAR International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and its predecessor, ILCA, have been working to improve people's livelihoods in Ethiopia since 1974. ILRI believes that the needs of mountain regions can be met sustainably by tapping the potentials of different ecological niches more efficiently, particularly in the area of livestock production. The present paper presents examples of ILRI's development-oriented research and evokes the challenges encountered by research that targets broad development goals.

Watersheds are an attractive unit for development in mountainous landscapes. However, watershed analysis usually requires significantly more time, data and funds, and must include more actors. Also, results may be disappointing. Many off-site effects are very difficult to modify without major changes in land use systems. Frequently, these land use changes (eg more pasture or reforestation) pit soil conservation against rural employment. In other cases, sediment may not be originating on-farm, but primarily in other parts of the landscape, implying civil engineering rather than on-farm solutions. On the other hand, we have found that good maps and valid models are of growing interest to municipal authorities as they consider alternative development plans.

The human dimension of development processes in high mountain regions regularly escapes appropriate assessment due to a lack of applicable methods. Comparative data are lacking, and it is difficult to substantiate the position of mountain societies within nation-states. In view of the International Year of Mountains, consideration should be given to the focus of research and the need for comparative approaches. Using examples from case studies in South Asian high mountain regions, this article introduces an approach that applies widely known human development indicators to different regional levels. Evaluating the results and interpreting the dimensions of these indicators reveal pressing problems in mountain research as well as fields for further investigation.

Risk assessment of new technologies such as the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agricultural production is enormously complex. It cannot be limited to analysis only from the perspective of the natural sciences; socio economic factors need to be considered as well. Active promotion of GMO-free areas is discussed here as an alternative means of technological development. Disadvantaged and ecologically sensitive areas such as the European Alps are suitable for territorial application of this concept. The state of the current debate about the impacts of GMOs on regional development in disadvantaged and ecologically sensitive regions is presented. This is followed by the results of a survey on the social acceptance of GMO-free areas conducted in 1999 in Austria. These results suggest that the creation of GMO-free zones in the Alps is an idea worth pursuing.

Sixty-two caregivers in a mountainous region of western Nepal were interviewed about factors related to improving the indoor air quality. The study included 25 households with improved iron stoves and 37 households that cooked on a traditional open fire. In a subsample of 27 households, the field team observed kitchen characteristics and the stoves in everyday use, employing a standardized checklist. All the caregivers with improved stoves expressed satisfaction with their stoves, whereas only 16% of caregivers with traditional stoves were satisfied. There were no differences with respect to time spent in the kitchen or time spent on cooking. The main motivational factors for installing an improved stove were reduced smoke and better health. The villagers were willing to contribute 8% of total annual income per capita to have an improved stove installed. The survey identified weaknesses in stove design that might have influenced the smoke reduction potential of the improved stoves. This paper discusses how local conditions can determine the motivational factors and the success of future programs for improving indoor air quality in this setting.

Black tents serve as mobile housing for a majority of the nomadic groups in a belt that stretches from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the eastern Tibetan Plateau. The existence of the black tent in its easternmost distribution has rarely been discussed in detail. In most regions, the requirements of the tent are determined by hot, arid climatic conditions, whereas an arid high mountain climate predominates on the Tibetan Plateau. The eastern part receives precipitation of over 500 mm annually. This raises questions about how Tibetan nomads have adapted the black tent to their specific needs and to environmental conditions. Using examples from a region in the eastern Tibetan Plateau, these questions are examined through descriptions of tent variations, construction, interior, choice of location for pitching the tent, and the strategies of tent dwellers to improve protection from cold and rain.

We estimated the aboveground net primary productivity of 5 seminatural Andean pastures: 2 páramo grassland plots (430 and 512 g/m²/y), 2 plots in cleared montane forest (70 and 110 g/m²/y), and 1 in an intensive agricultural setting (1359 g/m²/y). The páramo and montane forest plots demonstrated very low productivity compared with the lowest altitude plot. The productivity of the montane forest plots was very low because overgrazing had led to the formation of dense Azorella pedunculata mats of no pasture value. The inherent productivity of páramo tussock grasses, the dominant plants in the two highest sites, is constrained by the retention of dead leaves, which are periodically burned away by farmers (but probably too frequently for long-term benefit). It is unlikely that montane forest and páramo plots could sustain higher levels of grazing, even with the addition of fertilizer, and efforts would be more appropriately focused on increasing the yields of lower altitude pastures.

Studies on phenology and growth form distribution in an alpine pasture of Garhwal Himalaya were undertaken from 1988 to 1998. One hundred seventy-one species were recorded and classified as 5 different growth forms. These species were also classified as early- and late-growing type, on the basis of initiation of their aerial sprouts. Cushion-forming forbs generally emerge as the season commences, that is, immediately after snowmelt. However, the vegetative growth of grasses and other forbs peaked randomly after arrival of the monsoon. Phenophases of different species at higher elevations respond to the availability of the soil moisture and nutrient regimes as well as to temperature and different photoperiodic induction. The spectrum of life forms in the region indicated a hemicryptophytic and geophytic plant climate.

Low elevation riparian forests found within the Middle Hills of Nepal are both essential biological habitats and important resources for local subsistence farmers. Forming networks of habitat patches within the primarily agricultural matrix of the Middle Hills, these forests are repositories of a rich biological diversity. Dynamics of forest change along riparian corridors were investigated within the newly established Makalu Barun National Park and Conservation Area (MBCA) of eastern Nepal, based on a comparison of remote sensing data over a 20-year interval. Multispectral analysis and a supervised classification of Landsat TM (1992) and Landsat MSS (1972) data estimate approximately 7000 ha of low elevation riparian forests within the study area. Change detection analysis estimates based on the respective supervised classifications reveal little significant change in extent of the tropical and subtropical zone riparian forests. More impact was evident toward the upper elevational limits of the study area. A 4% (approximately 300 ha) loss of cover within areas previously designated as forest is estimated. For all areas in the study area, a net loss of forest of 11% is estimated. Land use is shown to be highly dynamic, with significant internal trading between land use classes. The important role of riparian corridors in biodiversity conservation within the Middle Hills of east Nepal is discussed. Further research on biodiversity within these patches and a specific recognition of the value of remnant riparian forests within the landscape and rural economy are required if conservation goals for the eastern Nepal Himalaya are to be met.

Land use and land cover changes that occurred from 1957 to 1995 in the Dembecha area, Gojam, in the Northwestern highlands of Ethiopia, were monitored using a geographic information system (GIS) and a remote sensing approach with field verification. The study area covers 27,100 ha and is representative of Gojam, which is known for its cereal production and export of surplus to major cities of the country. However, given the age-old tradition of clearing increasingly steeper land for cultivation and the lack of appropriate land use policies, productivity is currently heavily threatened by soil degradation. The results show that the natural forest cover declined from 27% in 1957 to 2% in 1982 and 0.3% in 1995. The total natural forest cleared between 1957 and 1995 amounts to 7259 ha. This is 99% of the forest cover that existed in 1957. On the other hand, cultivated land increased from 39% in 1957 to 70% in 1982 and 77% in 1995. The greatest expansion occurred between 1957 and 1982 (about 78%) and slowed down between 1982 and 1995 (only 10%) because almost no land was left for further expansion. Throughout the period covered by the study, cultivation encroached upon the very last marginal areas and steep slopes with gradients >30%. Such a dramatic change in 4 decades and the increasing proportion of completely degraded lands, from virtually nil in 1957 to about 3% in 1995, clearly indicates the prevailing danger of land degradation in the area.