The Alps, in the heart of Europe, are obviously an asset, but they also pose a serious challenge: some Alpine regions lag quite far behind economically, mainly because of the disadvantages of location. At the same time, their fragile ecological and cultural systems suffer from the unbalanced economic exploitation inherent in the “open access” policy formulated by the European Union's (EU) Lisbon Strategy. The Alpine Convention, a transnational treaty signed by all Alpine countries, is designed to guide progress in a sustainable way. Regional policy is a key tool for achieving this ambitious goal—a field of action to foster progress in a comprehensive way. Regional policy programs are run by all Alpine countries under the umbrella of the EU Cohesion Policy. In this context, the EU research project known as DIAMONT was designed to gain experience with benchmarking tools to support the Alpine Convention's efforts to monitor sustainable development. One research module focused on the question of the extent to which cultural factors still have an impact on regional policy and development at large. The results of this research are presented here, with a discussion of the influence of cultural factors, values, and attitudes about regional development.

Land management is a multi-dimensional and multi-institutional engagement that demands collective analysis, design, and implementation of innovations. Its importance for Ethiopia cannot be overemphasized, as land degradation threatens food security and environmental sustainability. Building on a specific case study of a project in Southern Ethiopia, the present article describes how the government and non-state agencies are collaborating to learn together while promoting improved land management practices and implementing land rehabilitation programs in communal areas and farmlands in the Ethiopian highlands. Ensuring full involvement and commitment of stakeholders at different levels, building the capacity of local institutions, and redefining the role of communities and the state in a dynamic way are essential prerequisites for success. Suggestions have also been formulated to facilitate wider adoption and scaling up of improved land management innovations.

Sajama National Park in Bolivia's Cordillera Occidental is not only the country's oldest national park; it also contains Bolivia's highest mountain, ice-capped Nevado Sajama, at 6542 m. Created in 1939 by presidential decree with the primary objective of protecting native keñua (Polylepis tarapacana) forests, the Sajama National Park, later ratified by national law, had neither formal administration nor park rangers until 1995.

Towering over the barren lands of the Altiplano—Bolivia's highland plateau, at an altitude of about 4000 m—Mount Sajama plays a key role in traditional indigenous mythology, as well as in the formation of the present-day identity of local communities. The latter factor is largely due to a new policy and to multiple activities launched by the Bolivian national parks authority (Servicio Nacional de Áreas Protegidas, SERNAP) during the past decade. As an initial result, local perception of Sajama National Park as an “imposition from above” has given way to referring to the park as “our protected area.”

Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) has become an important approach to restructuring social relations and governance and to promoting livelihoods and natural resource management practices in many parts of the world. Many people believe CBNRM has, in fact, successfully curtailed state-centered, top-down resource management practices and illegal extraction of resources. However, some people think the approach has supported neo-liberalization and de-concentration processes, and created another layer of elite dominance at the local level. In the context of emerging local institutions, the growing concerns of civil society, and weak national and local governance mechanisms in managing natural resources, it was essential to undertake a study to explore the strengths and weaknesses of community-based groups and networks in the management of natural resources, linking policies and local-level practices.

Mountains have been an intergovernmental and transnational issue of growing importance for 15 years. Thanks to global conferences such as the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 and regional treaties such as the Alpine Convention (1991), it is easier and increasingly useful for local communities to connect across borders. This growing will and capacity to be associated with intergovernmental initiatives is the result of a general trend in public affairs to bring together different stakeholders at various levels. However, the “voice” of mountain people sometimes remains outside debates and decision-making processes related to mountain development. The present article focuses on the emergence of a mountain community network in Central Asia. It addresses the issue of local governance and the international networking process to strengthen the “voice” of mountain people.

Climate change aggravates the challenges of sustainable development in mountain regions and calls for deeper insights into impacts on the vulnerability of mountain people and their options for adapting to changing conditions. Peru is considered highly vulnerable to climate change. Therefore, its government has initiated a program to strengthen the capacity for transdisciplinary research in order to propose adaptation measures and reduce the negative impacts of climate change. The present article describes the strategy for selecting the study area and for achieving collaboration between natural and social scientists, stakeholders, decision-makers, and other societal groups, in order to carry out an integrated assessment of climate change in the mountainous ecosystems region of central Peru, with an emphasis on vulnerability and adaptation.

The present article examines the relationship between community forest management policies on the one hand, and income and unemployment in rural areas of Nepal on the other, by modeling the effect of forest management constraints on community forest use. Current government policy dictates the use of all community forestland for environmental conservation and limited timber production, and provides little scope for fodder and firewood production. Based on data from 259 households in 6 community forest user groups in 3 hilly districts (Dolakha, Kavre, and Nuwakot), the results show that the resources available from private lands and community forests under current policies are inadequate to fully utilize the family labor force of many rural households, and are insufficient to generate a bare subsistence income for the poorest households. The study shows that a policy change to community forest management using a more flexible agroforestry model could overcome rural unemployment problems and increase incomes while ensuring sustainable resource use from the forests.

Rice, the staple crop in northern Laos, has traditionally been grown in shifting cultivation systems (upland rice). Government policies and increasing population pressure have resulted in declining productivity of this system. Farmers need alternative and sustainable rice production systems to meet their rice needs. One alternative is the production of rice in flooded, terraced fields (montane paddy). This option is not new; however, farmers are developing these montane paddy fields much more now than in the past. The objectives of the study were to understand why farmers have begun developing montane paddy, the effect of paddy rice production on farmer livelihood activities, and the economics and costs associated with developing paddy land. The survey focused on 9 highland villages in northern Laos. In all villages, farmers reported declining upland rice yields. Between 1998 and 2002, the paddy area in these villages increased by over 240%. The main reasons cited for developing new paddy area were higher yields and less labor involved in paddy rice production. Paddy farmers had better rice security, grew more cash crops, owned more livestock, and had higher income. A cost–benefit analysis of developing paddy area suggests that paddy development is a good investment. Further research is required in identifying suitable areas for continued development, and accessing the environmental and social impacts of paddy development.

The long-term preservation of national park ecosystems requires scientific knowledge about land use/cover change (LUCC) that influences these ecosystems. LUCC in Mexican temperate mountain forests as depicted in satellite imagery was evaluated for 3 time intervals: 1970–1980, 1981–1990, and 1991–2000. Forest cover declined at an average rate of 0.35 ha per year due to timber extraction, cultivation, grazing (areas grazed by cattle), and urbanization processes. Historically, cultivation has resulted in such a high loss of plant communities in lowlands that regional diversity has been threatened. Currently, though, cultivation has been reduced due to a decline in the economic importance of corn and bean crops. By contrast, grazing has increased due to low labor costs and economic policies that provide incentives for cattle production in Mexico. The abandonment of cultivated land due to economic processes may have strong implications on the regeneration of plant communities in temperate forests. Highland temperate forest and subalpine grasslands remain relatively intact due to national park protection, which is essential to maintain species diversity at a regional scale.

Mountain regions and UNESCO Mountain Biosphere Reserves (MBRs) encapsulate broad elevational ranges, cover large gradients of geological, topographical and climatic diversity, and thus host greater biodiversity than the surrounding lowlands. Much of the biological richness in MBRs results from the interaction of climatic contrasts and gravitational forces along elevational gradients. External forces such as atmospheric change and human land use interact with these gradients, and result in distinct landscape patchiness, ie mosaics of land cover types within and across elevational belts. The management of MBRs influences land use and land cover, which affects biodiversity and ecosystem processes, both of which provide goods and services to society. Due to their broad environmental and biological diversity, MBRs are ideally suited for global change research and will be increasingly important in illustrating biodiversity conservation. This article summarizes the ecologically relevant results of an international workshop on elevational gradients that aimed to achieve a synthesis of the major ecosystem and biodiversity conditions and drivers in an altitude context. The workshop developed a core research agenda for MBRs that prioritizes long-term research and changes in land use across a broad elevational range.

Mountains and mountain societies provide a wide range of goods and services to humanity, but they are particularly sensitive to the effects of global environmental change. Thus, the definition of appropriate management regimes that maintain the multiple functions of mountain regions in a time of greatly changing climatic, economic, and societal drivers constitutes a significant challenge. Management decisions must be based on a sound understanding of the future dynamics of these systems. The present article reviews the elements required for an integrated effort to project the impacts of global change on mountain regions, and recommends tools that can be used at 3 scientific levels (essential, improved, and optimum). The proposed strategy is evaluated with respect to UNESCO's network of Mountain Biosphere Reserves (MBRs), with the intention of implementing it in other mountain regions as well. First, methods for generating scenarios of key drivers of global change are reviewed, including land use/land cover and climate change. This is followed by a brief review of the models available for projecting the impacts of these scenarios on (1) cryospheric systems, (2) ecosystem structure and diversity, and (3) ecosystem functions such as carbon and water relations. Finally, the cross-cutting role of remote sensing techniques is evaluated with respect to both monitoring and modeling efforts. We conclude that a broad range of techniques is available for both scenario generation and impact assessments, many of which can be implemented without much capacity building across many or even most MBRs. However, to foster implementation of the proposed strategy, further efforts are required to establish partnerships between scientists and resource managers in mountain areas.

The Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) is a university-based institution that conducts resource- and people-centered research and development activities in Switzerland and abroad. Mountain development is one of CDE's focus areas. CDE is part of the Institute of Geography at the University of Berne and is the lead institution for the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North–South.

The Mountain Research Initiative invited Dr Eva Spehn, Director of the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA), and Dr Antoine Guisan, head of the Spatial Ecology Group at the University of Lausanne, to introduce the reader to their coordinated efforts to advance understanding and prediction of mountain biodiversity. Antoine Guisan's EUROMONT project is one of the many scientific projects that may potentially provide data for the new GMBA initiative for a GIS mountain biodiversity database.

In the context of the EU GLOCHAMORE project (Global Change in Mountain Regions, 2003–2005) a workshop was held on Altitudinal Gradient Studies from 27 to 30 July 2005 in Samedan/Switzerland. The main topic of the workshop was ecology and ecosystem processes (see “Ecological and land use studies along altitudinal gradients,” Becker et al 2007, in this issue). Other issues that arose at the workshop, including general aspects and hydrological and geomorphological issues, are presented here in brief.

The Mountain Partnership—an evolving voluntary alliance of countries, intergovernmental organizations and major groups (civil society, NGOs, and the private sector) on 5 continents—was set up to provide a cohesive framework in which to enhance collaboration in the implementation of both Chapter 13 in Agenda 21 and the negotiated outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, which called for on-ground action at the policy, program, and project levels.