The Mountains Biome Blog
Ideas, information, issues, and alerts from the IUCN-WCPA Mountains Biome
Natural Solutions: Protected Areas helping people cope with Climate Change
Linda McMillan
A product of the PACT 2020 partnership, called "Natural Solutions: Protected Areas helping people cope with Climate Change" was just released at a news conference at the Copenhagen Climate Summit...
Potential Mining Threat to New Zealand Protected Areas
Our WCPA Mountain Biome’s team is reacting to potential mining activities in Mount Aspiring National Park and other NZ protected areas. Correspondence has been sent to the New Zealand Prime Minister and others...
K2's glacier comes clean
The Italian NGO Ev-K2-CNR is famous for studying and protecting the world's highest alpine environments. This year they accomplished a massive "clean up" of the Baltoro Glacier at the base of K2 in Pakistan. Here you can read their report (in Italian). plus an English translation of the report, courtesy of Sara Sottocornola of Montagna.org...
Clarifying Connectivity
Dr. Graeme Worboys has alerted us that our Mountains Protected Areas Network member Gary Tabor -- Director of the Center for Large Landscape Conservation in Bozeman, Montana -- has co-authored a terminology guide and very informative article about landscape fragmentation and connectivity conservation in the July/August 2009 newsletter for Landscope America: Clarifying the Terminology and Connectivity 101
Important new publication on Mountain Biodiversity and Climate Change
An important new public interest book relating to linking landscapes, transboundary connectivity conservation, and climate change is now available in hard copy and online from ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development). This valuable and visually-stunning book, Mountain Biodiversity and Climate Change, was developed from the presentations and other contributions made at the International Mountain Biodiversity Conference in November 2008 at the ICIMOD headquarters in Kathmandu, Nepal. Several of our Mountains Biome Network members attended the conference and contributed material for this book.
MOUNTAINS BIOME SYMPOSIUM AT WILD9 - Large Landscape, Connectivity Conservation and Climate Change
Invitation from Harvey Locke, Mountains Biome Network -- Please join the IUCN Mountains Biome team for a 3-day symposium "Large Landscape, Connectivity Conservation and Climate Change" November 10-12, 2009 as part of the ninth World Wilderness Congress (http://wild9.org) in Merida, Mexico...
Could you outrun a glacial lake outburst flood? Everest region uses the answer for climate change education
The massive task of understanding and responding effectively to climate change can be crucial for peoples’ physical, economic, and cultural survival. But how can people with few resources tackle a task that large? During two days of events in June 2009, the innovative people of the Khumbu (Everest region) of Nepal showed the world how leveraging their special place and culture has helped them to start this task by making it educational, exciting, inclusive, and downright fun...
CALL FOR PAPERS -- Mountain session at the World Forestry Congress
As The XIII World Forestry Congress (WFC) will take place in Buenos Aires (Argentina) from 18-23 October 2009. A session on mountains has been recently approved and included in the Congress Programme, and will take place on Friday 23 October. The session will last 1.5 hours and will be in addition to the two mountain side events being organized, one by the Argentinean Committee for Mountains and the other by CONDESAN, which will focus on the Mountain Partnership at global and Andean levels respectively. Also, in the context of the “Forests and Water” sessions, an entire slot will be devoted to watershed management. The new session on mountains will be inserted shortly in the official programme under section 3: “Forests in the service of people”.
Dawa Steven Sherpa Focuses Global Attention on Climate Change Impacts in Mountain Regions
his week our Mountain Protected Areas Network member Dawa Steven Sherpa of Nepal can celebrate two major victories: leading another innovative and impressive Eco-Everest Expedition to Mount Everest, and sharply focusing global attention on the urgent need to respond to the destructive impacts of climate change on the mountains of the world.