Monitoring Mountains in a Changing World: New Horizons for the Global Network for Observations and Information on Mountain Environments (GEO-GNOME)

• Published in: Mountain research and development Vol. 38; no. 3; pp. 265 - 269
• Main Authors: Adler, Carolina, Palazzi, Elisa, Kulonen, Aino, Balsiger, Jörg, Colangeli, Guido, Cripe, Douglas, Forsythe, Nathan, Goss-Durant, Grace, Guigoz, Yaniss, Krauer, Jürg, Payne, Davnah, Pepin, Nicholas, Peralvo, Manuel, Romero, José, Sayre, Roger, Shahgedanova, Maria, Weingartner, Rolf, Zebisch, Marc
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bern The International Mountain Society 01-08-2018; International Mountain Society (IMS); International Mountain Society
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Climate change; Climatic changes; Collaboration; Environmental aspects; Environmental changes; Environmental risk; Environmental stress; Galvanizing; Geospatial imaging; Initiatives; Magnetic resonance imaging; Monitoring; Mountain environments; Mountain regions; Mountain Research Initiative (MRI); MountainPlatform; Mountains; Natural resources; Observations; Paris Agreement; Planning; R&D; Research & development; Science; Sustainable development; Trends; Working groups; Italy; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Switzerland; Caucasus
• ISSN: 0276-4741; 1994-7151
• DOI: 10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-8-00065.1

Mountains are globally distributed environments that provide significant societal benefits, a function that is increasingly compromised by climatic change, environmental stress, political and socioeconomic transformations, and unsustainable use of natural resources. Gaps in our understanding of these processes and their interactions limit our capacity to inform decisions, where both generalities of mountain regions (eg climate processes) and specificities (eg context-specific manifestations of climate risks) matter. The Global Network for Observations and Information on Mountain Environments (GEO-GNOME), a Group on Earth Observations initiative, aims to fill these gaps through accessible Earth Observation (EO) as well as in-situ data and information on global change drivers, conditions, and trends. A workshop convened by the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) revised GEO-GNOME's work plan, galvanizing a network that promotes relevant monitoring of global change in mountains and is responsive to the integrated knowledge needs of policy, research, and management.