Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
mountain sickness and pulmonary oedema become apparent above 3 km altitude, owing
to the rarified atmosphere (see box, p. 514), as do wind chill, frostbite and snowblindness
on exposure to cold and snow. Yet all these are tolerated perennially by 10 per cent of
Earth's human population and by a further 20 per cent of us seasonally in pursuit of
recreation.
Mountains themselves are under stress. Indigenous populations are mostly citizens of
less developed countries, often pressed for cultivable land and natural resources and
looking increasingly towards more marginal mountain environments. Sustained growth in
the developed world exploits the tourist and hydroelectric potential of mountains and
their water, mineral and timber resources. Demand for open spaces, scenic quality and
solitude conflicts with the impact of atmospheric pollution, expanded economic
infrastructure and tourism overdevelopment. Human pressures are large enough to make
it harder to detect those driven by climate change. Figure 1 and Plate 1 highlight a range
of threats and sensitivities.
These pressures threaten the fragile mountain geoecosystem, leading to serious
landscape degradation and the diminution or ultimate loss of resources. We are only now
becoming aware of the likely harm of irreversible environmental impacts and developing
coherent response strategies. We must also avoid mistaking the degree of vulnerability to
human, rather than natural, changes. Apparent linkages between Himalayan deforestation
and flooding in Bangladesh may be one example where geographers' thirst for 'issues'
may distort reality. However, as we strive to resolve existing pressures we are aware that
global climatic change poses new threats to the mountains. Their environmental
management is likely to experience increased conflict due to trying to balance
development with environmental conservation in such sensitive systems. Tourism and
other economic developments can respond even more quickly to economic, rather than
climatic, trends. Small temperature changes may affect alpine tourism, dependent on
snow and ice, disproportionately. Loss of winter snow and increased competition
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