Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Future changes are uncertain due to climatic change, especially global
warming, and its impact on a range of ecosystem services.
Due to the harsh conditions particularly in the highest zones there is a limited
range of options for sustainable development.
Despite their similarities there are a number of differences that make each
mountain unique and give each a distinct character:
Altitude variations resulting in differences in vegetation zonation; i.e. not all
mountains present the same zonation from shrublands to alpine communities.
Biogeographical elements that encompass Atlantic elements in the west, and
Irano-Turanian in the east.
The intensity and therefore impact of the principal human activities, i.e.
agriculture, grazing and tourism, vary significantly from north to south of the
basin.
The major driver, i.e. population change, which is dependent on
mountain services also varies between the northern and southern Mediter-
ranean mountains.
There is a significant increase in forest cover in the north of the Basin while in
the south the trend is the opposite.
There is a different history of colonization, invasion and exploitation by
humans.
Northern Mediterranean mountains are subject to EU laws and regulations
regarding natural resources management and protection.
10.2 Environmental challenges in
Mediterranean mountains
In a dynamic environment such as a mountain system, change is an inherent part
of the processes that operate at a range of spatial and temporal scales in rela-
tion to both natural and socioeconomic factors. Mountain ecosystems and their
associated services are the product of landscapes with a long history of land use,
and therefore are susceptible to both climate change and socioeconomic trans-
formations. There have been various reviews of the challenges that mountain re-
gions face worldwide (see Beniston, 2003; Huber
et al.,
2005; Borsdorf
et al.,
2010). These challenges are inextricably linked with the provision of services
(Korner and Ohsawa, 2005), which will be subject to pressures related to their
demand and use, within and beyond the mountains' reach (Bayfield, 2001). The
