Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
environmental change although at present the principal ones are climate, land use
change, and their interactions. In a mountain environment context, environmental
change will affect the capacity of landscapes to continue to provide services not
only for resident populations but also for dependent populations beyond the moun-
tains' extent. Changes in temperature and precipitation regimes, and the frequency
of extreme events, will have severe repercussions on the physical character and on
the biological and human communities of mountain areas. Glaciers, snow cover,
water storage and flow, are unique features of mountainous areas; however, any
changes affecting them will in turn impact on lowland areas. The range of environ-
mental conditions present in mountain regions has resulted in mountains playing a
significant part in the conservation of global biodiversity. Environmental changes
will affect not only the species present, but also ecosystem functions such as bio-
chemical cycling and habitat provision. Climate changes, through the alteration of
the frequency of extreme events, may pose a threat to life and property in moun-
tain regions, create new health hazards for humans and their domestic animals, and
cause severe impacts on mountain economies and livelihoods. Land use, one of
the major drivers of change globally, is subject to external forces such as climate
and global markets. The response to change will not only require increased under-
standing of how drivers operate in mountain environments but also the appropriate
institutional capacities to react.
Although many textbooks and specialized topics have been written about moun-
tain environments (e.g. Gerrard, 1990; Barry, 1992; Funnell and Parish, 2001;
Parish, 2002) there has been only one so far for the Mediterranean mountains
(McNeill, 1992). This first chapter is an introduction to the mountain environments
of the Mediterranean Basin. It will set the scene and place the mountains of the
basin in the global context while at the same time providing a brief overview of the
various subjects illustrated in this topic, and explain the organization of its content.
1.2 Setting the scene
Unquestionably mountains constitute the backbone of the whole Mediterranean re-
gion, including the largest islands in the basin (Figure 1.1). McNeill (1992, p. 1)
in the only topic dedicated to the Mediterranean mountains to be published so far,
wrote: 'The beauty of the Mediterranean mountains is in way a sad one. Skele-
tal mountains and shell villages dot the upland areas of the Mediterranean world,
dominating the physical and social landscape.' Imposing massifs run from North
to South such as the Pindos in Greece, the Apennines in Italy, and the Dinarids in
Balkans, West to East such as the Atlas Mountains extending over 3500 km from
North Morocco to Tunisia, and dominate the landscapes of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica,
Cyprus and Crete.
Definitions about what constitutes a mountain vary and include topography, cli-
mate, vegetation, constraints on agriculture, or length of growing seasons (Gerrard,
1990; Kapos, 2000). A working definition is the one by Price (1981): 'An elevated
landform of high local relief, e.g. 300 m (1000 ft), with much of its surface in steep
