Global Change and Mountains: Consequences, Responses and Opportunities - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 107

America where mountain regions offer high value human habitat and
where urban growth has been rapid and mostly unplanned. Urbanization
as a general term covers a variety of dynamics. Large cities proximate to
the mountains expand into the mountains. Smaller towns grow through
amenity migration by distant immigrants while others grow by offering
new economic or human development options to proximate rural migrants.
Some grow as gateways to mass tourism. Yet others grow with ongoing
economic development and penetration of global economies. While in
all cases, population densities increase and urban footprints expand, the
nature of the population and the footprint vary as do the longer-term
development trajectory. Urbanization has impacts, both ecological and
social, within the urban footprint and beyond. Expanding urban areas
consume and pollute resources, and frequently put inhabitants at risk. But
urbanization also contributes signifi cantly to not only economic growth
through the improvement of infrastructure, the development of tourism
and the generation of employment opportunities, but also increased
community sustainability by strengthening social services, particularly,
education, health, communication, etc. At the same time, rapid urbanization
alters land use far beyond the urban periphery and unlocks the world's
mountains, particularly their remote and comparatively inaccessible areas
for exploitation of their natural resources by growing global markets. As
urbanization is to a large extent at least theoretically under policy control, it
is conceivable that the mix of costs and benefi ts attributable to urbanization,
and the distribution of those costs and benefi ts across the many social groups
inhabiting these areas can be infl uenced by policy.
Our mountains across the planet are rapidly urbanizing. In the Andes
the proportion of urban population has increased tremendously during the
last few decades. Out of the total population of Andean countries 69 and 91%
now living in urban areas compared to 55 to 87% in 1990 (Rumero et al. 2009,
CEPAL 2004). Bolivia and Ecuador have emerged as the most urbanized
countries in the continents, with difference of 13 and 15 percentage points,
respectively (CONDESAN 2011). The largest urban centres in the Andean
countries are evenly distributed inside and outside the Andean region.
However, many situated outside, such as Lima—the most populated city in
the Andean countries, depend heavily on the Andes for natural resources,
particularly water. The environmental and socio-economic impacts of rapid
urban growth in the Andes have reached an alarming level (CONDESAN
2011). Chile has experienced a more rapid, persistent and comprehensive
process of economic development in the last 20 years that resulted in fast
urban growth in high mountains as well as in their pediment zones. As a
result, 87% of Chile population lived in urban areas in 2002 which is having
severe impacts on mountainous ecosystems (CONDESAN 2011).