Global Change and Mountains: Consequences, Responses and Opportunities - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 113

the steep wet slopes of fragile mountains in the region. It was observed
that it takes about seven to 20 years for the big roots of tree stumps to rot
out and massive landslides to begin to occur on steep slopes. But, steep
slope logging, still legal under British Columbia's Forest Practices Code, is
happening all over the province, particularly along ecologically vulnerable
Pacifi c coast. Hundreds of miles of shoreline have been degraded by the
clear-cut, which have turned some of the most beautiful cruising coastlines
in the world into some of the despoiled ones (Power 1995). However, it
was investigated that the overexploitation of forest resources has declined
employment in the forestry sector despite continued increase timber harvest
(Schwindt and Heaps 1997).
In addition to large number of rural communities that depend on
commercial forestry sector, a signifi cant number of people, particularly,
the native population still depends of the extraction of primary forest
resources in British Columbia. Due to intensive logging and massive
loss of biodiversity the sustainability of rural communities is collapsing
through the depletion of primary forest resources that support traditional
economic activities, such as gathering, grazing, fi shing, hunting, ranching,
etc. Consequently, a large number of native families inhabiting the forests
of British Columbia are now being forced to leave their traditional forest-
based means of livelihood, and migrate out of their homes in search
of alternative means of livelihood. With the deprivation of traditional
economic activities, the native communities are also losing their culture and
indigenous knowledge developed through several thousand years, which
has great implications to community sustainability and conservation and
management of natural resources.
Mining activities have often devastating impacts on the local environment
and causes displacement of indigenous people living in the immediate area
(Pratt 2001). The pollution and toxic wastes produced by mines have still
more severe environmental problems. Mines are now therefore emerging
as the major source of toxic pollution which is contaminating large areas
both in upstream and downstream, particularly in developing countries.
Although mineral extraction contributes a relatively small part of global
GDP, but mineral revenues are often signifi cant in mountainous countries.
For example, the mineral resources of Andes are incredibly important for
the economies of the all seven mountainous countries of South America with
the presence of globally signifi cant reserves metals and minerals in these
mountains (CEPAL 2004). Minerals account for 45 and 49% national export
of Chile and Peru. The ecologically sensitive mountainous regions like
Paramos in the north and Puno in the south are now increasingly affected
by mining activities and emerging as a major threat to fragile mountain
systems (Ministerio De Medio Ambiente 2010). Large-scale mining has
overstrained steep and fragile terrain, polluted water sources, damaged