Adaptation to Climate Change in Mountain Regions: Global Significance of Marginal Places - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 142

This is not true in the case of mountain societies. Though mountain
populations and societies are often remote and in many ways isolated,
they are by no means disconnected from the low lands. It is through their
connection with the lowlands that the fate of mountain regions and the way
mountain regions adapt to climate change will continuously be interwoven
with the fate of the adjacent lowlands. Therefore climate change in mountain
regions is a common concern for a large part of humanity.
Mountain region characteristics
Before discussing the implications of climate change in mountain regions for
lowland societies it is important to look at the defi ning characteristics. What
is it that makes mountain regions and the human-environment systems
they host particularly vulnerable to global climate change?
Mountains and mountain ranges are distinct features of the Earth's
surface that share common characteristics. Defined as a “substantial
elevation of the Earth's crust above sea level” they result in “localized
disruptions to climate, drainage, soils, plants and animals” (Andrew
Goudie, The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Physical Geography). Depending
on the sources quoted (Xu et al. 2009, Beniston 2003, Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment 2005) 20-25% of the terrestrial surface can be classifi ed as
mountains, being home to between 12 and 26% of the world population
and providing resources to 40-50% of the world population. In mountain
regions land resources are sparse due to steep slopes, low temperatures,
poor soils, general inaccessibility and susceptibility to natural hazards
(Becker and Bugmann 2001).
Maybe most defi ning characteristic of mountain areas is that natural
(i.e., meteorological, hydrological, biological/ecological, geomorphological)
conditions change strongly over short distances. The decisive factor in this
change is not horizontal distance to the poles, i.e., latitude, but vertical
distance, i.e., elevation. Bioclimatic changes mimic those that are usually
associated with moving toward higher latitudes which results in a distinct
vertical zonation of plant and animal life (Goudie 2000). Some understand
culturally specifi c societies as a response to these bioclimatic spatial patterns
(Guillet et al. 1983). Accommodating so much diversity within confi ned
horizontal spaces generates a volatile situation with enormous potential
for disruptions should general framework conditions alter (Xu et al. 2009).
And indeed global climate change does alter these framework conditions.
Due to general warming and/or changing precipitation, the boundaries
between vertically organized systems experience drastic shifts. The entailing
extraordinary changes in the distribution of environmental resources imply
tremendous challenges to the ecology but also to highly specialized societies
in mountain areas.