Introduction and Road Map for Impact of Global Changes on High-Mountains - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 28

by an external fi nancial, infrastructural, technical and political assistance.
The ultimate objective of this partnership support has to be a sustainable
and equitable improvement of the livelihoods for the majority of campesinos,
rather than the often prevailing aim of maximizing outputs and profi ts for
a small minority of stakeholders, without much concern for a responsible
environmental stewardship. Stadel has suggested a conceptual model of
'Sustainable Campesino Communities' on the basis of favorable intrinsic
and extrinsic infl uences.
Byrne et al. have discussed how climate change will affect the Rocky
mountains of western North America. Climate change is real and ever
present, and the role of each of us in changing the climate is also real and
present. The complex terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the Rocky
Mountains have evolved within the climate since the last great glaciation
ended 10,000 years ago. Human induced climate change will bring weather
extremes on both the short and long-term to the Rocky Mountains. The
authors have discussed hydrological response to climate change, examined
the impact of global changes on the ecosystem of the Rocky mountains:
snow and the terrestrial ecosystem (there will be a greater variability in soil
moisture condition in forests and valleys that can lead to longer and more
intense droughts, more forest fi res and some places will experience extreme
fl ood events) and aquatic biota (aquatic species will need to adjust to mega
fl oods, droughts, changing water temperatures and maybe challenged by
invasive species invading their territory because of climate change). This is
followed by some case studies of response to climate change in the Rocky
Mountains (including glaciers and rare Alpine invertebrate, bull trout,
freshwater algae) and the North Saskatchewan River. The authors have also
looked at the adaptive management in the Rocky Mountains. The Rocky
Mountains are a vast and complex region that is valuable both for resources
and ecosystems. The Rockies cannot provide the valuable resources we
need and treasure, particularly clean plentiful water, unless we protect and
conserve mountain ecosystems. Hopefully the discussion in this chapter of
the major changes ongoing in the Rocky Mountains due to climate change
will help in understanding the impacts of climate change and add to the
collective will in society to minimize this change in future.
In the next case study Ginzo and Faggi have assessed the information
on regional vulnerabilities, mitigation and adaptation actions to plausible
impacts of Climate Change on two mountain regions in Argentina: one in
the Northwest (NOA region), and the other-in the West (Cuyo region) of the
country. The NOA and Cuyo regions are closely related to the septentrional
and the mid sections of the Argentinean Andean Ridge. As has been
discussed by the authors the hydrologic regime in the areas of the Cuyo
and NOA regions are most impacted by the changes in the Andean system
of mountains and changes in precipitation and temperature due to global