Impacts and Risks of Global Change - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 48

Figure 3.7. Change in tourism by effects of climate change (Source: Bourdeau 2008).
that the negative impacts of climate change in Alpine tourism might be to
a large part compensated by the positive impacts.
Therefore, highly developed winter destinations must diversify away
from a narrow orientation on winter sports and towards sustainable tourism.
For such a transition to be handled successfully, it is vital to create the right
awareness (Kronberger et al. 2010). This will take new communication
strategies as well as comprehensive participatory processes involving all
stakeholders as well as tourist operators and the tourists themselves.
Water and energy provision
All the major rivers of the world have their headwaters in highlands and
more than half of humanity relies on the freshwater that accumulates in
mountain areas. Although they constitute a relatively small proportion of
river basins, most of the river fl ow downstream originates in mountains, the
proportion depending on the season (Liniger and Weingartner 1998). They
provide a favourable temporal redistribution of precipitation and reduce
the variability of fl ows in the adjacent lowlands. These 'water towers' are
crucial to the welfare of humankind. As demand grows, the potential for
confl ict over the use of mountain water increases.
Mountain water resources are indispensable for fresh- and industrial
water supply, irrigation, hydropower production and ecosystem services
(Viviroli et al. 2003). The importance of mountains and their sensitivity
to climate change was the subject of recent benchmark reports (Solomon
et al. 2007, Bates et al. 2008, Stern 2007, WWAP 2009). Viviroli et al. (2011)
analyzed the importance of the water supply of mountains based on detailed
case studies.