Impacts and Risks of Global Change - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 68

project is making a valuable contribution to the dissemination of system
and target knowledge to a variety of recipients (stakeholders and general
populace) by facilitating the sharing of insights (Braun 2010). Another
important aspect is creating and disseminating management knowledge
at different levels and across different regions. The DIAMONT project
produced exemplary databases on steering instruments and best practices
(Borsdorf et al. 2010).
Tourist advertising may talk about 'time standing still' but global
climate change and globalization have triggered dramatic changes in the
Alps that can be made visible using the indicators mentioned. In the cultural
landscape, persistent structures used to be at work for a long time, but the
process that has its roots in the beginnings of industrialization is forcing
accelerating dynamics onto them, speeded up further in recent decades as
a result of globalization.
Within the cultural space of the Alps, social and economic impact factors
may dominate (cf. Slaymaker 2001), but with each 'warm' year it becomes
clearer that climate factors are gaining in signifi cance. Climate change
determines tourism just as much as the growth options for settlements and
commercial areas, what is and is not a secure road and the routing of new
roads and rail tracks. We may not yet perceive the full extent of this impact,
yet the consequences are real and ever more signifi cant.
However: “When wind increase, some build up walls, others set sails” is
a Chinese saying. Change is a common experience in human life and in
many cases changes content risks and cause adaptations. The next chapter
therefore will deal with adaptation strategies and technologies.
References Cited
Abegg, B. 1996. Klimaänderung und Tourismus. Klimafolgenforschung am Beispiel des
Wintertourismus in den Schweizer Alpen. Vdf Hochschulverlag, ETH, Zurich.
Abegg, B., S. Agrawala, F. Crick and A. de Montfalcon. 2007. Climate change impacts and
adaptation in winter tourism. pp. 25-60. In : S. Agrawala (ed.). Climate Change in the
European Alps: Adapting Winter Tourism and Natural Hazards Management. OECD,
Paris.
Abegg, B., R. Bürki and H. Elsasser. 2008. Climate change and tourism in the Alps. pp.
73-80. In : A. Borsdorf, J. Stötter and E. Veulliet (eds.). Managing Alpine Future. IGF-
Forschungsberichte 2. Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna.
Abermann, J., A. Lambrecht, A. Fischer and M. Kuhn. 2009. Quantifying changes and trends
in glacier area and volume in the Austrian Ötztal Alps (1969-1997-2006). The Cryosphere
3(2): 205-215.
Abraham, W.-R. 2011. Megacities as sources for pathogenic bacteria in rivers and their
fate downstream. International Journal of Microbiology, Article ID 798292, 13 pages.
doi:10.1155/2011/798292.
Bader, S. and P. Kunz. 1999. Klimarisiken: Herausforderungen für die Schweiz. Schlussbericht
NFP 31. Zürich.