Global Change and Mountains: Consequences, Responses and Opportunities - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 82

United Nations Environment Programme—World Conservation
Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) characterized mountain area as a
land mass with slope and elevation which includes both mountains and
hills (UNEP-WCMC 2000). However, in several cases mountains are
separated from hills on the basis of their higher elevations, steeper slopes
and lower temperatures. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the
United Nations has defi ned mountains as areas with high altitudes and
characteristic topography, and all areas above 2500 m elevation have been
included under mountains. Further, the areas having an altitude between
300 m and 2500 m can also be categorized as mountain regions if they are
marked with steep slopes or wide range of elevation in a small spatial unit
(FAO 2002). However, highland plateaus having an elevation below 2500 m
that lack surface slope and/or local elevation rate are therefore not included
under mountains. But hills marked with low altitudes, exhibiting diffi cult
terrain conditions have been classifi ed as mountains (FAO 2002).
The UNEP-WCMC classifi ed world mountains into six categories
ranging from Class-1 to Class-6 mountains taking into account elevation
from the mean sea level and surface slope. The elevations higher than
2500 m from the mean sea level have been categorized as mountain areas
irrespective of the magnitude of slope and topographic characteristics (Table
4.1 and Fig. 4.1). The Class-1 mountains are those areas which are situated
in an altitudinal range of 300 m and 1000 m with a Local Elevation Range
(LER) of 300 m of 5 km (i.e., characterized with 5º slope); Class-2 Mountains
have an elevation from 1000 m to 1500 m with slope equal to or more than
5º or a Local Elevation Range 300 m of 5 km; Class-3 Mountains should
be located between the altitude of 1500 m and 2500 with a surface slope
equal to and above 2º; Class-4 mountains area with elevation between 2500
and 3500; Class-5 with altitudinal range between 3500 m and 4500 m; and

Table 4.1. Mountains of the World (Source: Huddleston et al. 2003).

Sub Region Mountain Area Category-wise (in thousand km 2 )

Class-1 Class-2

Class-3 Class-4 Class-5 Class-6 Total

Asia & Pacifi c 2731 1151 1219 759 853 1581 8294

Latin America &
Caribbean

1412 730 812 443 585 155 4136

Near East & North
America

857 752 798 223 37 13 2681

Sub Saharan Africa 921 668 438 94 5 - 2125

Total Developing
Countries

5921 3301 3268 1518 1479 1748 17237

Total Transition Countries 3353 1129 546 156 93 27 5305

Total Developed Countries 3263 1573 1296 698 12 - 6842

Total World 12538 6003 5110 2372 1585 1776 29384