Events

Global mountain safeguard: emerging risks and future challenges for mountain regions worldwide

From: 17.10.2018 to: 19.10.2018

Eurac Research and the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security, through their new joint programme “Global Mountain Safeguard Research (GLOMOS)”, are organizing an United Nations international workshop to enhance disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and emergency response preparedness in mountain regions worldwide. The aim of the workshop, titled “Global mountain safeguard: emerging risks and future challenges for mountain regions worldwide”, is to increase the resilience of mountain communities towards natural and man-made hazards and disaster risks, to protect the wealth of biological and cultural diversity in mountains and to support the sustainable development of the highly sensitive social-ecological systems.

Format
The workshop will act as a platform for communication and exchange, inviting interested researchers from numerous disciplines, practitioners, government and nongovernmental organization representatives, UN agencies, public and private institutions, the private sector, as well as international networks and organizations related to mountain-specific topics.

Goals
The major aims of the workshop are to discuss present and future challenges in mountain areas worldwide, to build a bridge between the international academic community and the United Nations system, and to facilitate a global community of practice dealing with contemporary mountain-specific subjects. In more detail, main objectives of the conference will include:

• the identification of adequate approaches to turn scientific knowledge into action, specifically to support the implementation of the most recent global conventions and frameworks, such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Paris Climate Agreement, the New Urban Agenda, and the Sustainable Development Goals;
• facilitating the science-policy dialogue and promoting scientifically sound guidelines and recommendations for decision-makers and planners to foster evidence-based advocacy for mountain specific topics; and
• strengthening the resilience of mountain communities within the context of major drivers such as climate change, urbanization and economic development, and the development of inclusive and people-centred disaster risk reduction concepts including gender-mainstreaming.

Topics
The following topics will be discussed during the event:

• innovative approaches in the fields of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation;
• mountain ecosystems and biodiversity;
• migration and livelihoods of mountain communities;
• minorities and socio-cultural contexts;
• renewable energy and mountain engineering;
• urbanization and industrialization in mountainous areas, including waste management;
• mountain emergency medicine, multi-hazard early warning systems and emergency response preparedness;
• recreation, mountaineering and tourism; and
• education, capacity development and training.

For further details with regard to local arrangements and conference logistics, please contact:

Alexa De Marchi, Local Workshop Management, Eurac Research: [email protected], +39 0471 055 057

For information regarding the scientific coordination of the workshop, please contact:

Jörg Szarzynski, United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security, UN campus, Bonn, Germany: [email protected], +49 228 815 0327

Stefan Schneiderbauer, Eurac Research, Institute for Earth Observation, Bozen/Bolzano, Italy: [email protected], +39 0471 055 373

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Photo: UN Photo/Andi Gitow