The GHE Annual Report 2025 highlights progress in delivering clean energy, sustainable livelihoods, education, healthcare and responsible tourism across remote, climate-vulnerable regions of India.
This commentary examines the experiences and leadership of mountain women in Kenya and Tanzania, drawing on participatory feminist research under the Mountain Women of the World initiative. It highlights their role in driving local innovations despite exclusion from land rights, tourism economies and governance, and calls for policies that recognize mountain women as key actors in climate resilience and sustainable mountain development.
Mountain ecosystems are degrading rapidly due to climate variability and human activity. Current monitoring under SDG 15 using SEPAL excludes soil data, limiting accuracy. Using Colorado as a case study, this research integrates soil information into land degradation analysis, revealing higher degradation levels and highlighting the need to include both inherent and anthropogenic degradation.
This issue of African Mountainscapes and the Anthropocene gathers scholarly articles that examine political, social and economic dynamics in Southern Africa, with a focus on inequality, governance, social movements and historical legacies shaping contemporary development challenges in the region.
In this position paper, CIRAD, in collaboration with the French Development Agency (AFD) and the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists 2026 (IYRP) working group express their shared commitment to supporting private and public actors who work alongside pastoral communities.
This publication explores how mountain tourism is transforming under climate change. The issue highlights adaptation strategies, natural capital assessment, governance challenges and community perspectives, emphasizing sustainable tourism, ecosystem resilience and improved policy coordination to support mountain environments and livelihoods in vulnerable regions worldwide.
This study explores how climate change is altering mountain water cycles and the resulting impacts on downstream ecosystems and water use. It identifies key challenges for adaptation and highlights priority research needs to strengthen understanding of linked mountain-downstream water systems in a changing climate.
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on sustainable mountain development at the 80th Session. A/RES/80/144
This United Nations Environment Assembly draft resolution (UNEP/EA.7/L.15) addresses the urgent need to preserve glaciers and the broader cryosphere, with an emphasis on mountain regions. Against the backdrop of accelerated glacier loss driven by climate change and its cascading effects on biodiversity, water security, disaster risk and cultural heritage, the resolution highlights the interconnected nature of cryospheric degradation and global environmental challenges.
This technical brief examines the links between glaciers, agriculture and livelihoods, and highlights the potential of sustainable mountain farming to restore ecosystems, conserve resources and build resilience.
The report highlights the growing importance of smallholder tree-farming systems in meeting the region’s rising wood demand amid declining natural forest production and plateauing industrial plantations. Drawing on regional analysis and nine case studies, it examines how diverse smallholder systems, from woodlots to homegardens, contribute to timber supply, livelihoods, and environmental sustainability.
Mountains cover 27 percent of Earth and support 1.2 billion people, yet climate change intensifies floods, landslides, and glacial outburst risks. Their fragility and isolation heighten vulnerability, making disaster-resilient infrastructure crucial. The report urges technological, ecological and Indigenous approaches, stronger governance, inclusive planning and innovative financing to protect communities and ecosystems.
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This technical brief provides an updated global assessment of mountain population trends from 2000 to 2030, using the UNEP–WCMC mountain classification. The global mountain population is projected to reach 1.24 billion by 2030. These dynamics call for inclusive territorial planning, investment in climate-resilient infrastructure and stronger data systems to advance sustainable mountain development and support the Five Years of Action for the Development of Mountain Regions (2023–2027).
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This publication quantifies global lowland reliance on mountain runoff at monthly resolution (1990–2019), distinguishing essential and potential contributions. It reveals strong seasonality, spatial heterogeneity, disproportionate importance of high mountains and a growing dependence of lowland water use on mountain-origin runoff.
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This publication uses global simulations to examine lowland dependence on mountain runoff across major river basins, showing lower interannual variability in mountains, increased reliance during dry years and rising absolute dependence under future socio-economic change, with implications for transboundary water conflicts.
Rangelands are increasingly threatened by environmental pressures, restrictive land-use policies and the erosion of traditional pastoralist systems. This resolution recognizes that sustainable pastoralism is essential for conserving and restoring rangelands, supporting biodiversity and community resilience. It commits IUCN to advocating sustainable governance, raising awareness and strengthening partnerships with pastoralist communities.
Mountain ecosystems are among the most sensitive and rapidly changing environments on the planet, facing compound and simultaneous pressures from climate change and biodiversity loss. Despite their extreme vulnerability, these landscapes are essential for global resilience. This Policy Brief argues that preserving biodiversity and combating climate change are inseparable processes that must be addressed in an integrated manner.
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The 12th edition of the Chronicle, features exclusive interviews, expert insights and updates on the India Water Foundation’s initiatives from January to July 2025. It highlights progress in water security, climate resilience and sustainable development, while capturing perspectives from global leaders and stories of impact from the ground.
This open-issue of Mountain Research and Development Vol. 45, No. 3 focuses on Innovation Pathways to Sustainability in Mountains. It features four Mountain Research articles that generate systems-knowledge. The articles include community-based land tenure supporting labour-migration in Andean pastoral systems, innovation in European mountain product value chains, longitudinal crop boom and bust dynamics in China and a Canadian mountain assessment.
This document presents the outcome of the Conference convened in Dushanbe, including the Chair’s Summary, the Dushanbe Glaciers Declaration and the Dushanbe Glaciers Appeal. It outlines commitments by States and stakeholders to reinforce international cooperation, strengthen glacier protection and address climate change impacts on mountain ecosystems.
