Already 15 year ago the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) highlighted that mountains are an important source of water, energy and biological diversity. As a major ecosystem representing the complex and interrelated ecology of our planet, mountain environments are essential to the survival of the global ecosystem.
In the response to the request of numerous researchers COST is organising on 7 - 9 April 2008 in Innsbruck (Austria) a Strategic Workshop on 'Global Change and Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions' aiming at the identifying of future research needs in the context of the sustainable development in mountain regions. The outcome will provide rationales and guidelines for researchers, research managers, policy makers, as well as funding agencies.
This strategic workshop will focus on putting research topics on mountain ecosystem services on the political agenda and will identify the implications of climate and socioeconomic change for current and future forms of land use. The workshop will the impact on selected ecosystem services such as hazard protection, recreation, and natural resources. Furthermore, scenarios of change and its implication for societies depending on these ecosystem services are appraised.
The following topics are treated as cross-cutting issues and will be discussed in detail:
Multifunctional land use in a global change context
Challenges for sustainable tourism
Demand and evaluation of ecosystem services
Water: strategic resource, public good, ecosystem
Sustainable transport
Scenarios of global change
Detailed information is available under http://bfw.ac.at/mountain/ or contact the local organisers Dr. Robert Jandl (Austrian Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape (BFW), Email: robert.jandl@bfw.gv.at) or Prof. Axel Borsdorf (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Email: oeaw-borsdorf@uibk.ac.at).
In writing this Email I kindly ask you to bring this information to the attention of any potential participant.
With best regards
Günter Siegel
COST Office
149 Avenue Louise
B 1050 Brussels
Belgium
Tel +32 2 533 38 24
Fax +32 2 533 38 90
Email: gsiegel@cost.esf.org
Web: http://www.cost.esf.org
