IGU Commission
Diversity in
Mountain Systems
Chairman: Prof. Dr. Jörg Stadelbauer
Department of Cultural Geography
University of Freiburg
D-79085 Freiburg
Fax: +49 761 203 3575
e-mail:
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Newsletter 7 / December 2004
1 Editorial
Dear Colleague,
during the 30th International Geographical Congress at Glasgow / Scotland (UK), the General Assembly of the IGU confirmed our Commission.
It’s with great pleasure that I can send you the seventh edition of our Newsletter. Welcome to everyone who conducts research on mountains and wants to become member of our commission! Please send me an e-mail so that I can include you into the list of members. Of course, membership should not be written only on a paper: Please feel motivated to conduct mountain research, to inform other members about it and to participate in the activities and meetings of the Commission! This is said especially to those who are member of national specialty groups on (high-)mountain research.
Members of the Steering Committee 2004 – 2008 of our commission are:
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Professor Dr. Jörg Stadelbauer (chair) (Germany)
University of Freiburg
Department of Cultural Geography
D-79085 Freiburg
E-mail:
PD Dr. Jörg Löffler (Secretary) (Germany)
University of Bonn
Department of Geography
Meckenheimer Allee 166
D-53115 Bonn
E-mail:
Prof. Dr. Yuri Badenkov (Russia)
Institut Geografii Rossijskoy Akademii Nauk
Staromonetnyy pereulok, 29
Moskva
E-mail:
Prof. Dr. Monique Fort
Paris
E-mail:
Prof. Donald A. Friend, Ph.D. (USA)
Department of Geography
Minnesota State University
Armstrong Hall 7
Mankato, MN 56001
E-mail:
Professor Dr. Hans Hurni (Switzerland)
Department of Geography
University of Berne
Hallerstrasse 12
CH-3012 Bern
E-mail:
Dr. Martin Price (United Kingdom)
Director, Centre for Mountain Studies
Perth College
UHI Millennium Institute
Crieff Road
Perth PH1 2NX, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1738-877217
Fax: +44 (0) 1738-877018
URL: http://www.cms.uhi.ac.uk
E-mail:
Adj. Prof. Fausto Sarmiento, Ph.D.
The University of Georgia
Office of International Education and
Department of Geography
Phone: +706 583 0477
Fax: +706 542 7102
E-mail:
URL: http://www.uga.edu/oie/sarmiento/htm
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Besides, the Commission continues to compose an e-mailing list for all other people who want to share our common work on mountain geography. Please, feel free to contact us if you wish to get our newsletter which is mainly based on informations from the internet. We also suggest to contact the Mountain Forum, unless you already did before.
2 The International Geographical Congress Glasgow 2004: Paper session and business meeting of the Commission
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The main Congress theme - One Earth, Many Worlds - has allowed an exciting and wonderfully diverse academic programme to be developed. Particular sections of the academic programme were dedicated to sessions organised by the IGU Commissions. The Congress also incorporated further meetings - the 2004 Annual International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers), a Joint International Geomorphology Conference on Geomorphology and Sustainability, as well as meetings of the International Cartographic Association and British Cartographic Society, and the Association of Geographic Information. A choice of academic excursions - throughout Scotland, to Iceland, or to Ireland - was available, pre-, during, and post-Congress, offering the opportunity to extend academic discussion. An International Schools' Poster Competition involved pupils from over twenty-six countries. And a varied programme of one-day academic excursions and social trips, together with drinks receptions and a social programme, has added yet further variety to the Congress.
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The Commission “Diversity in Mountain Systems” organized a whole of six sessions and a business meeting covering a whole day of intense exchange of research results, fruitful discussion and visions for the next years. In detail, the Commission offered the following programme:
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“Mountain programme”
Wednesday, August 18th, 2004
Biotic and Natural Landscape Diversity (Convenor/Chair: Joerg Loeffler / Germany)
7:30 – 8:50 Session I: Mountain Ecosystems
Bär, Annette, Achim Bräuning, Jörg Löffler (Oldenburg and Stuttgart, Germany): Reconstruction of spatio-temporal changes in high mountain ecosystems using a combined dendro-ecological and micro-environmental approach
Löffler, Jörg (Oldenburg, Germany): Diversity loss in actic-alpine landscapes under reindeer grazing pressure [
Lundberg, A., T.M. Ektvedt (University of Bergen, Norway): Vegetation dynamics in Piura, Pru, following the El Nino Episode of 1997/98
9:00 – 10:20 Session II: Climate and Water in Mountain Environments
Crook, Darren (Hatfield, University of Herfordshire, UK): An integrated approach to understanding human and climate impacts on hydrology in mountainous environments
Morrocco, Stephan (Scotland): An integrated approach to the study of terrain sensitivity on high plateaux in the Scottish Highlands
Friend, Donald, M. Williams (Minnesota State University, Mankato, USA): Water Quality as an input to development policy in mountain environments
Political and Society Diversity in Mountain Systems (Convenor/Chair: Joerg Stadelbauer / Germany)
10:30 – 11:50 Session III: General Issues, European Alps and Mountains in the Post-Soviet Transition Process
Hama, Angela Michiko (University Innsbruck, Austria): The educational potential of the alpine environment [hum]
Miorelli, Elisabetta (**): [Post presentation] [hum]
Radvanyi, Jean (INALCO, CNRS, Paris, France): Population montagnarde, montagnards et enjeux politiques dans le Caucase post-soviétique [hum]
Stadelbauer, Jörg (Albert Ludwig University, Freiburg, Germany): Structure and development of the urban systems in a mountain country: the case of Kyrgyzstan [hum]
14:00 – 15:20 Session IV: Regional case studies in Asia
Bhandari, Netra (Georg August University, Göttingen, Germany): Non-timber forest product (NTFP): Its role in rural economy of marginalized mountain farmers communities in Nepal [hum]
Mansoori, I.K. (Jiwaji University, Gwalior, India): Pattern of Resource utilization and development in hills: a case for the *** [hum]
Rais, Mohammad (National Institute of Science, New Delhi, India): Sustaining mountain communities in fragile environment: Some experiences from Southeast Asia [hum]
Vishwambhar, Prasad Sati (Government Post Graduate College, India): Natural Resource conditions and development in the Uttaranchal Himalaya, India [hum]
Sustainable development in mountain areas (Convenor/Chair: Martin Price / UK)
15:30 – 16:50 Session V:
Price, M., E. Gloersen, C. Schuermann, M. Loechl (UK / Switzerland): Developing typologies to comprehend the diversity of Europe’s mountains [int]
Zingerli, C. (Switzerland): Building a political ecology of sustainable mountain development [int]
17:00 – 18:00 Session VI:
Funnell, Don (Brighton, University of Sussex, UK): The UK Uplands: a public good? [int]
Ruoss, Engelbert (Entlebuch Biosphere Reserve, Switzerland): Conservation – Development – Cooperation, the strategy of the Entlebuch Biosphere Reserve as model for sustainable development in mountain areas [int]
About 18:00: Business meeting of the Commission C00.24
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During the Business Meeting Professor emeritus Dr. Bruno Messerli (Department of Geography, University of Bern, Switzerland) was elected Honorary Member of the IGU-Commission „Diversity in Mountain Systems“. He joins Professor emeritus Jack Ives Ph.D. as honorqary member of the Commission. Both are outstanding in their international acitivity for the science of the mountains. Both acted as chairpersons of the mountain commission of the IGU for decades, promoted research networks and projects. The Man and Biosphere Programme of the UNESCO cannot be acknowledged without mentioning the names of Bruno Messerli and Jack Ives. In 1992, they made major contributions for the United Nations Conference on Development and Environment in Rio de Janeiro, in 1997 they edited a summarizing monography on global mountain issues which became the scientific fundament of the 2002 International Year of the Mountains.
In 2002, Bruno Messerli was awarded with the Founder’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, in 2003 he was elected foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
3 Nature Protection, National Parks, Biosphere Reserves, Mountain Heritage
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Professor Lawrence Hamilton, Senior Adviser of IUCN, was honoured by receiving the King Albert I Gold Medal Award. The investiture took place in Pontresina (Switzerland / Engadine region) on September 11, 2004. The IGU Commission congratulates!
Professor Fausto Sarmiento, member of the Commission’s Steering Committee between 2000 and 2004, reports that he became the Vice Chair for Mountains -Capacity Building for World Commission of Protected Areas (WCPA) of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Our four year planning includes three international conferences on mountain protected areas management: Conservation Corridors (Ecuador 2006), Transboundary Conservation (Nepal 2007) and Ecotourism (China 2008).
The Global Information Research Initiative for Alpine Environments (GLORIA) have established during the past year, new monitoring sites in different mountain regions: Kosciuszko National Park in Australia's Snowy Mountain, 2 in North America and the first German site in the Northern Alps. Also, new target regions will be established in some UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Chile, Peru and the Russian Altai Mountains.
For more information about this project please visit http://www.gloria.ac.at/res/gloria_home/
4 Conferences, Workshops, Meetings, Events in the past
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4.1Les IVièmes Assises Européennes de la Montagne: Echanges et Ouvertures - Les piliers d'un nouveau développement rural pour les montagnes d'Europe
The Fourth European Mountain Convention: Unlocking the Mountains - A new approach of rural development for Europe's mountains
On the eve of the 4th European Mountain Convention, Europe's major bi-annual mountain event that takes place in Rodez in the Massif Central of France on 25 and 26 November, Euromontana calls upon the European Union and the States of wider Europe not to overlook their unique mountain assets in their drive for growth.
More than 300 of Europe's mountain professionals will examine the precious but fragile diversity of mountain products and cultures that could provide the catalyst for the economic boost that the EU seek. Euromontana, the European Association of Mountain Areas – the Conference organisers - embraces over 50 mountain organisations throughout wider Europe, including development and environmental agencies, farmers' organisations, regional authorities and technical institutes. Mountains cover 40% of the surface of Europe and provide homes and livelihoods for 20% of Europe's population. Euromontana points out that it is the mountain areas that provide the extraordinary economic and cultural diversity of Europe which they claim with prudent management and encouragement could provide Europe's unique selling point.
The Conference will discuss many issues besides Structural Funds and State Aids and will be especially concerned to contribute to the current negotiation of the Commission's revised rural development proposals within the CAP regime. Here the accent will be upon the need to maintain production in fragile mountain areas in order to sustain the local products that can lead Europe's attack upon the growing market for high quality, high value authentic foods and craft products.
The event has attracted high level speakers from throughout Europe, including the Norwegian Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, Erna Solberg, the French Minister of Agriculture, Hervé Gaymard, other Ministerial level representatives from Italy, Switzerland, Scotland, and the Basque Country, European Parliament and European Commission, such as both the Deputy Director General of DG Regio Michele Pasca-Raimondo and the Deputy Director General of DG Agriculture, Dirk Ahner.
La veille des 4ièmes Assises européennes de la montagne, le plus grand événement biennal d'Europe sur la montagne à Rodez, dans le Massif Central (France) les 25 et 26 novembre, Euromontana invite l'Union européenne et les états de l'Europe élargie à ne pas négliger leurs atouts uniques en matière de montagnes dans leur course à la croissance.
Plus de 300 professionnels européens de la montagne se pencheront sur la diversité aussi précieuse que fragile des produits et cultures des montagnes pouvant procurer l'élément catalyseur recherché par l'UE en matière de relance économique. Euromontana, l'Association européenne pour les zones de montagne – les organisateurs de la conférence – réunit plus de 50 organisations de montagne à travers l'Europe élargie, en ce compris des agences de développement et des agences pour l'environnement, des organisations socioprofessionnelles agricoles, des administrations territoriales et des instituts techniques. Les montagnes couvrent 40 % de la surface de l'Europe et procurent un habitat et des moyens de subsistance à 20 % de la population européenne. Euromontana souligne que ce sont les zones de montagne qui procurent l'extraordinaire diversité économique et culturelle de l'Europe qui, selon l'organisation, pourrait offrir à l'Europe un argument clé de vente, moyennant une gestion prudente et quelques encouragements.
La Conférence abordera de nombreux sujets, outre les Fonds Structurels et les Aides de l'État et mettra un point d'honneur à contribuer aux négociations actuelles sur les propositions révisées de la Commission en matière de développement rural au sein du régime de la PAC. Là, l'accent sera mis sur la nécessité de maintenir la production dans les zones de montagne de façon à soutenir les produits locaux pouvant diriger l'attaque de l'Europe sur le marché précieux des produits alimentaires et artisanaux de haute qualité, à haute valeur ajoutée et authentiques. Cette manifestation a attiré des intervenants de haut rang de toute l'Europe, incluant Erna Solberg, Ministres des Pouvoirs Locaux et des Affaires régionales de Norvège, Hervé Gaymard, Ministre Français de l'Agriculture, de la Pêche, de l'Alimentation et des Affaires rurales, d'autres représentants Ministériels de haut niveau d'Italie, Suisse, Ecosse, Pays Basque, plusieurs Députés européens, ainsi que des représentants de la DG Agriculture, DG Regio et Secrétariat Général de la Commission Européenne, comme Michele Pasca-Raymondo, Directeur-Général Adjoint de la Directorate-Général Politique Régional et Dirk Ahner, Directeur-Général Adjoint de la Directorate-Général à l'Agriculture.
http://www.euromontana.org/AssisesRodez/welcome.htm
Euromontana; T.: +32 2 280 42 83
4.2International Mountain Day 2004
11 December 2004
Most armed conflict take place in the world's mountains. And conflict may be the single greatest obstacle to achieving sustainable mountain development. Without peace, people cannot take steps to reduce their poverty, to secure food supplies or even consider sustainable development. Mountain regions suffer disproportionately from all effects of conflict because they are often the poorest and least developed places in the world as well as the homelands of indigenous cultures.
To promote awareness about the causes and consequences of conflict in mountain regions, the theme of this years International Mountain Day on 11 December is Peace key to sustainable mountain development. FAO, mandated to lead observance of this special day, is currently preparing a wide variety of communication materials in English, French and Spanish (e.g. an issues paper, key messages, poster and presentations) as well as news and feature stories for the media. All these products will shortly be available for downloading at the Web site dedicated to International Mountain Day at: http://www.mountainpartnership.org/ imd/imd.html