ICIMOD's concern on climatechange

Both direct instrumental records and environmental proxy records indicate that historical and recent changes in climate in many mountain regions of the world are often greater than those observed in the adjacent lowlands. Mountains also represent unique areas for the detection of climatic change and the assessment of climate-related impacts. Actual and potential changes in climatic parameters can have strong impacts on the crysophere: a change in the snowline, change in duration of snow cover, an increase in cryogenic hazards such as ice and snow avalanches, glacier recession, formation and break-out of moraine-dammed lakes, warming of perennially frozen ground, and thawing of ground ice.

One interesting characteristic of mountains is that the climate changes rapidly with height over relatively short horizontal distances, and so does vegetation and hydrology. As a result, mountains exhibit high biodiversity, often with sharp transitions (ecotones) in vegetation sequences, and equally rapid changes from vegetation and soil to snow and ice. In addition, mountain ecosystems are often endemic, because many species remain isolated at high elevations, unlike lowland vegetation communities that can occupy climatic niches spread over wider latitudinal belts. In socioeconomic terms, mountain landscapes attract large numbers of people in search of opportunities for recreation and tourism. 

The potential impacts of climate change in the mountains listed above have a multitude of socioeconomic implications. These include direct effects of the changes on water resources and hydropower generation, on slope stability, and on hazards relating to avalanches and glacier lakes, which in turn impact the well being and livelihoods of mountain people.

Mountain areas can also play a role in climate change mitigation.  Community-managed forests serve as an important carbon sink, a fact which remained unrecognised until the Bali Global Climate Change meeting in 2007. ICIMOD’s work on community managed forests in the HImalayan region highlights the significant role such forests can play in sequestering carbon and avoiding emissions from land use changes. 

ICIMOD’s new strategy focuses on ‘Responding to the challenges of global change: enhancing resilience and supporting adaptation of mountain communities’. Thus almost all ICIMOD activities are involved in some way with climate change in mountain areas, whether measuring change per se, or helping communities to recognise, respond, and adapt to such changes.
(source:from ICIMOD's website;www.ICIMOD.org)