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Making Connections for Our Changing Mountains
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Dear MRI Community,
Two stark warnings on the state of the planet were issued this month. The first came in the form of the UN CBD Global Biodiversity Outlook 5, which stated that humanity is at a crossroads in terms of our relationship with the natural world, and that transformative changes are urgently needed if we are to halt the ongoing degradation of Earth's living systems upon which we all depend. The second was contained in the UN United in Science Report, which stressed that climate change hasn’t stopped for COVID-19; CO 2 concentrations are at record levels, and the world is set to see its warmest five years on record. This report also featured key messages on the cryosphere taken from the IPCC SROCC to which you, the MRI community, contributed. A timely reminder, if any were needed, of the importance of the work that you are all undertaking on behalf of our changing mountains.
In this month's MRI newsletter, we take a look at growing glacial lakes and the secrets hidden in ancient ice cores, offer a glimpse into the ongoing IPCC AR6 assessment work under COVID-19 conditions, and journey from the East African mountains to the American Wild West. We also issue a reminder to submit your papers for the Sustainability Special Issue on ‘Transboundary Sustainable Mountain Governance’, which I am delighted to be guest-editing alongside our Chair, Jörg Balsiger. And we invite you to save the date for our upcoming GEO-GNOME General Meeting on 27 November; an opportunity to learn about current and planned GEO-GNOME activities, and provide your suggestions for the future.
As we end September, we also say goodbye to Aino Kulonen, MRI Scientific Project Officer and esteemed colleague, who is taking up new opportunities abroad, and to Victoria Tapia-Deane, who has completed her summer work with us. We thank them both for their excellent contributions to the MRI, and wish them much future success.
Lastly, on behalf of the MRI Coordination Office I’d like to offer sincere congratulations to our colleagues at the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, who have just received the Albert Mountain Award for their outstanding work in the field of avalanche risk management. Truly a very worthy winner of this prestigious mountain prize!
Enjoy your read,
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Dr. Carolina Adler
MRI Executive Director
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Coming Up on the MRI's Agenda
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With new mountain events added regularly, don't forget to check out our online calendar.
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The MRI Coordination Office is pleased to invite all GEO-GNOME members / participants and other interested parties to attend the General Meeting 2020. The meeting will provide an opportunity for the Initiative co-leads and Scientific Officer to share recent activities and future plans with the community, as well as discuss possibilities for collaboration and engagement. The meeting will be held virtually. Further details, including an agenda, will be announced in due course.
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In August, over 250 experts from 50 countries joined 20 virtual meetings to continue preparations for the IPCC Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), which includes a Cross-Chapter Paper on Mountains. There is still time for you to contribute to AR6 by sharing your recently submitted and/or published papers with the Lead Author team.
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This Special Issue of the journal Sustainability is guest edited by MRI Chair Jörg Balsiger and MRI Executive Director Carolina Adler, and welcomes contributions that address transboundary sustainable mountain governance. Submission deadline is 31 January 2021.
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Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are at record levels, while global temperatures continue to hit new highs. This is according to a major new UN report highlighting the increasing and irreversible impacts of climate change, and their significant implications for life on Earth. The report features key messages on the cryosphere taken from the IPCC SROCC, to which the MRI community contributed.
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"The more humanity exploits nature in unsustainable ways and undermines its contributions to people, the more we undermine our own well-being, security, and prosperity.” Despite encouraging progress in several areas, the natural world is suffering badly and getting worse. Eight transformative changes are urgently needed to ensure human well-being and save the planet, the UN warns in new Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 report.
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In this blog post written for the Network for European Mountain Research (NEMOR), Harald Bugmann, Professor of Forest Ecology at ETH Zurich and our very first Chair here at the MRI, reflects on the fragility of mountain forests and their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.
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At the 2020 Albert Mountain Awards ceremony in Bern, the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF was recognized for its outstanding contribution to avalanche prevention. Other recipients of the 2020 awards were the magazine L'Alpe and the Swiss musician Christian Zehnder.
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What are the key factors that enabled a successful water fund in Colombia to work with over 1000 families to protect more than 2000 km of streams and conserve or restore nearly 10,000 ha of forest – even in the broader context of armed conflict and widespread distrust? This month's featured project from the Belmont Forum's 'Mountains as Sentinels of Change' program is ClimateWIse. Read this blog post – first published on The Nature Conservancy's 'Cool Green Science' website – for a glimpse into their activities.
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The Adaptation at Altitude programme has created a new online space on climate change adaptation in mountains for actors working on this topic. Use it to share your findings, learn from others, discuss challenges and shared issues, and announce events!
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Participate in this unique opportunity for the international science community to advise funders about the support that science needs to maximize its impact on the achievement of the sustainable development goals in the next decade. Hurry! Deadline 2 October.
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"Ice cores stored in freezer facilities become extremely important for future research as these unique archives of our past melt away on our warming Earth." An insightful interview with Lonnie Thompson and Ellen Mosley-Thompson from The Ohio State University about how ice cores preserve evidence of rare but impactful changes in Earth’s history, and why it is necessary to preserve these ice cores – and the glaciers they come from.
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In the largest-ever study of glacial lakes, researchers using 30 years of NASA satellite data have found that the volume of these lakes worldwide has increased by about 50% since 1990 as glaciers melt and retreat due to climate change.
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New research published in Nature Human Behaviour and led by the University of Cambridge investigates how landscape shapes psychology – and finds remnants of the pioneer personality in US populations of once inhospitable mountainous territory, particularly in the West.
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Have an idea for a blog post or mountain news to share?
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This list, updated each week, contains articles relevant to mountain research that you won't want to miss this month.
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An overview of palaeoecological research of East African mountain ecosystems, with some case studies from Kenya to demonstrate how these perspectives can be useful to inform current and future ecological and environmental challenges. MRI SLC Member Rob Marchant is among the speakers.
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Mountain environment researchers and practitioners, in particular from Africa, are invited to propose a chapter for the upcoming book 'Remote Sensing of African Mountains - Geospatial Tools Toward Sustainability'.
Submission deadline 31 October 2020.
With this focus issue, MRD aims to contribute to a better understanding of urbanization processes in mountains and emerging new patterns of interrelations between rural mountain areas and urban centers in and outside mountains.
Submission deadline 7 December 2020.
This Special Issue invites papers demonstrating an innovative application of remote sensing in mapping and monitoring species diversity using a suite of remote sensing techniques, including optical and active domain applied in various vegetation types and biomes.
Submission deadline is 30 September 2021.
This Special Issue of Atmosphere invites contributions addressing all aspects of cold regions meteorology and the cryosphere interacting with the past, present, and future climate system from both modeling and observations.
Submission deadline 5 February 2021.
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Check out the MRI website for more open calls and publication opportunities.
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The SPI Exploratory Grants support Swiss-based scientists active in polar regions (including remote high-altitude regions such as the Andes and the Himalayas) by allowing them to launch short-term new ideas, fund additional field work, or launch new collaborations.
Deadline for proposals is 19 October 2020.
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The SPI Technogrants support Swiss groups developing, improving, or adapting technologies relevant for research in polar regions and other extreme environments, such as remote high-altitude regions.
Deadline for proposals is 19 October 2020.
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For a full list of open funding opportunities, please see our website.
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Department of Geosciences, Geography Unit, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
This four-year position (80%) is part of a Swiss National Science Foundation grant titled 'Timescapes of ice: Soviet glacier science in Central Asia, 1950s-1980s'. The postdoc researcher will carry out research on the history of Soviet glaciology by exploring its background in Imperial Russian sciences, its establishment and institutionalization during the Soviet Union, its scientific and political discourses, and its sites and research practices in Central Asia.
Deadline for applications 15 October 2020.
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A regularly updated compilation of mountain job opportunities can be found on our website.
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Join the MRI Expert Database
The MRI Expert Database contains over 10,000 people involved in mountain research, management, governmental and non-governmental institutions, and the private sector. Don't forget to add or update your details for a chance to connect with colleagues all around the world!
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