Strengthening the resilience of mountain regions to climate change

As climate change manifests itself differently across ecosystems, adaptation strategies must be tailored to local conditions. Closing knowledge gaps about climate change's impacts on mountain regions with sound data is therefore crucial. The Mountain Research Initiative, a scientific network involving the University of Bern, contributes to this endeavour by providing access to data from monitoring stations in the four project regions via a portal.

The data and findings are then published in peer-reviewed journals, deliberated by scientific and practitioner representatives at regional workshops, and integrated into the efforts of international organisations such as the World Meteorological Organization.

Formulating and implementing systemic adaptation strategies necessitates appropriate framework conditions. Ensuring the voices of mountain communities are heard in planning processes is crucial. However, this has often been overlooked, as their representatives face barriers in accessing decision-making spheres due to geographic isolation and socioeconomic challenges like poverty.

As part of the the project, channels of exchange with policymakers were initiated or strengthened at regional and national levels. This made it possible to incorporate issues relevant to mountain regions in national action plans. In 2022, over 60 representatives (including numerous environmental ministry officials) from six mountain regions convened in Vienna for a workshop. The exchange of experiences fostered joint learning on regional cooperation mechanisms, adaptation strategies, and collaboration bringing together science, practice and policy.

People working in agriculture experience climate change daily and possess extensive practical knowledge on adapting to weather and climatic conditions. By systematically collecting, analysing, and disseminating this knowledge, other communities and regions can benefit from these insights. In partnership with the University of Geneva, a global database named the 'Solutions Portal' has been created for this purpose. It documents and scientifically evaluates adaptation strategies with potential for effective implementation across different contexts. Currently, the platform has over 100 entries. In certain regions like the Andes since 2022, 'communities of practice' have emerged with support from international organisations such as the United Nations Environment Programme, facilitating the exchange of approaches, challenges, and lessons among various mountain region stakeholders.

The core tenets of climate policy are established at UN climate negotiations, which are informed, among other factors, by the scientific analyses of the highly influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). However, the specific needs of mountain regions have thus far not received the attention they warrant in global dialogues, given their importance for the world's fresh water supply and biodiversity.

The wealth of solid data gathered via this project has contributed to exposing these blind spots within climate discourse. For example, for the first time in nearly three decades, the vulnerability of mountain regions to climate change and their specific adaptation strategies featured prominently in the 6th IPCC Report. The project contributed to the UN General Assembly declaring 2025 the International Year of Glacier Preservation and adopting the 2023–27 Action Plan for the Sustainable Development of Mountain Regions.