Global News

The Earth’s temperature continued to rise, with 2020 being one of the three warmest years on record, while extreme weather events combined with the COVID-19 pandemic to impact millions of people worldwide. 

A new report compiled by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and an extensive network of partners on the State of the Global Climate 2020 documents indicators of the climate system, including greenhouse gas concentrations, increasing land and ocean temperatures, sea level rise, melting ice and glacier retreat and extreme weather. It also highlights impacts on socio-economic development, migration and displacement, food security and land and marine ecosystems.

Melting glaciers could be triggering a feedback process that causes further climate change, according to new research published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

An international research team led by the University of Leeds has for the first time linked glacier-fed mountain rivers with higher rates of plant material decomposition, a major process in the global carbon cycle.

The International Science Council (ISC) seeks views on the draft Global Risk Agenda. 

The ISC launched an online survey for the development of a global science agenda on risk. The MRI encourages the mountain research community to reflect on and share mountain-relevant questions for this risk agenda, and contribute to the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR)

The survey will close on 5 May 2021.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) Mountains Specialist Group has developed a draft paper on Identification of Global Priorities for New Mountain Protected and Conserved Areas. It reenforces an understanding and appreciation of the critical natural and cultural value of mountains and the threats to their ecological functions, and presents the case for the importance of protecting and conserving representative mountain ecosystems.

Research published in the journal Earth’s Future assesses the governance processes related to the planning of a new reservoir in the European Alps – and stresses that reservoir governance in mountain regions would profit from anticipating multi-purpose use in a way that addresses both climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Mountains – often referred to as the world’s ‘water towers’ – play an essential role in storing water and providing it to meet the downstream water demands of a significant proportion of the global population. This role is of particular importance during lowlands' low flow season, where mountains provide runoff through snow- and glacier melt. 1.9 billion people worldwide depend upon these runoff contributions for purposes including drinking water, irrigation, energy production, and industrial and municipal activities. Furthermore, this runoff is essential for ecosystems and biodiversity. The retreat of glaciers, rising snow lines, and changes in precipitation as a result of climate change, both now and in future, therefore have serious implications.

The Forum Landscape, Alps, Parks (FoLAP) invites scientific contributions based on mountain research undertaken in Swiss parks of national importance and UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as well as protected areas in other countries. 

Abstract submission deadline: 30 April 2021. 

The U.S. Geological Survey Benchmark Glacier Project is seeking information about researchers who are close to finishing or who have recently finished their PhD and have demonstrated research skill in the arena of mountain glacier mass balance, glacier and climate relationships, ice dynamics and glacier geophysics, and/or glacier interactions with alpine ecosystems. We want to ensure that our awareness of emergent researchers is updated, so that our response to potential future postdoc opportunities can be swift.

The Hydro-CH2018 project analysed the effects of climate change on Swiss water bodies. It found that climate change will greatly affect water availability over the course of the year, and this vital resource will become so scarce or so warm that humans will have to curb their activities and nature will suffer. A new report summarizes the project's findings, and explores how these impacts can be mitigated.

How will climate change affect the water regime in Switzerland – the 'reservoir' of Europe? This was the key question addressed by the Hydro-CH2018 research project, an extensive study carried out under the lead of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) in conjunction with the Swiss National Centre for Climate Services (NCCS). The impact is much greater than previously thought: without climate protection measures, by the end of the century there will be around 30 per cent more water in the rivers in winter, and 40 per cent less in summer.

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