Mountains are home to more than 85% of the world’s amphibian, bird and mammal species. Lowland slopes are rich in animal and plant species. And rugged, high-elevation environments, although lacking such biological diversity, play a key role in maintaining biodiversity in the wider mountain catchment area. The variation in mountain ecosystems also allows humans to extract multiple benefits from […]

The death toll following the recent earthquake in Afghanistan continues to rise. Taliban-led health authorities now say at least 800 people have been killed and 2,000 injured. The earthquake struck just before midnight local time on Sunday in a mountainous region near the city of Jalalabad, along the eastern border with Pakistan. It was of a relatively low 6.0 magnitude. […]

Mountain Mirrors is the ambitious postdoctoral project of Estefania Quenta at Imperial College London, funded by the Schlumberger Foundation. In this article written for the Climate and Environment at Imperial blog, she explains how climate change is intensifying water quality issues and how her project will fill key gaps in scientific knowledge, providing tangible tools to take actions […]

Travel back 20,000 years into the last Ice Age, to a time when the upper reaches of the Blue Mountains were treeless and the ridgelines and mountain peaks laden in snow and ice. At an elevation of 1,073 metres, you will find Dargan Shelter, an ancient rock shelter resembling a large amphitheatre. Looking around, you […]