Announcing the GEO Mountains Regional Workshop Series
MRI News
article written by MRI
29.03.23 | 10:03

Join us throughout 2023 for a workshop series on mountain observatories and data/information prospects, building on the responses and suggestions shared in an earlier series of virtual workshops held throughout 2020-2022.

MRI’s flagship activity, GEO Mountains, is taking the mountain data show on the road by hosting a series of regional workshops in 2023 as part of the Adaptation at Altitude Programme. The series’ primary aim is to continue building on earlier consultations held virtually in 2020-2022, and provide a platform to bring together data providers and data users from a range of disciplines working in mountain regions deemed most vulnerable to climate change: Central Asia, Caucasus, East Africa, Hindu Kush Himalaya, and the Andes. An additional event is also planned in Europe (covering the Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathians, and other European mountain ranges), as part of a GEO Mountains session planned for the EuroGEO Workshop on 3 October 2023. Stay tuned for more details on that event, soon.

In 2021, MRI’s Mountain Observatories Working Group published a paper introducing the concept of “Mountain Observatories”, which “identified geographical and thematic gaps as well as recent advances in the monitoring of relevant biophysical and socioeconomic variables in the mountains” and “proposed principles and ways of connecting existing initiatives, supporting emerging areas, and developing new mountain observatory networks regionally and, eventually, globally.” This concept sets the scene and will become a reality at the regional workshop series, outlining the necessary monitoring efforts and how they can be operationalised in these regions.

To complement other ongoing work, the workshops will focus on interdisciplinary in situ data coverage and availability, as well as associated capacity sharing, and possible data exploitation activities. In particular, participants are especially encouraged to share experiences and concrete suggestions to help develop a common overview of existing in situ monitoring efforts, and proceed to discuss how this could be expanded and/or better standardised (e.g. closing key gaps), as well as how the corresponding data could be shared and applied for key outstanding scientific and/or policy questions (for potential follow-up activities).

Join us throughout 2023:

Students and Early Career Researchers will be especially welcome to attend and contribute. For questions or further information please contact GEO Mountains: geomountains@mountainresearchinitiative.org


 Cover image by Nicolas Prieto.