The latest issue of eco.mont turns attention to mountain protected areas as critical arenas for climate and biodiversity action.

Vol. 18 / No. 1 of eco.mont – Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research and Management follows a year of major international gatherings, including the 29th IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi and UNESCO’s 5th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves in Hangzhou, at which MRI Chair Jörg Balsiger and MRI Executive Director Carolina Adler shared a mountain research perspective. Across each of these forums, policymakers and experts emphasized the interconnected challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainable development.

Reflecting this global agenda, eco.mont presents research from protected mountain regions worldwide. Studies examine climate adaptation and resistance to mining in the High Andean wetlands, sustainable regional development in the Mont Viso Biosphere Reserve, and landscape management benchmarking in the UNESCO Biosphere Entlebuch.

Other contributions include a comprehensive butterfly inventory in Italy’s Mont Emilius Massif, a call for improved biodiversity mapping in Malá Fatra National Park, and new findings on mountaineering expenditure patterns in Spain’s protected areas, highlighting overcrowding as a key factor.

The issue also features insights from the SNP+ 2025 Research Symposium, held during the 111th anniversary of the Swiss National Park, exploring landscape evolution as a multidimensional process.

Together, the articles underscore the role of mountain protected areas as testing grounds for climate resilience, collaboration, innovation, and sustainable regional transformation at a time of intensifying global commitments.

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^{Cover image by Fabian Betto.}