Mountains & Life

'We go over 4000 or 5000 metre mountains every week and work all year round in all terrains and climate conditions.....with no health insurance...'

Mountains: globally important ecosystems

An overview of the importance of mountains in sustainable development

Mountain ecosystems are found throughout the world, from the equator almost to the poles, occupying approximately one-fifth of its land surface. Beyond their common characteristics of having high relative relief (or very marked topographic variation) and steep slopes, mountains are remarkably diverse (Ives. Messerli and Spiess, 1997). They are found on every continent, and at every altitude, from close to sea level to the highest place on the earth - the summit of Mount Everest (Sagarmatha or Qomolangma) on the border between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

Half of the world's population depends on mountain water

An estimated one-tenth of the human population derive their life-support directly from mountains. Yet, mountains are important not only for their inhabitants, but for millions of people living in lowlands. At the global scale, mountains' greatest value may be as sources of all the world's major rivers, and many smaller ones (Mountain Agenda, 1998). Mountains play a critical role in the water cycle by capturing moisture from air masses; when this precipitation falls as snow, it is stored until it melts in the spring and summer, providing essential water for settlements, agriculture and industries downstream - often during the period of lowest rainfall. In semi-arid and arid regions, over 90 percent of river flow comes from the mountains. Even in temperate Europe, the Alps that occupy only 11 percent of the area of the Rhine river basin supply 31 percent of the annual flow - and in summer more than 50 percent.

Mountain water is also a source of hydroelectric power, most of which is used on the plains below. Historically, water wheels have provided energy in mountain regions, mainly for grinding grain. In rural Nepal there are an estimated 25 000 water wheels and over 900 micro-hydropower turbines - a more recent technology - that provide a critical source of energy, mainly for agroprocessing (Schweizer and Preiser, 1997). Such local renewable energy is a vital catalyst for economic development in areas that are at the far ends of the distribution networks for the fossil fuels on which most urban dwellers depend. In developing countries, wood fuel is the predominant energy source in mountain settlements, but it is also essential - whether as wood or charcoal - to many people living in urban centres in the lowlands and on the plains. For example, any visitor to Marrakech can observe the large piles of fuelwood stacked outside communal bakeries, to which every household brings its daily bread to be baked; the wood comes from the forests in the Atlas Mountains.

Mountain wood also has many other uses, including timber and wood products both for local use and, where road, rail or water networks permit, for export. It is significant to note, however, that, while deforestation of the tropical rain forests remains most visible in the global media, the highest rate of deforestation in any biome occurs in tropical upland forests -1.1 percent per year. Rates of clearing are particularly high in Central America, East and Central Africa, Southeast Asia and the Andes (FAO, 1993).

CENTRES OF BIODIVERSITY

Mountain ecosystems are globally important as centres of biological diversity. The greatest diversity of vascular plant species occurs in mountains: Costa Rica, the tropical eastern Andes, the Atlantic forest of Brazil, the eastern Himalaya-Yunnan region, northern Borneo and Papua New Guinea (Barthlott, Lauer and Placke, 1996). Other important centres are found in arid subtropical mountains. Many of these areas with the greatest biological diversity are designated as national parks or other types of protected area.

Mountains are important centres of biodiversity: mowing mountain meadows to maintain biodiversity, La Vanoise National Park, France

It is not only the diversity of natural mountain species that is of value to humankind, both intrinsically and as a source of "wild foods" such as mushrooms, game and birds, and many other non-timber forest products. Mountains are also important as centres of crop diversity. The maintenance and expansion of mountain populations in many parts of the world have been made possible by the introduction of potatoes and maize from Latin America. The original precursors of wheat came from the mountains of the Near East. These original varieties maintain their importance in the breeding of new varieties of major food crops. Equally, species that are not widely known but are adaptable and nutritious - such as many of the Latin American root and tuber crops which are the focus of research at the International Potato Center (CIP) in Peru - may be potential major sources of food.

INFLUENCE OF CHANGES IN GLOBAL SYSTEMS

The economic relationships of mountain communities are also undergoing transformation. Even the most remote mountain community has always been linked to regional or global markets for essential commodities such as salt. Until quite recently, however, the economies of most mountain societies in the developing world were largely internal, based on the complementary use of resources in different altitudinal zones. Connections to outside economies have been driven by a number of factors, notably increases in accessibility owing to the construction of new road networks and the rapid expansion of air transport since the Second World War. In Nepal, the availability of surplus military helicopters from the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics means that small villages, formerly many days' walk from Kathmandu, are now accessible in an hour or less. Similarly, small communities in the mountains of Siberia and in the Tien Shan of Kyrgyzstan may no longer be isolated.

While the helicopters carry some local people, their principal passengers are usually tourists from all parts of the world - the latest followers of a trend that began in the early nineteenth century with the discovery of the Swiss Alps by English travellers. In an increasingly urbanized world, the importance of mountain regions as global centres of tourism continues to grow. The reasons for travel are highly diverse. Old forms, such as pilgrimage, still exist and have major influences on regional economies; for example, 9.3 million pilgrims arrive each year at Hardwar-Rishikesh, the entry point into the Garhwal Himalaya. Badrinath, one of the major sites, is visited by about 450 000 people a year, representing a threefold increase in two decades (Academy for Mountain Environics, 1995). The growing number of tourists attracted by the remarkable scenery and unfamiliar cultures of Nepal has been even greater - from 9 526 in 1964 to 293 567 in 1993. Relatively few governments have taken the steps of the Royal Government of Bhutan or the Zuni Nation of New Mexico to limit the number of tourists; the world's largest industry is widely seen as a motor for economic development (Price, Moss and Williams, 1997).

Yet tourism is a fickle industry. As Nepali Sherpas noted in the 1980s, "tourists are like so many cattle, representing highly mobile, productive, and prestigious, but perishable, forms of wealth. Like cattle, tourists give good milk, but only if they are well fed" (Fisher, 1990, p. 123). A decline in the reliability of tourism had already been noted in the Swiss Alps, where the industry is undergoing a period of reorganization. Many people will always want to visit the mountains to test their physical endurance, escape from the pressures of everyday life, or visit sacred sites and places of inspiration, but the vagaries of tourism are as dynamic as the physical environment to which long-established mountain communities have learned to adapt. In a world increasingly influenced by global forces, highland people need to find new ways to survive and prosper. In the new parlance, this is sustainable development, and its fostering is vital not only to mountain people, but to the billions living downstream or farther away but linked through the global transportation network.

  The Andes

'The longest Mountain chain in the world'

Today, more than 30 Himalayan peaks rise to heights of 7,620 metres (25,000 feet) or more. One of these peaks, Mount Everest, is the world’s highest mountain, at 8,848 metres (29,028 feet). This ancient marine sediment was thrust upwards when India, then an island, moved north and collided with the Asian continent. The principal phase of uplift began 65 million years ago and is still continuing, though uplift rates have been waning for the past 12 million years.