Safeguarding Mountain Social-Ecological Systems, Vol 2

Stefan Schneiderbauer is Head of GLOMOS Bolzano Office (Global Mountain Safeguard Research Program) in Italy and senior researcher of the Group Climate and Disaster Risk within the Eurac Research Institute for Earth Observation. Previously Dr Schneiderbauer worked for the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, the Free University of Berlin and as a freelancing consultant and trainer in the field of international cooperation and capacity building. He holds a Diploma in Geography from the University of Cologne and a PhD in Natural Sciences from the Free University of Berlin. Dr Schneiderbauer has extensive experience in spatial data analysis, remote sensing, sustainable development and participatory approaches for the co-development of evidence-based research results. His current scientific work focuses on concepts and applications for risk analyses conducted in inter- and transdisciplinary teams aiming at policy support. Since more than 12 years his research work is concentrated on climate and natural hazard risks in mountain regions. Jörg Szarzynski serves at UNU-EHS as the Head of the GLOMOS Bonn Office (Global Mountain Safeguard Research Program) and is Co-Director of the Centre for Global Mountain Safeguard Research at Eurac Research, Bolzano, Italy. Furthermore, Dr. Szarzynski is Associate Professor at the Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa (DiMTEC), University of the Free State (UFS), Bloemfontein, Republic of South Africa. He serves as official member of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) Team, an international emergency response system for sudden-onset emergencies administrated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA). Dr. Szarzynski holds a Diploma in Geography from the University of Bonn and a PhD in Physical Geography and Atmospheric Sciences from the Universities in Mannheim and Göttingen. He has broad expertise in climatology and remote sensing, global environmental change and sustainable development research, capacity-building and web-based data and information management. Paola Fontanella Pisa is Programme Associate of Global Mountain Safeguard Research (GLOMOS) Programme, a joint endeavor of UNU-EHS and Eurac Research in South Tyrol. Holder of a Master of Arts in World Heritage Studies, she completed her studies on World Heritage Studies at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, in Germany. Her research, pursued in Japan as exchange student at the Tsukuba University, investigated the role of memory transmission for disaster risk reduction. Ms. Fontanella Pisa obtained her Bachelor Degree in Language, Culture and Society of Asia and Mediterranean Africa at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, in Italy, where she specialized in Japanese language and culture. Her interest in disaster risk reduction and resilience building is rooted in her experiences working in Japan, in support to communities hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. She is currently PhD candidate at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Tohoku University, Japan, where she carries out transdisciplinary research on the integration of local knowledge into disaster risk reduction and adaptation pathways in UNESCO mountain Biosphere Reserves. Her scientific work focuses on understanding the dynamics of nature-culture linkages in risk perception, ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction, and integrated risk management approaches of mountain social-ecological systems. Before her appointment with UNU-EHS, Ms. Fontanella Pisa has been working with UNESCO in the Natural Science Sector, supporting projects on building resilience of educational infrastructure, and developing related project proposals. Prior to that, Ms. Fontanella Pisa had the opportunity to collaborate with UNU-EHS as Secretariat of the Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR), hosted by UN Environment’s Crisis Management Branch in Geneva, Switzerland. John (Jack) F. Shroder graduated from Union College’s Geology Program in 1961, received a Masters degree at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst in 1963, and a doctorate at the University of Utah in 1967. His first academic job was two years at the University of Malawi in Africa, before he joined the faculty at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) in 1969, where he remained for most of the next four decades. In the late 1970s he also spent several years on an NSF grant and a Fulbright at Kabul University in Afghanistan and then in 1983-84 he had another Fulbright to Peshawar University in Pakistan. These experiences led to many years of research in the Hindu Kush and western Himalaya which continued through a host of grants and the thick and thin of the interminable war years and terrorist threats over there. Finally in the post 9/11 world, the difficulties of dealing with the increasing terrorism and avoidance of problems in the field forced a cessation of further work in those difficult countries. Also the declining US economy led to so many other problems at UNO that in summer of 2011, Dr. Shroder stopped teaching his required geology major courses and attempted to retire to his and his wife Susie’s new house in Crested Butte, Colorado. This lasted barely a month before UNO pressured him to return at a vastly reduced part-time salary to once again cover his geomorphology class for the fall semester, 2011. But in the interim, Jack had begun a new editing career for the Elsevier publishing company so that he was spending more of his time producing new volumes of work in geomorphology and hazards analysis. With 30 volumes written or edited by 2012, and 9 more deep into the planning stages, the future of such work for him in his retirement years seems certain. These books go together with the more than 150 other scientific papers he is continuing to publish. Dr. Shroder is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Board of Trustees of the Foundation of the Geological Society of America also asked Jack to join them for the next six years as well, so his deep interests in geology will be maintained. The Association of American Geographers has given Dr. Shroder distinguished career awards twice, once for their Mountain Specialty Group in 2001, and again for their Geomorphology Specialty Group in 2010.

• 1. Introduction on Mountain Social-Ecological SystemsPart 1: LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEANS2. Socioeecological challenges and opportunities for Latin American Mountains3. Integrated Volcanic Disaster Risk Management in Mexico: insights, challenges and opportunities4. Manizales' Innovative Urban Risk Transition for Improving the Resilience of an Andean Tomorrow's City5. Extractive Industry in South America: Mining, Land and Conflicts in the Lithium Triangle6. Coffee and environmental change in the Colombian Andes. Strategies to cope with climatic and market variability7. Climate Services Provision and Energy Production in the Mountains of Guatemala: Forecasting Streamflow in the Upper Samalá River Watershed8. The role of urban infrastructures for sustainable development of Andean cities9. Land-use and climate change impacts in the Venezuelan Andes at multiple spatial-temporal scales10. Understanding the governance structure of biosphere reserves in Central America is critical for sustainability11. Promoting sustainable mountain development: a strategy to bridge science and action in the AndesPart 2: AFRICA12. Introduction as Regional Coordinator – Africa13. Mountains of Southern Africa14. Mountains of Madagascar15. Mountains of Eastern Africa16. Mountains of Western Africa17. Mountains of Northern Africa18. Mountains of African-associated islandsPart 3: EUROPE19. Introduction as Regional Coordinator for Europe20. climate vulnerabilities and risks in Europe, covering the Alps and Carpathian and maybe via means of co-authors also other European mountains, showcases from our experience with the carious projects in the Alps and in South Tyrol21. Ecosystem services in the European Alps and global interlinkages22. Coping with natural hazards in the Romanian Carpathians: challenges and opportunities23. New insights into land ownership and partnerships from the mountains of Scotland24. In-migration to European mountain regions: a challenge for local resilience and sustainable development25. Words of Warning: What natural hazards fiction set in the Alps can teach us26. Addressing climate action, soil protection and risk governance in the Alps: The Alpine Convention’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals27. Science-policy-practice collaborations towards sustainable development in the Carpathian RegionPart 3: CENTRAL ASIA28. Introduction as Regional Coordinator29. Past and future glacier changes and sustainable development of the Tarim River oases (Xinjiang, NW China)30. Glacier monitoring as a prerequisite for local-scale adaption of water resource management31. Land degradation in the mountain regions of Central Asia: the role of pastoral tenure systems32. Case study: Land Degradation of pastures in Suusamyr Valley in Kyrgyzstan33. Stakeholder dialogue for improved water management in the Central Asian region34. Regional Nexus Dialogues for increased investments in water, energy and food securityPart 4: HINDU KUSH HIMALAYA35. Introduction to HKH regional chapter36. Safeguarding the Third Pole: Risks, challenges and opportunities from the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region37. Climate-Smart Agriculture in the Western Himalaya: A Case Study from Northern Pakistan38. Adapting to the changing landscape in the Altai Mountains: A case study of Sutai Mountain of Mongolia39. Impacts of natural hazards and early warning system in the Nepal Himalaya40. Closing Chapter