What is the contribution of mountain areas to global ecosystem services production?

“Mountains are among the most sensitive social-ecological systems in the world, explains Grêt-Regamey, “and they experience the impacts of climate change and economic globalization faster than many other social-ecological systems.” Grêt-Regamey and Weibel “wanted to understand how these sentinels of global change provide insights into the effects of land use and population change on ecosystem services across the world.”
Grêt-Regamey and Weibel used high-resolution earth observation datasets to compare mountain areas temporally (2000 vs. 2010). The researchers confirmed their hypothesis—that mountains are hotspots of ecosystem services provision—and found alarming global trends. “Most mountain ranges show large patches of decreasing ecosystem services in areas characterized by high population pressure,” says Grêt-Regamey. For example, the loss of lower-elevation mountain forests adjacent to densely populated lowlands results in reduced food and forage production.
In the Global North, supply of food and forage exceeds demand, while demand for recreation exceeds supply. “It is the opposite in the Global South,” says Grêt-Regamey, where “the expressed demand for water, food, and forage is exceeding the supply.” According to Grêt-Regamey, these results “highlight the need for action at global and local scales in terms of land use management.” Ecosystem services assessments like this one can help balance conservation goals with economic, political, and social concerns.
Read more: Grêt-Regamey, A., and Weibel, B. ‘Global assessment of mountain ecosystem services using earth observation data.’ Ecosystem Services (2020): external page https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101213.
Written by Gabrielle Vance, external page https://www.mountainresearchinitiative.org/news-page-all/129-mri-news