Planning next steps in the mountain snowfall
Despite its perseverance, the intense snowfall did not succeed at handicapping the project team meeting in Argentière (France) this January 2018. For two days, we worked together in an old-time chalet in this picturesque mountain village in the French Alps.
The bulk of the agenda was on the revision of our work so far and on the planning of the next steps. Most importantly, we were there to plan for the co-creation of desired ‘visions’ for the future of the ‘Pays de la Meije’ (France) and the Swiss Upper Valais.
We also took this meeting as an opportunity to move forward in the translation of our understanding of the mountain socio-economic and ecological system into a (conceptual) model. Such a model is meant to become a computer simulation model that helps us to understand how dependent mountain actors are on landscapes for their living. Furthermore, it will assist us in the development of strategies to achieve the mentioned visions for the future.
Such visions will be co-created with a whole range of actors of the French and Swiss sites during workshops planned for April-May 2018. These events will be a unique opportunity for the actors to come together to think jointly about the future they want for their region. In essence, before the workshops the project team will prepare a series of global scenarios of socio-economic and climatic trends. Workshop participants will then be assisted to develop visions for the future that are plausible under the global trends.
Overall, the meeting was a success both at achieving our objectives for the two days, and at learning first-hand about the nuisances of weather-related hazards in mountain areas.
