Mountains and Mountain Forests
Introduction
Mountain forests are important for:
- Biodiversity - they contain many endemics and species of conservation concern;
- Hydrological cycles - they intercept precipitation and release the moisture slowly, providing more constant water supplies and limiting flooding;
- Soil stabilisation - they prevent erosion
- Products people use - they supply timber, fuel and many non-wood products.
They are seriously threatened by climate change and a wide range of human activities.
As a first step to evaluating global mountain forest resources and the threats to them, UNEP-WCMC (in collaboration with the Environmental Change Institute and kindly supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation - SDC) has made a first attempt to map the mountain forests of the world. The results of this effort are presented on this website as regional maps and statistics.
The analysis has also been disseminated as the A1 paper maps, Mountains of the World - 2000 and Mountain Forests of the World - 2000, which are being distributed with the publications listed below, or can be obtained from UNEP-WCMC.
Mountains of the World: Forests and Mountains. Centre for Development and Environment, University of Berne, Switzerland, distributed at the 8th meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.
Kapos, V., Rhind, J., Edwards, M., Ravilious, C. and Price, M.F. (2000) Developing a map of the world's mountain forests. In: Price, M.F., Butt, N. (Eds) Forests in sustainable mountain development: A state-of-knowledge report for 2000. CAB International, Wallingford, UK 4-9.
Debarbieux, B., Delannoy, J.-J., and Dobremez, J.-F., (eds). (2000) Les pays du monde et leurs montagnes. Editions Revue de Géographie Alpine - Grenoble, 172 p.