Section
ADAPTATION AT ALTITUDE
Mountains at the frontline of climate change
Mountains feature some of the clearest indications of climate change: rising temperatures, melting glaciers and changing precipitation patterns are disrupting water flows and affecting ecosystems, creating and worsening natural hazards and threatening livelihoods and communities both within the mountains and downstream.
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Mountain regions cover about one quarter of the Earth’s land surface and are home to more than 1 billion people. Mountains host an impressive array of natural resources – 25% of terrestrial biodiversity and 60% of all biosphere reserves – and they supply freshwater for lowland irrigation and domestic use for half of the global population. Mountains provide essential ecosystem services for livelihoods, and with their rich ethnic and cultural diversity and magical natural beauty they offer recreation and restoration for residents and visitors alike.
Mountains feature some of the clearest indications of climate change: rising temperatures, melting glaciers and changing precipitation patterns are disrupting water flows and affecting ecosystems, creating and worsening natural hazards and threatening livelihoods and communities both within the mountains and downstream. And because climate impacts are often more profound in mountains and affect people already confronting poverty and land degradation, mountain livelihoods are particularly sensitive to climate change.
Mountain people have always faced the challenges of living in a rugged environment and have developed coping strategies to adapt to harsh conditions, but the unprecedented magnitude and speed of climate change puts them under increasing pressure.
TAKING ACTION IN THE MOUNTAINS
Our objective
The Adaptation at Altitude programme seeks to increase the resilience and adaptive capacity of mountain communities and ecosystems to climate change.
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The Adaptation at Altitude programme seeks to increase the resilience and adaptive capacity of mountain communities and ecosystems to climate change by:
- Improving the knowledge of appropriate climate change adaptation strategies in the mountains
- Transferring that knowledge through science–policy platforms to inform decision-making in national, regional and global policy processes
Adaptation at Altitude will foster exchange among the mountain areas of the world and seek short and long-term solutions to the problems arising from climate change.
What We Do
We strengthen the Global Network for Observations and Information on Mountain Environment (GNOME), a flagship activity of the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI), under the framework of the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO).
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Our aim is that the improved availability and use of mountain observation data and information services contribute to regional and global knowledge products on the impacts of climate change in mountains.
Find out more on GEO GNOME
We facilitate science-policy dialogues in the Andes, East Africa, Hindu Kush Himalaya, South Caucasus and inter-regional collaboration and sharing of experience.
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Our aim is that as a result of established and strengthened science–policy platforms, regional bodies and their national constituencies support the integration of mountain-specific climate change adaptation into planning and policy processes.
Find out more on activities in the Andes
Find out more on activities in Hindu Kush Himalaya
Find out more on activities in South Caucasus and inter-regionally
We establish a knowledge base and community of practice on climate change adaptation opportunities in mountains.
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Our aim is that stronger knowledge on climate change adaptation opportunities in the mountains informs the development of national, regional and global approaches to increase resilience and adaptation capacity.
Access the global knowledge base
We influence policy processes related to climate change (UNFCCC, Paris Agreement, Global Stocktake), disaster risk reduction (Sendai Framework for DRR), and the Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030).
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Our aim is that major global policy processes take climate change adaptation in mountains into account.
Find out more on policy mainstreaming
Partners
Adaptation at Altitude is a collaborative programme launched and co-supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
