Mountain Research and Development Vol 42, No 2: Addressing Challenges of Hazards, Risks, and Disaster Management in Mountain Regions | Publication
Healthy social–ecological systems in mountains are essential for reducing disaster risk and achieving sustainable development globally. This focus issue illuminates the dynamic and complex interconnections between hazards, underlying vulnerabilities, integrated disaster risk management, and resulting impacts in mountains. Its articles present insights from the Himalayas, the Andes, Iceland, Japan, and the volcanic island of Saint Vincent. Through a range of approaches, concepts, and case studies, they chart ways of reducing disaster risk and fostering partnerships among the great variety of stakeholders involved.
The issue is available online and open access: https://bioone.org/journals/mountain-research-and-development/volume-42/issue-2
Note that other issues are starting to fill up as well: https://bioone.org/journals/mountain-research-and-development/inprogress
Read about the journal’s section policies, guidelines and submission procedure at: https://www.mrd-journal.org/
The MRD Editorial Team
MRD Editorial Office, University of Bern, Centre for Development and Environment

Opening ceremony of the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development | 28 April 2022 15.30–17.00 CEST, Online
The United Nations General Assembly declared the year 2022 as the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development, at the proposal of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic. The resolution was sponsored by 94 governments and was adopted at the plenary meeting of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 2021.
The resolution invites Member States, organizations of the United Nations system, other international organizations and stakeholders, including civil society, private sector and academia, to observe the International Year to increase awareness of the importance of sustainable mountain development and the conservation and sustainable use of mountain ecosystems. It furthermore invites the Mountain Partnership, in collaboration with all relevant organizations, to facilitate the observance of the International Year.
This global high-level event will be a chance to launch the celebrations of the Year and promote global commitments towards the protection of these vulnerable ecosystems and the building of resilience of mountain peoples.
For more information and in order to register:
↗https://www.fao.org/mountain-partnership/internationalyear2022/events/events-detail/en/c/1492061/.
Conference 11-15 September 2022, Innsbruck (Austria)
IMC2022 builds upon the previous mountain conferences and aims to continue this scientific conference series exclusively targeted towards mountain-research. Hosted in the Alps, IMC2022 provides an excellent opportunity for experts from different disciplines to discuss mountain-related issues in a cross-disciplinary setting with flexible session formats. The key goals of the conference are to synthesize and enhance our understanding of mountain systems, in particular their response and resilience to global change.
More information: ↗https://www.imc2022.info/.

Scientific Symposium 8-11 November 2022, Arequipa (Peru) | Deadline 1 June 2022
From November 8 to 11, 2022, the Scientific Symposium "The Mountains, Our Future 2022" will be held in the city of Arequipa, organized by the Peruvian National Institute for Research on Glaciers and Mountain Ecosystems (INAIGEM) and Forest Trends Association. The objective of this International Symposium is to “disseminate scientific technical knowledge on mountain ecosystems and tropical glaciers in a context of climate change”. The main thematics of the abstracts are glaciers and the dangers associated with them, mountain ecosystems, and climate change and its consequences in high mountain environments. As part of this scientific event, the presentation in the form of summaries of original research and innovative work from public and private institutions, teachers and students, nationals and foreigners is invited, from which the Committee will select works for their innovation, clarity and quality of the results to be presented orally during the event. To participate in the Symposium, there is no need for a registration fee, and the abstracts, extended abstracts and presentations in oral or poster form can be made in Spanish or English.
The city of Arequipa is located in the middle of the Andes, including three volcanoes, among which the Misti stands out, an active volcano 5,820 meters in height. It is called “The White City” because of the color of its beautiful buildings, made from ashlar, the volcanic lava stone.
For more information, and in order to sign in for the Symposium, please click in: ↗https://inaigem.gob.pe/simposio/.
Our colleague and advisor Jorge Recharte, Executive Director of the Instituto de Montaña in Lima, will give a keynote speech at the International Mountain Conference 2022. He will talk about mountain communities that respond to the impacts associated with social and biophysical drivers of change with endogenous processes that are transformative and result in stronger economies and social relations, and the processes that empowered these mountain communities to produce transformative change.
Find out more here:
↗https://www.imc2022.info/portfolio/communities-at-the-top-transformative-processes-in-the-context-of-crisis-in-mountain-regions/.
This workshop is organized by our coordinator Fernando Ruiz Peyré (IGF/ÖAW, Austria) and colleague Cecilia Turin (Instituto de Montaña, Peru), and addresses community management of resources in mountain areas, its related challenges as well as new, innovative solutions to tackle these with an inter- and transdisciplinary perspective.
More information can be found on the website:
↗https://www.imc2022.info/portfolio/social-innovation-and-community-resource-management/.
Partner and participants of our Highlands.3 network will organize eleven focus sessions of IMC2022, and hence, together with the keynote speech and the synthesis workshop presented above, contribute to an astounding 10% of the conference's content. Come and join us in our sessions:
↗Communicating mountain research otherwise (Plenary Seesion ID14)
↗Current Dynamics and trends in Housing in Mountain Area (Focus Session ID15)
↗Diversity and interactions in mountain livestock farming systems (Focus Session ID17)
↗Effects of digitalisation on participatory governance (Focus Session ID18)
↗Mountain huts: a lab to observe mountain transitions (Focus Session ID41)
↗Mountain Protected Natural Areas as Sustainable Development Tools? (Focus Session ID42)
↗Past, Recent and Future Changes in Mountain Transhumance (Focus Session ID50)
↗Social innovation in mountain areas (Focus Session ID62)
↗Towards climate neutrality in mountains (Focus Session ID73)
↗What future for Youth in Mountain? (Focus Session ID78)
↗Working conditions and attractiveness of agricultural jobs in mountain (Focus Session ID80)
Call for papers: Digitalization for Sustainable Futures of Mountain Social–Ecological Systems | Deadline 1 July 2022
Mountain Research and Development is looking for papers that systematically assess experiences of how digitalization supports transformative change in mountains or how ICT-related risks can be addressed. Analyses of how digitalization contributes to changes in mountain societies, how it affects spatial and socioeconomic interrelations within mountain regions or between mountains and lowlands, or how digital technologies help address gaps in knowledge about mountain societies and environments are equally welcome, as are reviews of existing knowledge, practices, or policies related to digitalization. Full papers are due by 1 July 2022.
Read the detailed call for papers: ↗https://www.mrd-journal.org/issue/digitalization-for-sustainable-futures-of-mountain-social-ecological-systems/.
AlpWeek 6-7 September 2022 and Alpine Conference 8 September 2022, Brig-Glis (Switzerland)
The AlpWeek is an international event co-organised by the leading Alpine organisations committed to mountain protection and sustainable development. The 2022 edition will take place in in the Alpine town of Brig-Glis in Switzerland, at the foot of the beautiful Simplon Pass. The two-day AlpWeek will lead to the Alpine Conference on 8 September also in Brig-Glis, thus bringing together citizens and stakeholders to discuss the manifold aspects of transition in the Alps.
More information: ↗http://www.alpweek.org/.

International Conference 16-20 May 2022, Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve (Germany)
@ Early career scientists who have recently been conducting research in, for or with a biosphere reserve and would like to present their findings;
@ Donor organisations, funding agencies, research institutions and biosphere reserves who would like to share a specific best practice experience of research management.
More information:
↗https://www.biospherereserves.institute/research-conference.