Dear colleagues
(with apologies for cross-posting)
Please consider submitting an abstract to a special session entitled
“Effects of climatic change on natural disturbance regimes” at the
international conference “Global Change and the World’s Mountains”,
held in Perth, Scotland, 26-30 September 2010. The deadline is March
1, 2010. Instructions on how to submit and register, and details
about the conference, are in the appended text.
Disturbances such as wildfire, insect outbreaks, and avalanches are
likely ro change significantly and in unexpected ways with ongoing
global warming. In many of the world’s mountain ecosystems, the
effects of altered disturbance regimes may be greater, more abrupt,
and less predictable than the direct effects of a changing climate.
This session explores the interactions of climate change and natural
disturbance regimes, focusing on mountain ecosystems. We seek papers
on a diversity of subject areas, including empirical and simulation
modeling, field-based studies, synthesis, and adaptation, from
diverse geographic regions. Papers are welcome on both the effects
on mountain ecosystems and “downstream” effects on lowland areas,
population centers, etc., of changing natural disturbance regimes in
mountains.
Please contact me if you have any questions about the session.
Don McKenzie, Research Ecologist
Pacific WIldland Fire Sciences Lab
US Forest Service
Affiliate Professor
School of Forest Resources, College of the Environment
CSES Climate Impacts Group
University of Washington
desk: 206-732-7824
cell: 206-321-5966
[email protected]
[email protected]
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Mountain Conf" <[email protected]>
Date: January 20, 2010 7:19:44 AM PST
To: "Mountain Conf" <[email protected]>
Subject: Global Change and the World's Mountains, Perth, UK,
September 2010 - final call for papers
International conference: ‘Global Change and the World's Mountains’
Perth, Scotland, 26-30 September 2010
Final call for papers: Deadline 1 March 2010
Global change, including a wide range of inter-connected processes
ranging from global climate change to economic globalisation,
disproportionately affects mountain areas and the billions of
people who depend on them for their livelihoods and for various
goods and services. Mountain systems are particularly fragile, and
subject to both natural and anthropogenic drivers of change. These
range from volcanic and seismic events and flooding to global
climate change and the loss of vegetation and soils because of
inappropriate agricultural and forestry practices and extractive
industries. Thus, many mountain ecosystems are moving along
trajectories that couple high rates of environmental change with
strong economic changes. The collective effect may be to alter the
ability of these ecosystems to provide critical goods and services
to both mountain and lowland people.
In October 2005, many of these issues were addressed in the Open
Science Conference of the GLOCHAMORE (Global Change and Mountain
Regions) project, funded principally by the EU 6th Framework
Programme, with further support from UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere
(MAB) programme, which took place in Perth, Scotland. The event
was organised by the Centre for Mountain Studies at Perth College
UHI in collaboration with the other GLOCHAMORE project partners,
and was attended by 210 people from 41 countries. Published
outcomes included the GLOCHAMORE Research Strategy, the
proceedings, and a number of special issues of peer-reviewed journals.
Five years later, ‘Global Change and the World’s Mountains’ is
being organised by:
• the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Mountain Development at the
Centre for Mountain Studies at Perth College UHI, in collaboration
with
• the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI), a joint project of the
International Human Dimensions of Global Change Programme (IHDP)
and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), funded
by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
The conference is also endorsed by the Global Land Project of the
IGBP and IHDP, UNESCO’s MAB programme, and the Commission on
Mountain Response to Global Change of the International
Geographical Union.
Conference aims
To bring together leading scientists and others working in, and
concerned with, mountain areas around the world in order to:
1) present, evaluate and synthesise progress in our understanding
of global change in mountain regions since 2005;
2) evaluate progress with regard to the implementation and impacts
of the GLOCHAMORE Research Strategy;
3) work proactively on a global agenda for research and action
relating to global change and mountain regions, taking into
consideration global assessment and policy processes, such as those
relating to the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on
Biological Diversity, as well as the consideration of mountains by
the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in 2012, 20 years
after the Rio Earth Summit.
Abstracts
Abstracts for papers for any of the 32 session themes will be
accepted until 1 March 2010. Please visit the conference website
at http://www.perth.uhi.ac.uk/mountainstudies/2010 to see the
themes and download an abstract form.
Side meetings
There will be possibilities to arrange side meetings, especially
over lunch-hours. If you would like to organise such a meeting,
please contact Angela Paterson at the conference secretariat:
[email protected]
Registration/Funding
The conference organisers are still identifying additional funding
for the conference. Consequently, registration fees have not yet
been set; this will be done no later than March 2010.
For further information and updates about the conference, please
visit the conference website at http://www.perth.uhi.ac.uk/
mountainstudies/2010
Regards
Angela Paterson
Conference Secretariat
The Centre for Mountain Studies
Perth College
Crieff Road
Perth PH1 2NX
Scotland
Tel: +44 (0) 1738 877761
Fax: +44 (0) 1738 877018
Email: [email protected]
www.perth.uhi.ac.uk/mountainstudies/2010
