Mountain regions are changing rapidly as climate warming, cryosphere loss, hydrological and ecosystem change, and socio-economic transformations interact. Looking toward 2050 provides a shared near-term horizon for asking how mountain social-ecological systems may evolve, which risks and opportunities may emerge, and how knowledge about possible futures can inform decisions today. The session addresses key and emerging themes in mountain research while remaining open to contributions from across the wider mountain research community.
A cross-cutting focus is on interactions between environmental and socio-economic change in mountain regions, including their implications for hazards, vulnerability, exposure and risk. We welcome conceptual and empirical research using observations, monitoring networks, remote sensing, models, scenarios, storylines and comparative studies to understand current trajectories and explore possible mountain futures. Contributions may address physical, ecological and societal dimensions of mountain change, from climate, cryosphere, water, ecosystems and hazards to land use, economies and governance, including mountain-lowland linkages.
We particularly encourage work that connects long-term observations with future scenarios and decision-making, investigates interactions and feedbacks between biophysical and human systems, or co-produces knowledge with communities, practitioners and decision-makers. Contributions that advance integrated approaches to monitoring, risk and adaptation, governance and the translation of knowledge into action are particularly welcome. By bringing these strands together, the session aims to clarify what different mountain futures could mean by 2050 and how choices made today may shape risks, resilience and sustainable development.
This session is endorsed and supported by the Mountain Research Initiative and the Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.