Mountains make up around a third of the surface area of the world's mainland and islands. While they are home to one tenth of the world's population, they provide resources to more than a third of all humans. Mountain areas are hotspots of biodiversity as well as offering recreation, or even recuperation after an illness, for many people. There is cause for concern as global change in the form of climate change and as globalization threatens mountain areas more intensely than lowlands. Global warming in the mountains occurs up to three times faster than elsewhere and has highly diverse effects. Globalization is hitting ill prepared traditional areas that are hard pressed to hold their own against global competition. Mountain ranges often run across national boundaries and possess conflict potential. At international level and with diminishing resources, these conflicts can arise around minerals and water. At national level, the inaccessibility of some mountain areas makes them a potential shelter for terrorists. For these reasons, mountain research is now becoming all the more important. The aim must be to maintain the functions of mountains and to introduce sustainable development processes. The UN has recognized this by passing the resolution "Sustainable Mountain Development". It adds to the mountain chapter of the Agenda 21 and to the declaration of an International Year of the Mountains in 2002 and 2010. This volume shows that Austrian mountain research is taking up the challenge of global change for mountain regions. The authors are, or have been, members of the Institute of Mountain Research: Man and Environment at the Austrian Academy of Sciences or are working closely with the institute. Readers who love the mountains will find here a new, more problem-oriented, view of these fascinating landscapes.

InhaltsangabeAxel Borsdorf, Georg Grabherr, Johann Stötter: Mountains under global change conditions - excellence strategies for Austrian mountain research Günter Köck: Mountain and lobal change research programmes in Austria Roland Psenner, Reinhard Lackner: The Mountain research focus of the University of Innsbruck Matthias Monreal, Eric Veulliet: alpS - Centre for Climate Change Adaption Technologies Christian Georges: Climate Change - downscaling the global dimension to regions Matthias Monreal, Johann Stötter: Alpine permafrost: a rock glacier inventory of South Tyrol based on laser-scanning data Georg Grabherr, Harald Pauli, Michael Gottfried: A worldwide observation of effects of climate change on mountain ecosystems Harald Pauli, Michael Gottfried, Christian Klettner, Georg Grabherr: Soils as archives of natural and cultural history, examples from the Eastern Alps Christoph Wiegand, Clemens Geitner: Shallow erosion in grassland area in the Alps. What we know and what we need to investigate further Johann Stötter, Matthias Monreal: Mountains at risk Clemens Pfurtscheller, Klaus Kleewein: Are alpine regions especially affected by natural hazards? Meso-scale assessment of economic resilience and vulnerability based on the 2005 floods in the Austrian federal states of Tyrol and Vorarlberg Rafael Sanchez: Risks in the Andean metropolises Manfred Perlik: Leisure landscapes and urban agglomerations - disparities in the Alps Oliver Bender: Cultural landscape, traditional food and tourism. Rural development in the Franconian Switzerland (Bavaria, Germany) and in the Wachau (Lower Austria) Mathilde Schmitt: Women - indispensable actors in sustainable development of alpine agriculture Sigrun Kanitschneider: Transit traffic in the Alps and the Andes. One phenomenon, different perceptions Carla Marchant: Paths to sustainable development in the Andes Axel Borsdorf: The hydroelectrical potential of North-Western Patagonia - balancing economic development and ecological protection Falk F. Borsdorf: Regional management is social work! Activating social capital as a key task of regional managers - the case of the Biosphere Reserve Wienerwald Lars Keller: Quality of life in the Alps. Developing a scientific model on an elusive geographical topic Brigitte Scott, Valerie Braun: eco.mont - Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research and Manaement Axel Borsdorf, Ulrike Tappeiner, Erich Tasser: Mapping the Alps Oliver Bender, Axel Borsdorf,Kati Heinrich: The interactive alpine information system GALPIS Astrid Björnsen Gurung: Alpine knowldege gardening - research networks fort he andvancement of science and development Fides Braun: Closing the gap between science and practice. Mountain. TRIP - an EU project coordinated by IGF Bruno Messerli: Mountains, their resources and risks - common goods or common concerns?