Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) at Perth III

Monday, 28 September, 2015 - 14:19

MRI would like to draw your attention to the following roundtables and oral sessions hosted by them at the Perth Conference "Mountains of Our Future Earth". We hope to see you in Scotland very soon!

Building a mountain research network in Southeast Asia (luncheon discussion)
Monday, 5 October (12:45-13:30), Room Earn

The MRI is working on building up a mountain research network in Southeast Asia. If you work in this region, please grab some lunch in the main lunch area and then join us to get an update on our progress and to contribute your thoughts about how to make this new network a success! For questions, please contact Erin Gleeson.

Advances in observatories of mountain social-ecological systems
Monday, 5 October (10:30-12:30), Function Room, Royal George Hotel

This Roundtable provides an opportunity for short presentations on new aspects of observing mountain social-ecological systems and for a review of progress since the Global Fair and Workshop on Long-Term Observatories of Mountain Social-Ecological Systems, held in Reno (NV) USA in July 2014. The Roundtable will specifically discuss MRI’s efforts to inventory mountain observatories and proposals emerging from the launching workshop of the Global Network of Mountain Observatories (GNOMO) held in Gothic (CO) USA in September 2015. Participants will have an opportunity to register their observatory and contribute to the GNOMO Plan of Action.

Maximise the mountains' profile in Horizon 2020!
Monday, 5 October (10:30-12:30), Old Restaurant, Royal George Hotel

So far, mountains have been neglected in Horizon 2020. A group of researchers set off to develop a strategic research agenda "Mountains for Europe's Future" to lobby for the inclusion of mountain topics in future Horizon 2020 calls. The authors present drafts of their chapters, and this is your chance to add pressing topics from your field. A print-out of the draft agenda will be distributed.

Flash presentations cover chapters on (i) Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing, (ii) Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, (iii) Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy, (iv) Smart, green and integrated transport, (v) Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials, and (vi) Europe in a changing world. The audience will then split up in groups in order to discuss and amend the presented contents. We will use participants' feedback for the final version of "Mountains for Europe's Future" to be presented in Brussels in early 2016.

Current assessments of Sustainable Mountain Development
Wednesday, 7 October (10:30-12:30), Old Restaurant, Royal George Hotel

The mountain community has by and large accepted sustainable mountain development (SMD) as the normative goal motivating research and policy development. Indeed, SMD has been a favorite rhetorical device invoked in documents and policy discussions since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. However, the quantification of both the conditions and trends of sustainable development in mountain regions has been less common. This Session focuses on specific efforts to assess mountain regions quantitatively through the specification of key variables or indicators, some of which express the particular nature of mountain regions, and via assessment processes and databases. This Session provides the basis for a subsequent Roundtable (RT6) on guidelines for future assessments of SMD.

Social change in mountain regions: How does it happen?
Wednesday, 7 October (16:15-18:15), Norie-Miller 2, Perth Concert Hall

Although past decades have seen considerable research on ecological change in mountain regions, social change is an equally important process within mountain social ecological systems. This Session explores how social change occurs in mountain regions from its psychological and conceptual origins through its behavioral and economic strategies. The Session also explores with a critical eye policy processes and projects that are meant to promote and even direct social change. An understanding of how social change actually occurs in mountain regions will provide guidance to future normative efforts.

Guidelines for Future Assessments of Sustainable Mountain Development
Wednesday, 7 October (16:15-18:15), Perth Museum

This Roundtable seeks to establish if there is sufficient interest among researchers and practitioners to create an enduring, comprehensive and comparable assessment of the status and trends of mountain sustainable development. If so, the second part of the Roundtable will focus on mapping out the steps necessary to achieve such an assessment over the next decade. The Roundtable will use a series of panels to examine questions related to the definitions, objectives and analytical frameworks used in assessment, as well as to explore the scope for a more sustained effort to capture, purvey and analyze data relevant to sustainable mountain development.

Planning meeting for the strategic research agenda "Mountains for Europe’s Future“
Thursday 8 October 2015, 15.00 to 18.00, the Royal George Hotel

The core group that has worked on “Mountains for Europe’s Future” will meet after the Perth Conference in order to consider the proposed revisions from the roundtable, and to plan the next steps up to the dissemination with H2020 representatives in Brussels. If you are interested in contributing to the discussion and to the next steps, please join us!

Yours sincerely,
Erin Gleeson

The Mountain Research Initiative
c/o Institute of Geography
University of Bern
Switzerland

erin.gleeson@giub.unibe.ch
http://mri.scnatweb.ch

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