Here are a few recent papers that share different ways to think about the Ecosystems Services Mountains Provide to Humanity.

Aida Cuni-Sanchez, a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, worked with Dr. Robert Marchant from University of York, UK and Julia Klein, Colorado State University USA and other colleagues to explore how culture affects the use and perception of ecosystem services in the mountains of Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo:

  • Cuni-Sanchez, A., G. Imani, F. Bulonvu, R. Batumike, G. Baruka, N. Burgess, J.A. Klein, R. Marchant (2019) Social Perceptions of Forest Ecosystem Services in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Human Ecology. 47: 839-853. You can read the full paper here.
  • Cuni-Sanchez, A., A.S.K. Ngutec, B. Sonkéd, M.N Saingee, N.D. Burgess, J.A. Klein and R. Marchant (2019). The importance of livelihood strategy and ethnicity in forest ecosystem services’ perceptions by local communities in north-western Cameroon. Ecosystem Services, 40, 101000. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2019.101000.   You can read the full paper here. 

This is a systematic review from our European colleagues that explores which aspects of the IBPES framework has been addressed by the ecosystem services literature in mountains. 

  • Berta Martín-López, Ines Leister, Pedro Lorenzo Cruz, Ignacio Palomo,Adrienne Grêt-Regamey, Paula A. Harrison, Sandra Lavorel, Bruno Locatelli, Sandra Luque, Ariane Walz.  (2019). Nature’s contributions to people in mountains: A review. PLoS ONE 14(6): e0217847. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217847        You can read the full paper here.

This paper uses a global water tower index (WTI) to evaluate the supply of water from mountains and also assess their vulnerability, with the conclusion that the most mountain water suppliers are also most vulnerable.

Immerzeel, W.W., Lutz, A.F., Andrade, M. et al. Importance and vulnerability of the world’s water towers. Nature 577, 364–369 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1822-y

You can read the full paper here.