Dear Colleagues,

Montane forests and alpine ecosystems are rich in biodiversity and endemism as well as being a large global carbon store. They are highly threatened by climate change, population growth and land use change. Mountains provide an ideal natural laboratory to investigate the evolution of social–ecological systems, and to assess the current challenges and opportunities that this past evolution has created. Mountains have been centres of past development and conduits for the spread of crops, populations and technologies. They were and remain a locus for cultural interaction, as manifested recently in many parts of the world at the local level through pastoral–agricultural–urban interactions over access to space and resources, particularly water. The relevance and impact of this Special Issue on mountains goes beyond academia, as practitioners and policy-makers need key information on the dynamics and changes in threatened ecosystems to help design and implement appropriate management strategies for sustainable mountain futures.

Prof. Dr. Rob Marchant
Dr. Aida Cuni-Sanchez
Guest Editors

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• mountains
• social–ecological systems
• development
• cultural interaction
• pastoral–agricultural–urban interactions
• water
• conservation