From its decade-long pioneering work dedicated to the economic development and environmental regeneration of the high-altitude region of the Indian Himalayas, Pragya—an NGO based in Gurgaon, India, focusing on appropriate development of vulnerable communities and sensitive ecosystems—devised the MVPower (Mountain Village Power) model. This comprises in essence the development of decentralized energy facilities for use in (a) improving rural welfare facilities, (b) creating sustainable, niche-sector enterprise clusters, and (c) providing alternatives to overuse of natural resources. A pilot project is being implemented in the district of Lahaul and Spiti in the Western Indian Himalayas. Discussion of the initial results of the project constitutes the core of this paper.

Abundant rivers, streams, rivulets, and lakes are found in the Indian mountain region; ultimately, they flow down to meet the water needs of the population residing in the plains. Adequate efforts have not been made to harness the water resources that originate in the Himalayan region in order to address the increased need for small-scale energy for local use and sustainable livelihoods among the population living in remote and inaccessible mountain areas. Most of these areas are still without electricity, which plays a vital role in the development of any society. There is a need to ensure that local communities can benefit from energy just like people in the plains: they need to be empowered to tap and make the best use of local water resources, based on traditional knowledge of techniques to do this and improvement of time-tested technologies for better efficiency. This will allow them to produce added value and enhance their livelihood options.

The upper Yangtze River is extremely rich in hydropower, with 9 large-scale hydropower projects planned and 2 under construction. Current and projected large-scale hydropower projects pose difficult challenges as well as great hope for development of local impoverished areas. There are great difficulties in coordinating hydropower development and local regional development, owing to gaps in national policies, clear separation between enterprise and local communities, and problems with local management and the local economy. The local government faces the dilemma of supporting national hydropower development on the one hand, and safeguarding the interests of local people on the other. Local regional development requires general planning and a proper national policy for resettling dam migrants. A special national eco-district is proposed to delimit reaches in the upper Yangtze River area that will provide ecological security for the developed reaches and the dams lower down on the Yangtze River.

In July 1979, the world's largest wind turbine was dedicated on Howard's Knob, a mountain overlooking Boone, North Carolina. NASA and the Department of Energy's selection of this site confirmed the wind resource, and the windmill's striking presence above town sparked a great deal of imagination. But a newly elected President Reagan removed solar panels from the White House, and along with them went public investment in renewable energy. Nearly 3 decades later the converging threats of peak oil and global warming are compelling reasons to reconsider the wind in Appalachia. Howard's Knob is a poignant reminder of a comparative advantage that could spawn vital new industries and sustainable livelihoods. Appalachia's coal and timber helped to underwrite America's 20th century growth, but the process left a legacy of poverty and environmental destruction. Most recently, free trade agreements have sparked a wave of unemployment prompting citizens, business, and local government to look for a better way forward.

New economic conditions in Kyrgyzstan today demand new approaches to industrial development. Huge, old plants and factories built in the Soviet era have collapsed, increasing the country's poverty level and the number of jobless people, especially in mountain regions. Lack of finances, poor management, privatization, and the breakup of the centralized industrial system have led to a decline in industrial production in Kyrgyzstan. Industry in the Kyrgyz economy decreased from 62% in 1990 to 16.1% in 2004, as a share of gross domestic product. This economic decline caused disparities between lowland and highland development, and resulted in the migration of rural populations to towns, especially from mountain regions isolated from the outside world. Under such conditions there is a great need to establish a liaison between lowlands and highlands. This role can be played by a network of new small-scale industries based on the obviously high potential of mountain regions. Small investments based on local natural and human resources, innovative approaches to national traditions, and new equipment, management, and marketing adapted to the demands of the modern market—these are essential elements of such industries now appearing in the Kyrgyz market, and the steps forward to creating the “Made in Kyrgyzstan” brand. But to what extent is this direction in industrial development successful and sustainable?

The level of participation in any production or farming activity is considered to be linked to the diversity of economic and other farming conditions in a farming community at any given time. Many expert-designed agroforestry programs are adopted unevenly or not at all by the intended beneficiaries, especially in developing countries, because they are not built on existing experience with adoption of traditional agroforestry systems. The present study investigated the influence of economic and farming aspects on households' adoption of traditional agro-forestry, to suggest strategies for further strengthening agroforestry adoption. The study was carried out in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, an Indian state located in the Western Himalaya. The main forms of traditional agroforestry in the study area are the agrosilvicultural, agrosilvihorticultural, silvopastoral, agrohortisilvicultural, hortiagricultural, and hortisilvicultural systems. The survey data were collected with a pre-structured questionnaire in personal interviews with household heads. The extent of agroforestry adoption was found to have increased significantly with increasing crop diversification, agricultural production, food sufficiency, agricultural income, off-farm income, total household income, number of livestock units, restrictions on on-farm grazing, and sale of horticultural as well as forestry tree produce from the farm. The study emphasizes the need for a holistic approach to agro-forestry development by integrating agroforestry programs into other economic and agricultural development programs.

Small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) is a valuable source of income for numerous resource-poor farmers inhabiting the East Usambara Mountains in Tanzania. Notwithstanding, the primary forests in these mountains also have the highest ratio of endemic flora and fauna per 100 km² of all biodiversity hotspots in the world. Cardamom cultivation, under current growing practices, is radically changing the composition of the forest, thus threatening the endemic species within the forest. A comparative analysis of cardamom-growing practices, problems, and opportunities in the traditional cardamom-producing country, India, and in the world's largest cardamom producer, Guatemala, showed that deterioration is a common denominator. On-farm research, conducted as a complement to the project, demonstrated that organic cardamom could be profitably grown in homegardens. By implementing agro-forestry systems, the harmful impact of cardamom cultivation on the forests might be dramatically reduced.

The present article details a system of forest cover classification used by the Pwo Karen, an ethnic minority group living in Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in western Thailand. It considers the ways in which local communities sort forest cover types into classes that are meaningful to their livelihood practices, but are at the same time embedded in conservation priorities. Rather than constituting a threat to maintaining the park's integrity, the Karen's forest classification suggests priorities that are aligned with conservation goals. It is hoped that this account will stimulate further investigations into particular, localized land cover classification systems that offer an alternative lens through which forests and their conservation and livelihood meanings can be viewed.

Shifting agriculture has been practiced over large areas in middle-latitude mountains in the Mediterranean basin during periods of strong demographic pressure. On average, such land accounted for about 22.8% of the total cultivated area in the Central Spanish Pyrenees at the beginning of the 20th century. The use of experimental plots between 1992 and 2003 demonstrated that shifting agriculture increased overland flow, suspended sediment, and solute concentration. Total soil loss was about 14 times higher on plots under shifting agriculture than on plots under dense shrub cover, and almost 3 times higher than on permanent sloping fields. Erosion rates ranged between 0.1 and 1.4 t/ha/yr. The abandonment of shifting agriculture practices resulted in rapid plant recolonization and a decrease in runoff and soil erosion. Nevertheless, severe geomorphic processes were found to be still active several decades after abandonment, explaining landscape degradation and the occurrence of shallow landslides.

The responses of the ecosystems along the 0°C mean annual isotherm to global climate change are intense and involve significant changes in land cover at the watershed scale. This paper evaluates changes in land cover in the center of Qinghai-Tibet, the headwater region of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, on the basis of two sets of remote sensing data (1986 and 2000) and field investigations. Over a period of 15 years, 23% and 34% of alpine cold swamp were recently turned into alpine cold meadow or alpine cold steppe, and decreased in area by 25.9% and 42.7% in the headwater areas of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, respectively. Moreover, more than 20% of high-coverage alpine cold meadow and alpine cold steppe were converted to lower-coverage alpine cold meadow (vegetation coverage > 80%) and alpine cold steppe (vegetation coverage > 50%). Desertified land increased by 18.4% (bare rocks and sparse land) and 31.1% (sandy land) in the headwater area of the Yellow River and by 17.8%–18.5% in the headwater area of the Yangtze River. Land cover change in this region involves a complex transition between land cover types, which have a great influence on soil nutrients and the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool. Land cover changes in the study area over the 15-year study period led to the loss of 336.6 Gg of SOC, of which 61.6% were lost by alpine cold swamp transformation, and a total nitrogen (N) loss of 26.9 Gg, of which 81.9% occurred in the headwater area of the Yangtze River. The changes in the carbon and nitrogen cycles have serious implications for greenhouse gas emissions due to land cover change caused by climate warming in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

China has a great variety of altitudinal belts due to its size, its numerous high mountains, and the dynamic and thermal effects of the immense Tibetan Plateau. 63 altitudinal belts—31 of which can be called “base belts” as they correspond to the basic climatic regimes at the foot of mountains—have been identified, and a standardized and hierarchized classification for the climatic regimes is outlined. The other 32 altitudinal belts occur in various combinations above the base belts, constituting “spectra” that characterize specific mountain locations throughout the country. Spatial patterns of altitudinal belts are generalized into 6 patterns: the monostructural, flattening structure, exposure-dependent, stepwise-rising, abnormal, and Tibetan complex patterns. Traditional GIS techniques have difficulties dealing with altitudinal belts and their vertical combination or spectra. To tackle this complexity, a data model for altitudinal belts and their spectra was devised. Using ArcGIS 8.3 software, the authors also developed a GIS user interface that makes it possible to digitally integrate, position and visualize altitudinal belts and their spectra throughout China. A total of 239 spectra have been collated to date. This user interface makes it possible to rapidly query the geographical and vertical distribution of altitudinal belts, climatic regimes and spectra in any region of China. It thus provides a solid basis for further analysis of altitudinal belts and their relationship with environmental factors, and could be a key technical basis for integrating and systematizing altitudinal belts worldwide.