This paper seeks to explain evidence of distinctive late- and post-Little Ice Age glacier change in the Karakoram Himalaya and a recent, seemingly anomalous, expansion. Attention is directed to processes that support and concentrate glacier mass, including an all-year accumulation regime, avalanche nourishment, and effects related to elevation. Glacier basins have exceptional elevation ranges, and rockwalls make up the larger part of their area. However, more than 80% of the ice cover is concentrated between 4000 and 5500 m elevation. Classification into Turkestan-, Mustagh-, and Alpine-type glaciers is revisited to help identify controls over mass balance. Estimates of changes based on snowlines, equilibrium line altitudes, and accumulation area ratio are shown to be problematic. Extensive debris covers in ablation zone areas protect glacier tongues. They are relatively insensitive to climate change, and their importance for water supply has been exaggerated compared to clean and thinly covered ablation zone ice. Recent changes include shifts in seasonal temperatures, snowfall, and snow cover at high elevations. Understanding their significance involves rarely investigated conditions at higher elevations that lack monitoring programs.

Indiscriminate extraction of Picrorhiza kurrooa is a serious threat to the population of this Himalayan medicinal plant. Over 90% of the market demand for this species is met from the wild. We conducted a study on the patterns and processes of kutki extraction in a part of the Dhauladhar range, Western Himalaya, in the state of Himachal Pradesh (India). Semistructured interviews and participant observations with the medicinal plant collectors (n  =  85) were used to assess current trends of medicinal plant extraction. It was revealed that the collectors camp at altitudes > 3500 m and collect medicinal plants over a period of 5 months. Individually they collect 5.2 ± 0.37 kg (fresh weight) of kutki/day. To get 1 kg dry weight of the plant, as many as 300–400 individual plants are uprooted. Further, the initial processing of the material is done in the wild; ca. 1 MT of fuelwood, comprising sensitive tree line species, is burnt to dry the same amount of collected material. This is a threat not only to the survival of the plant itself, but also to that of the sensitive tree line species. The study reveals that the extraction of kutki is unselective and unmanaged, which may be a threat for its regeneration and survival. We recommend spatiotemporal regulation of kutki extraction so as to ensure its conservation. The integrated approach of taking into confidence the local people in the present study has helped in generating a reliable picture of the patterns and processes of kutki extraction. The same may be replicated in other mountain areas for other heavily extracted species.

We investigated the levels of natural resource use by humans and the consequent response of wild mountain ungulates in the subalpine and alpine habitats of Bedini-Ali, located in the transition zone of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, India, from 2005 to 2006. The livestock population in the area, livestock dung density, and the number of trees cut, lopped, and debarked by humans were estimated from permanent plots (n  =  312, 8 visits) laid along transects. Information on wild mountain ungulate distribution, abundance, and habitat use was recorded by monitoring transects (n  =  7, 1.2–2 km, 217 visits, 325.5 km sampled) and scanning (n  =  2, 10 replicates, 60 hours effort). Principal coordinates of overall disturbance were classified into 3 classes: low (< −0.04), moderate (≥ −0.04 to <0), and high (≥ 0). Blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) was most commonly encountered [46 sightings, 652 individuals, 10.19 ± 1.20 (number/hour scan)] in the alpine regions, followed by sambar (Cervus unicolor) (15 sightings, 18 individuals, 0.65 ± 0.01/km) and Himalayan musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster) (3 sightings, 3 individuals, 0.0015 ± 0.001/km) in subalpine areas. Abundance estimates for all wild ungulates were lowest during summer when anthropogenic activities were highest. Density of blue sheep and dung density of sambar and musk deer varied seasonally and was inversely related to livestock abundance. Blue sheep were spatially separated from other ungulates on high-altitude steep rocky terrain with low anthropogenic pressure. Sambar and musk deer had to share the subalpine and tree line forested habitats with herded livestock. Prior utilization of food resources in summer by livestock and habitat destruction due to other anthropogenic pressures may have negative impacts on the population of wild mountain ungulates in the study area. We recommend adoption of rotational grazing between Bedini and Ali Meadows, reduction in the number of livestock, and reduction in the period of grazing as mitigation measures.

The present paper focuses on the distribution of Pinus mugo in the Carpathians, in an area on the border between Slovakia and Poland. We analyze the response of P. mugo distribution to abiotic habitat conditions in the western Tatra Mountains and discuss possible implications for research. The source data for this study were aerial photographs from 3 periods (1965, 1986, and 2002). Mountain areas covered by dwarf pine were identified and analyzed by ArcGIS 9.2, and pine fields were classified with the help of the gray scale mode. A strip of dwarf pine above the upper limit of the forest represents a well-identifiable boundary on the aerial photographs: 25 well-recognized localities were selected to examine the changes in the tree line in the western Tatras. The distribution of dwarf pine systematically increased in the western Tatra Mountains from 1965 to 2002 on all monitored sites. The percentage of total surface area covered in P. mugo increased from 41.8% in 1965 to 51.8% in 1986 and to 58.2% in 2002. The study also analyzes the dispersal of dwarf pine over 40 years in relation with slope and elevation. The results of this study explain ongoing and future vegetation changes and can be used as an important contribution to monitoring of climate change in the mid-European mountain areas.

The winter tourism industry is facing considerable challenges with climate change; it is increasingly responding with investments in snowmaking facilities. We present a study on 3 tourism destinations in the Swiss Alps that addressed resource consumption of snowmaking, snow reliability, and future snowmaking potential in a warmer climate. The energy consumption of snowmaking in the ski resorts was in the lower range of what could be expected from literature values. It comprised ∼0.5% of the respective municipality's energy consumption and was moderate compared with other tourism-related activities. Water consumption, however, was in the higher range with regard to what was expected from literature values and was also high compared with other water uses (eg 36% compared with drinking water consumption in one community). Natural snow cover was partly critical for winter sports at low elevations at ∼1200 masl, but uncritical at higher elevations above 2000 masl. Snow cover will become even more critical in a warmer climate but will probably still be sufficient above 2000 masl until 2050. Snowmaking may become critical at lower elevations in the early months of the season (November and December) due to warmer temperatures that can be expected in the coming decades. But, at higher elevations, the potential for snowmaking will probably remain sufficient. Our study provides straightforward and feasible approaches to assess resource consumption and snow cover. Careful consideration of resource consumption and snow cover can foster technical and economical advances as well as more sustainable development in mountains regions. Snow production can represent a valuable adaptation strategy at high-altitude destinations. However, given the increasing economic competition and the changing climate, it will be crucial to use specific regional strengths to provide high-quality winter and summer tourism activities.

The Indus River Basin is characterized by downstream areas with the world's largest irrigation system, providing food and energy security to more than 215 million people. The arid to semiarid basin is classified as a net water deficit area, but it also suffers from devastating floods. Among the four basin countries, Pakistan is most dependent on water originating in high mountain catchments and is therefore most vulnerable to climatic, socioeconomic, and other global changes that are impacting both supply and demand. Given the consensus that there is a lack of systematic and consistent hydrological, meteorological, biophysical, and socioeconomic data to promote integrated water resources management (IWRM) at the basin scale, an international consultation of scientists, water managers, and development partners was organized in 2010. These experts suggested developing a long-term Indus Basin Research Program aiming to build a robust, consolidated, and shared scientific knowledge base and thus improve understanding of the coupled human and ecological processes and their interrelationships in the basin. This paper summarizes the rationale for initiating such a coordinated multidisciplinary research, knowledge management, and capacity development process aiming to support water management policies and programs from design stage to implementation, using the framework of integrated river basin management (IRBM). The paper further stresses the need to implement IRBM using IWRM tools, recognizing that multiple factors and actors play critical roles in improving management of water and other natural resources to enhance overall water productivity. The steps needed to initiate and consolidate national and international institutional coordination, capacity development, and policy support to operationalize an IRBM process are spelled out. A long-term research and capacity-building program for international organizations and scientists is recommended to foster transboundary cooperation and scientific collaboration.

The Indus River basin supplies water to the largest contiguous irrigation system in the world, providing water for 90% of the food production in Pakistan, which contributes 25% of the country's gross domestic product. But Pakistan could face severe food shortages intimately linked to water scarcity. It is projected that, by 2025, the shortfall of water requirements will be ∼32%, which will result in a food shortage of 70 million tons. Recent estimates suggest that climate change and siltation of main reservoirs will reduce the surface water storage capacity by 30% by 2025. The per capita water storage capacity in Pakistan is only 150 m³, compared with more than 5000 m³ in the United States and Australia and 2200 m³ in China. This reduction in surface supplies and consequent decreases in groundwater abstraction will have a serious effect on irrigated agriculture. Supply-side solutions aimed at providing more water will not be available as in the past. Current low productivity in comparison with what has been achieved in other countries under virtually similar conditions points to the enormous potential that exists. To harness this potential, Pakistan needs to invest soon in increasing storage capacity, improving water-use efficiency, and managing surface-water and groundwater resources in a sustainable way to avoid problems of soil salinization and waterlogging. Building capacity between individuals and organizations, and strengthening institutions are key elements for sustaining irrigated agriculture in the Indus Basin.

The occurrence of areas or centers of endemism is commonly attributed to the existence of suitable refugia in which plant lineages survived while others evolved during the late Neogene and Quaternary global cooling. In China, several studies performed since the 1980s have identified the mountains of central and southern China as the main centers of endemism in the country. A recent work studied the patterns of endemism separately for palaeoendemics and neoendemics and found that these tend to be located in different mountain ranges. Whereas, young endemics are preferably located in the mountain ranges of the eastern fringe of the Tibetan Plateau (“plant cradles”), old endemics tend to occur in the mountains of central, south central, and southeastern China (“plant museums”), although there are some exceptions. This pattern seems to be related to the different geological history of the mountain ranges. The eastern fringe of the Tibetan Plateau clearly constitutes the “evolutionary front” of China, probably due to the uninterrupted uplift of the plateau from the late Neogene. In contrast, the relative tectonic stability in central and southern China during most of the Tertiary may have maximized the persistence of relict plant lineages. These results have significant implications in the conservation of the endemic flora, which are briefly discussed.