Degraded terraced landscapes are one of the most characteristic “landscapes of abandonment” in the European mountains. Especially in the last few decades, increasingly terraces have been losing their functionality, undermining the stability of slopes. Public initiatives and scientific surveys focusing on such landscapes have recently increased, but the problems of maintaining and managing abandoned areas are still acute. A project promoting adoption of abandoned terraces, which began in 2010 in the Brenta Valley in the Veneto region, Italy, is a small but interesting attempt to revitalize a traditional landscape through new forms of social management. The success of this initiative provides an opportunity to reflect on new forms of family farming in periurban European mountain contexts that retain some characteristics of Alpine culture—generating new forms of community and solidarity, farming practices oriented toward multifunctionality, and relations marked by multiscalarity. These practices involving new family farmers differ from both traditional productive farming and modern market-based economy. However, in order to improve and expand, such new family farming will require innovative forms of governance and partnership between city and mountain residents, going beyond the tourism- and conservation-based models of the 20th century.

In November 2004, the Alžbeta windstorm hit the mountainous areas of northern and central Slovakia. The most affected area was Tatra National Park, where downslope wind damaged 12,000 ha of forest, mostly Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.). In the areas with the highest level of nature conservation, about 165,000 m³ of damaged wood was left uncleared. These uncleared sites triggered a serious bark beetle outbreak, where Ips typographus (L.) was among the dominant species. The aim of our work was to quantify and map forest damage resulting from this windstorm and subsequent insect outbreak in Tatra National Park. The objective of this article is also to present simple geographic information system (GIS) techniques available to forest managers for the detection and mapping of bark beetle infestations. The infested areas were studied using GIS and a series of color-infrared aerial photographs taken in 2005–2009. More than 50% of all damage was recorded within 300 m, and more than 75% within 500 m, of uncleared windthrow sites. Based on our findings, we propose reinforcing post-disaster monitoring with an emphasis on (1) data acquisition and processing and (2) management of I. typographus outbreaks. For instance, we recommend using 300-m phytosanitary buffer zones in mountain spruce forests to prevent substantial beetle invasion from uncleared windthrow into adjacent stands.

The distinctive features of mountain pastoral families in the past, and their adaptations to environmental and economic constraints, have been the subject of many comparative studies. Less effort has been invested in exploring the role of the family in today's pastoral economy and identifying structural and cultural continuities within the dramatic changes of the last decades. Our ethnographic fieldwork in several valleys of the Italian Western Alps revealed that, contrary to some expectations, families do retain a central economic and productive role and are instrumental in keeping pastoral farming alive. Some present-day herders belong to families that have continuously engaged in pastoralism for a long time; in other cases, younger generations have returned to pastoral work their parents abandoned for jobs in industry or the service sector; in still other cases, “new highlanders” have turned to pastoralism and become the heirs of local pastoral knowledge. Family structures have changed considerably, and their size and composition as well as their entrepreneurial choices depend on a delicate balance between market demands, domestic strategies to keep or attain the right household size and composition, and the availability of local resources. Access to communal resources to which some pastoral families are entitled by their local origin may prove crucial to the success of their enterprises.

This study investigated summer farming in the Chornohora and the adaptation strategies practiced in summer pasturelands, using field observations, in-depth interviews with local inhabitants, and official data from Ukrainian institutions. The indigenous Hutsul people have developed organizational forms of animal husbandry—often based on family farming—that they try to follow despite the lack of support from the state. Which of the summer farming types practiced in the Chornohora adapts well to modern challenges? What can be learned from the Chornohora's example for the protection of traditional landscapes shaped by seasonal grazing in other mountain regions? We approach these problems through 5 case studies, chosen from more than 40 farms that were investigated during visits to the study area over 5 years, illustrating a range of practices from traditional transhumance to agritourism and including both private and collective farms, some within protected areas. Chornohora's 40 working farms present a unique contrast to the common pattern of grassland abandonment and afforestation in the Ukrainian Carpathians.

Andean wetlands or bofedales are commonly used by indigenous communities for livestock production. Decisions regarding management of bofedales involve the active participation of local people and their social institutions. Consequently, any action addressing emerging challenges must be implemented in coordination and agreement with local actors. This decision process requires an understanding of the local socioeconomic and cultural dynamics, especially those related to land and natural resource management. In many Andean communities, the ayllu is the institution that governs decisions on regional land use. However, in the face of increasing challenges such as climate change and population growth, use of the ayllu has declined in favor of individual decision-making. Here we discuss how the Andean camelid herders of Sajama National Park in highland Bolivia rely on both the ayllu and family-level decision-making to manage their pastoralist landscapes, including their bofedales. Using a rights mapping methodology, we describe how water and wetlands are managed, and determine which decisions are taken at the community level and which are made at the family level. We conclude that indigenous collective organization networks are still significant for managing the system at a regional scale and possibly determinant for mitigating risks associated with climate change on sensitive ecosystems such as bofedales.

Peasant societies are often seen by neoliberal or Marxist theorists as passive subjects of political-economic transformations occurring at a higher level, only surviving through acculturation to market requirements. By analyzing agricultural work organization in highland communities and a local system of water management called Acuerdos Reciprocos por el Agua (Reciprocal Agreements for Water), developed in 2003 by the Natura Bolivia foundation in Florida Province in Bolivia, we show that, contrary to this perception, traditional reciprocal norms still play an essential role in decision making. This suggests the agency of rural societies and the resilience of traditional reciprocity-based norms in mountain regions.

This article examines recent growth and diversification strategies of mountain farms in the northwest of Spain and the challenges that lie ahead. The data were obtained from a survey of production and household characteristics, assessing the effect on strategies of the location and the characteristics of the farm and farmer. The small size of farms has influenced farmers' strategies for growth and diversification. Extensification has been pursued by a minority of farms because of their inability to reach viability with limited size. Diversification is low in agriculture and in other activities linked to the farm, as it is driven by the constraints imposed by resources and age. Consequently, pluriactivity is the more common form of farm diversification despite the limitations of the local economy. Agriculture is in danger of deteriorating further in the medium term, as one third of farms are marginal and in transition to disappearance, and another half of farms are in a fragile situation due to their low income levels. The disappearance of 4 out of 5 farms and a third of agricultural land in the period 1982–2009 has drastically reduced traditional livestock activity.

Topographically isolated communities of the southern Appalachian Mountains provide an ideal area in which to examine the impact of environmental and social connections on the economy of land sales. Our objective was to identify whether the price of land in a small Appalachian county of southwestern Virginia, USA, from 1786 to 1830, was influenced by area, month or year of sale, water availability, presence of tree species that were proxies of site quality, grantor/grantee residency, or familial relationship between grantor and grantee. The multiple regression model identified four significant factors that influenced the price of land during early European settlement of the southern Appalachian Mountains. Larger areas of land sold for lower prices. Landowners sold land to relatives at a lower price than to nonrelatives. The presence of surface water or red maple (Acer rubrum) on the property was associated with lower land prices. The negative relationship between water and price of land was likely a reflection that the parcels sold at the highest prices were in towns where streams or rivers were no longer relied upon as a water source. The model explained 39% of the variation and demonstrated a blend of environmental and social factors that influenced land sale patterns during early European settlement of the Appalachian Mountains.

Natural regeneration was studied at 7-year-old native species regeneration sites on abandoned lands in central mountain areas of Hainan Island, off China's southern coast. Using linear sampling, 7 belt transects (each 5 m in width, with a cumulative length of 2000 m) were established and then subdivided into 400 plots (5 m × 5 m). Plant regeneration was surveyed on each plot. For each woody species, the life stage, mature height, dispersal mode, and successional status were assessed. The regenerating woody community at the sites was found to be species-rich, with 40 species identified. However, the community was dominated by a subset of secondary forest pioneer species, such as Liquidambar formosana, Aporosa chinensis, and Lannea grandis, whereas a number of prominent primary forest species, such as Castanopsis hainanensis and Machilus chinensis, were almost completely absent. Clustering analysis divided the 40 species into different functional groups: those with a primarily economic function, a primarily ecological function, or both. A schematic illustration of the distribution of the 40 vegetation species over a larger area was created to show the functions and dominant status of species in the plots. This diagram can provide a clear reference for practical planning of forest rehabilitation. The results indicate that self-restoration has been successful in promoting native forest development to a certain extent, but that there is a need for management interventions in restoring vegetation species diversity and functional complexity, especially where natural successional processes are hampered by artificial or natural disturbances.

Mountains are key contexts for sustainable development because of their provision of indispensable goods and services. Still, they are among the most disadvantaged regions in the world, with the highest poverty rates and some of the greatest vulnerability to global climatic, environmental, and socioeconomic change and related risks. The existing challenges of and increasing pressure on mountain people and resources enforce unsustainable land management practices and land abandonment, which in turn might imperil the provision of key mountain services. With its new international program Promoting Sustainable Mountain Development for Global Change, Switzerland continues its support for the sustainable mountain development agenda to increase the resilience of mountain populations.

The University of Central Asia's (UCA's) Mountain Societies Research Institute (MSRI) is an interdisciplinary research institute dedicated to addressing the challenges and opportunities within Central Asian mountain communities and environments. MSRI's goal is to support and enhance the resilience and quality of life of mountain societies through the generation and application of sound research. MSRI has 5 objectives: to generate new knowledge on mountain societies through academic research; to enhance Central Asian capacity to conduct research relevant to mountain societies; to serve as a knowledge hub for scholars, development practitioners, and decision-makers; to inform policy and practice through research; and to contribute to the development of UCA academic programs relevant to mountain societies. MSRI and its partners work to transfer knowledge to policy and practice aimed at improving the quality of life for people of the mountain areas of Central Asia.