The action research project reported in this article used a participatory approach to select trees for sloping-land agroforestry as a key strategy for forest ecosystem restoration and local livelihood development. It was the first such project in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) to use a participatory approach, empowering local user groups to develop their preferences for agroforestry species. Local knowledge of the multiple functions of agroforestry species ensured that the tree selection criteria included the value of timber, fruit, fodder, oil, medicines, fuelwood, and erosion control. Involving 67 farmers from 3 counties, this participatory selection process resulted in Prunus armeniaca, Castanea crenata, and Ziziphus jujuba being selected as the top 3 species for the development of sloping-land agroforestry in North Hwanghae Province. These trees embody what the region’s farmers value most: erosion control, production of fruit, and economic value. The participatory approach in agroforestry could help to meet both local needs for food security and the national objective of environmental conservation and has great potential for wide adaptation in North Korea and beyond.

Permafrost conditions in mountain ranges are sensitive to regional land surface temperature (LST), among other factors. To explore that relationship, this study carried out 3 steps: (1) validated Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer 1-km daily LST data using data measured in situ, (2) used the Harmonic Analysis of Time Series (HANTS) algorithm for fitting and removing the influence of clouds, and (3) analyzed the spatial and temporal characteristics of LST dynamics in the central Tien Shan mountain range based on remote-sensing data improved by covariance and empirical orthogonal function analysis. The results indicate that the in situ data present a basic reference for rebuilding invalid values in the retrieved data, and the data gap in daily LST products can be logically reconstructed with the HANTS algorithm. Major long-term and large-scale patterns can be well extracted with the reconstructed LST data. The most dynamic and sensitive LST areas occurred in the buffers around the periglacial areas. Areas above the periglacial line mainly exhibited a decrease in LST, while areas below it showed an increase. This suggests that the periglacial line of the central Tien Shan region has risen during the past decade. These findings can provide a reference for how periglacial areas respond to climate change and how this may affect hydrological and ecological processes.

Forest cover change is driven by complex processes that depend on political, conservation, and biophysical conditions. At present, mountain areas worldwide are undergoing intense forest cover change. Local-scale studies exist, but policy makers lack reliable and consistent information at the regional scale about long-term trends, controlling factors, and the success of existing policy measures. Long-term forest cover change data based on advanced image preprocessing procedures have recently become available. This study explores the potential of such data for a regional-scale analysis of forest cover change in mountain areas by analyzing forest cover change in the Romanian Carpathian Ecoregion (about 107,000 km²) between 1985 and 2010. It shows that (1) extrapolations from local to regional scale are inaccurate, (2) European forest protection policies have been unsuccessful, and (3) the Romanian Carpathians are greening due to land abandonment in remote areas.

The Himalayas have experienced several glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), and the risk of GLOFs is now increasing in the context of global warming. Poiqu watershed in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China, also known as the Bhote Koshi and Sun Koshi downstream in Nepal, has been identified as highly prone to GLOFs. This study explored the distribution of and changes in glacial lakes, past GLOFs and the resulting losses, risk from potential future GLOFs, and risk reduction initiatives within the watershed. A relationship was established between lake area and volume of lake water based on data from 33 lakes surveyed within the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, and the maximum possible discharge was estimated using this and other previously developed empirical equations. We recommend different strategies to reduce GLOF risk and highlight the need for a glacial lake monitoring and early-warning system. We also recommend strong regional cooperation, especially on issues related to transboundary rivers.

Fog is an untapped natural resource. A number of studies have been undertaken to understand its potential as an alternative or complementary water source. In 2007, a pilot fog-collection project was implemented in 2 villages on the Eastern Escarpment of Eritrea. The government of Eritrea, buoyed by the project’s positive results, has encouraged research into and application of fog-collection technologies to alleviate water-supply problems in this region. In 2014, this study was undertaken to assess the coverage, prevalence, intensity, and seasonality of fog on the Eastern Escarpment of Eritrea and consequently to identify potential beneficiary villages. Three independent methods used in the study—satellite image analyses, personal interviews, and a standard fog collector—produced reasonably similar characterizations of fog coverage and timing. The period with high fog incidence is mainly between November and March, with the highest number of fog days per year (96) on the central Eastern Escarpment and decreasing frequency to the south (78 days) and north (73 days). The fog intensity on the central Eastern Escarpment is very high and in most cases reduces visibility to less than 500 m. In this period, a light to moderate breeze blows predominantly from the north and northeast. More than half of the villages in the region currently have a reliable water-supply system. The rest depend on seasonal roof-water harvesting, rock-water harvesting, and truck delivery and, therefore, could potentially benefit from fog collection as a supplementary water source. In particular, fog water could be useful for a small number of beneficiaries, including public services like schools and health facilities, where conventional water-delivery systems are not viable.

Assessing the impact of threats, identifying favorable growing conditions, and predicting future population scenarios are vital for the conservation and management of threatened species. This study investigated the availability, microhabitat characteristics, threat status, and community associations of Swertia chirayta, a highly threatened Himalayan medicinal herb, in 22 populations in Sikkim, India, using the vertical belt transect method. Of the 14 microhabitats identified, open grassy slope emerged as the most favorable and wet grassy slope as the least favorable for S. chirayta. The species was dominant in 8 of the 10 major plant communities identified. Among 9 major types of disturbance identified, human movement and collection of non-timber forest products appeared as the biggest threats to S. chirayta. Disturbances significantly affected the availability of the species. S. chirayta, though under high anthropogenic threat, maintains high microhabitat pliability, which is vital for its conservation and management, provided immediate conservation measures are taken.

Any resource of high value and relevance to rural livelihoods is at risk of overexploitation. The anthropogenic pressure on the caterpillar fungus, Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Berk.) G.H. Sung, J.M. Sung, Hywel-Jones & Spatafora 2007, commonly referred to as yartsa gunbu, is intense, especially given the absence of traditional sustainable collection techniques. Stable harvests are the result of 2 factors: more people searching more intensely and extensively and the ongoing discovery of new areas for harvest. Increasing international demand and prices (presently around US$ 20,000 per kg) have resulted not just in overexploitation but also in the degradation of the fungus’s habitat, thus endangering its future viability. This article reports on a rapid vulnerability assessment involving 2511 harvesters in 9 broad study sites and 110 villages in the Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand state, India, in the central Himalaya, and recommends ways to lessen the pressure on this valuable species.

People’s attitudes toward wildlife conservation can significantly affect the success of conservation initiatives. Understanding the factors influencing these attitudes is essential for designing strategies to alleviate human–wildlife conflict. Although this topic has been studied extensively across diverse regions, there has been no such study in the Kashmir Division of Jammu and Kashmir state, India. We surveyed 3 administrative units around Dachigam National Park through semistructured interviews (n = 384) to investigate the socioeconomic status of local people, the extent of economic damage caused by wild animals, and people’s attitudes toward wildlife conservation. Results, analyzed using a generalized linear model approach, indicated that about 75% of the respondents suffered crop damage, while 23% suffered livestock predation by wild animals. The majority of respondents expressed favorable attitudes toward wildlife, with only about 16% expressing a negative perception. Gender, crop damage, livestock predation, and total livestock holdings were the strongest variables influencing the attitudes of local people in the study area. The study identified the need to use appropriate mitigation measures to minimize economic damage by wildlife in order to reduce negative local attitudes toward wildlife conservation.

The Himalaya range encompasses enormous variation in elevation, precipitation, biodiversity, and patterns of human livelihoods. These mountains modify the regional climate in complex ways; the ecosystem services they provide influence the lives of almost 1 billion people in 8 countries. However, our understanding of these ecosystems remains rudimentary. The 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that erroneously predicted a date for widespread glacier loss exposed how little was known of Himalayan glaciers. Recent research shows how variably glaciers respond to climate change in different Himalayan regions. Alarmist theories are not new. In the 1980s, the Theory of Himalayan Degradation warned of complete forest loss and devastation of downstream areas, an eventuality that never occurred. More recently, the debate on hydroelectric construction appears driven by passions rather than science. Poor data, hasty conclusions, and bad science plague Himalayan research. Rigorous sampling, involvement of civil society in data collection, and long-term collaborative research involving institutions from across the Himalaya are essential to improve knowledge of this region.

The more national and European policies focus on metropolitan regions, the more the question arises what will be the outlook for rural and mountain areas. Several strategies addressing development in rural and mountain areas in Switzerland, created at different policy levels (cantonal, national, and European/macroregional), were published in 2014 and 2015. What are the reasons for these parallel efforts, and what are their aims and opportunities? And how are mountains defined in relation to other areas? The Swiss Interacademic Commission for Alpine Studies aims to take up relevant scientific questions that emerge from these strategies.

Alpine resources will play a crucial role in the development of the European Alpine region: They are triggering genuine innovations in technology, social and cultural institutions, property ownership, and economic valuation. Natural, social, cultural, and economic resources are crucial assets for sustainable development in Alpine regions. This was reason enough for the International Scientific Committee for Alpine Research (ISCAR), an organization in which the Interacademic Commission for Alpine Studies (ICAS) represents the Swiss Academies, to make Alpine resources the main topic of the 2014 ForumAlpinum. ICAS invited ISCAR to report on the outcomes of the Forum.