Sustainability of mountain social-ecological systems across Africa

Mountains are among Africa’s most dramatic landscapes and are vital to the lives of Africa’s 1.2 billion people. Montane environments are, and were, attractive areas within wider landscapes due to their high diversity of natural resources, high agricultural productivity, supply of fuel, their reliable water supply, cooler climate, storehouses of biodiversity. Interacting pressures from changing climates, socio-economic development, population growth, intensification of competing land uses, and national and international policies all threaten the future sustainability and resilience of mountain social-ecological systems (MtSES) across Africa.. Interactions among these components of MtSES are complex and characterised by high degrees of uncertainty; understanding the drivers and implications of the co-evolution between people and the environment in MtSES demands new thinking, new analytical tools and novel combinations of expertise if we are to envisage and pursue sustainable, equitable pathways into the future.