Transformational adaptation of social-ecological mountain systems

Multiple and often cascading impacts affect mountain social-ecological systems, their services, and the livelihoods of local communities that depend on them at increasing pace and magnitude. This situation highlights the need to implement novel approaches that potentially transform places at larger scales or intensity and support long-term adaptive responses of social-ecological mountain systems to reduce their vulnerabilities.

Several initiatives have implemented a broad set of incremental and transformational adaptation (i.e. nature-based solutions, ecosystem-based adaptation, eco-disaster risk reduction, sustainable land management, inclusive multi-level and multi-sector governance). Nevertheless, a comprehensive understanding of the successfulness of these experiences in mountain regions and further lessons learned are yet limited.

In this Focus Session we welcome contributions that cover adaptation experiences of social and ecological systems as well as their interactions in mountain regions including but not limited to interdisciplinary and local or regional case studies.