International Mountain Conference

Abstract ID 643 | Date: 2022-09-14 10:10 – 10:20 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room U1 |

Zamfir, Daniela (1,2); Stoica, Ilinca-Valentina (1,2); Tudoricu, Anca (2); Munteanu, Anca (2); Verghelet, Mircea (3)

Local development is known as a process that leads to an increase in the population’s quality of life by improving economic, social and environmental conditions based on endogenous resources. However, effective local development can be more challenging inside natural protected areas, designated primarily as environmental protection/conservation tools. The present paper aims to analyse the attitude of the entrepreneurs and local population in relation to the local development initiatives before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in a village located in Piatra Craiului National Park. This protected area is placed in the central part of Romania, in the Southern Carpathian Mountains and comprises parts of several settlements. The population inside the park and in the immediate surroundings is over 30,000 people.

Magura village registered over 500 inhabitants on the last census, being the only settlement that lies entirely within the park. In recent years, in addition to the traditional economic activities (such as animal husbandry), there has been an increasing development of tourism activities, fostered by the outstanding natural landscape and the traditional way of life of the inhabitants. In this village and its surroundings, questionnaires were applied to the local population and entrepreneurs focused on the livelihood opportunities, the degree of local knowledge towards the Piatra Craiului National Park role and rules (including their compliance), and the potential obstacles and solutions for achieving effective development. Moreover, entrepreneurs’ perception of their businesses and the main challenges identified in setting them up was approached. In terms of the local population, a distinct theme focused on assessing the potential entrepreneurial skills of individuals. Subsequently, in correlation with the current context, the degree to which the COVID-19 pandemic affects local businesses and especially the population quality of life was investigated. The results highlight specific differences between the population and entrepreneurs, the latter being more willing to understand and exploit the opportunities offered by the fact that the village is located in a natural protected area. Further on, the outcomes could bring significant contributions to the community by bringing out the need of the decision-makers to improve communication with local people and promote sustainable development methods.

Abstract ID 713 | Date: 2022-09-14 10:20 – 10:30 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room U1 |

Marchant Santiago, Carla (1); Contreras, Patricio (1); Schilling, Manuel (1); Sánchez, Pablo (1); Zúñiga, Alejandra (1); Ibarra, José Tomás (2)

A Natural Laboratory (NL) is defined as a territory with unique natural characteristics that provide comparative advantages to develop high-level science and technology of planetary relevance. Natural Laboratories seeks to design strategies that effectively link interdisciplinary scientific work with local actors and communities, triggering new governance models and promoting innovation processes that generate benefits and contributions to local territorial development.

We present the experience of the recently founded project “Natural Laboratory of the Southern Andes of Chile” (NODOSLN0007) corresponding to the Andes Mountain range between the regions of La Araucanía and Los Lagos (38°-44°S). It comprises six national parks, four private conservation initiatives, three LTSER sites, two Biosphere Reserves BR Araucarias and BR Temperate Rain Forests of the Andes, the Kütralkura Geopark, and the Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems NIAHS Cordillera Pehuenche declared by UNESCO and FAO respectively, which recognize and value diverse aspects of this territory.

This Natural Laboratory is located in a mountain area with interesting biophysical characteristics, such as numerous active volcanoes and historical eruptions, as well as intense tectonic and thermal activity, which allow us to understand the geological evolution of this territory. It is also characterized by abundant water reserves such as glaciers, lakes, and underground water resources, essential for human supply. Also, we can find Andean forests ( Nothofagus and Araucaria araucana forests) that have a great capacity for recovery and resilience after large-scale disturbances. Additionally, the sociocultural value of this territory stands out for its intercultural imprint, mainly due to the presence of the Mapuche people, which develops various ancestral practices associated with the indigenous worldview (cosmovisión). Additionally, this area is an emerging tourist destination, highly valued in the country. These attributes make it a privileged place to study global environmental change and its effects. Likewise, this Natural Laboratory seeks to become an opportunity to develop adaptation strategies to climate change and activities that contribute to the sustainable development of the local communities. Finally, we explore new governance schemes that involve scientific knowledge with other sectors and actors of civil society more effectively.

Abstract ID 837 | Date: 2022-09-14 10:30 – 10:40 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room U1 |

Thapa, Kamal

Protected areas (PAs) are an important tool for biodiversity conservation. Although they were originally conceived for the conservation of biodiversity, landscape and wildlife, PAs are now expected to meet different set of conservation objectives along with meeting socio-economic development objectives. Protected areas bring both positive and negative impacts for the environment and society. However, in some cases, positive impacts are likely to exceed negative impacts. Strategies linking biodiversity conservation with development and poverty alleviation has evolved with various concept such as community-based conservation and integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs).

Similarly, Nepal’s protected area management system has moved over several phases, from strict fortress and fine approach to the landscape level conservation. Its success in protected area establishment with the areal coverage of 23.39 % of country’s total area, however, has been challenged by protected area-people conflict and lack of funding, among others. Adoption of buffer zone regulation (1996) and buffer zone guideline (1999) has formally institutionalized the benefit and cost sharing mechanism of protected area management with local people in Nepal through the ICDPs concept.

This study fills the research gap of whether the benefits and costs from mountain protected area (national park) and their distribution varies by location of settlements from the park headquarter and tourism activities (and destination). The aims of this research are 1) to identity the types of perceived benefits and costs (personal/HH and community level) from mountain national park 2) to explore the spatial distribution (from park headquarter) of the perceived benefits and costs of mountain national park and 3) to determine the factors influencing the perceived benefits and costs of protected areas. Finally, this will summarize if the national park management meets the ICDP criteria as imagined nationally and internationally.

Abstract ID 191 | Date: 2022-09-14 10:40 – 10:50 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room U1 |

Santos, Luís (1); Chamorro, Germán (2); Paül, Valerià (2); Rita, Anastácio (1)

Protected areas (PAs) are more than hotspots for biodiversity conservation, in fact, they have long been the cornerstones for preserving biodiversity, ecosystem services, and other global environmental benefits (Chape et al., 2005). It´s undeniable that preserving an ecosystem can provide continuous natural, cultural and social capital resources with advantages for human populations, in sum, the underlying ideas behind ecosystem services (ES). Despite the increase in numbers and coverage of PAs, the world’s biodiversity and other ecosystem services continue to decline, also within park boundaries (MacKinnon et al., 2015; Pressey et al., 2015).
The world population is now 7,5 billons, unevenly distributed, and increasingly exerting pressure on natural resources. Anthropogenic pressures are known to influence natural ecosystems worldwide, land use, soil erosion, water pollution, exotic species, and climate change are some of the most studied impacts. Though we rely on PAs to achieve sustainability, many of the world’s PAs offer weak protection against human activities (Leverington et al., 2010; Watson et al., 2014).
However, human activity shouldn’t be treated as a hangman for biodiversity, without a preceding evaluation. Human activity can play a positive role in the conservation of wildlife, when the needs of human populations and wildlife collide, we may look for a situation where both sides benefit (Coad et al., 2015). Ecosystem services are the benefits humans obtain from ecosystems, by this way the notion includes and connects the ideals of conservation and development. The concept was highlighted during the 1990s, in a response to the expansion of human activity and its impacts, by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA). The ecosystem services are divided into four groups: provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting (MA, 2005).
The current paper studies Serras D´Aire e Candeeiros Natural Park within the Montejunto-Estrela mountain range that naturally separates the northern Portuguese highlands territory from the southern lowlands. The combination of a karstic mountain landscape with shallow soils and limited agricultural potential forces a sustainable human occupation where for centuries people adapted to this harsh environment. The ingenuity of the solutions that enabled development simultaneously provides higher ecosystem services, thus promoting biodiversity and nature conservation.
The parallel between Serras D´Aire e Candeeiros and many other mountain regions may be established, notwithstanding the particularities of this region which are simply bewildering.

Abstract ID 635 | Date: 2022-09-14 10:50 – 11:00 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room U1 |

Karam, Sarah (1); Hamadeh, Shady (1); Said, Mounir Abi (2)

Interrelated social, economic and environmental factors at local, regional and global scales have been affecting food security in its different dimensions: food availability, food access, utilization, and stability. Unsustainable economic development has been threatening the livelihoods of poor communities and exacerbating food security risks especially in developing countries and rural contexts. Ecological limitations, inadequate socio-political systems, limited access for small-scale farmers to market, information, green technology, infrastructure and finance, conflicts and wars, natural resources overexploitation, and poverty are all significant factors affecting food security. On top of that, climate change highly threatens food security specially impacting poor small-scale farmers who are the least resilient.

In response to some of the above-mentioned challenges, protected areas have significant potentials in promoting food security through their high abilities to mitigate and adapte to climate change; their provision of ecosystem services; and their promotion of sustainable livelihoods. However, the impact of protected areas on local communities has been highly contentious.

This paper looks into the role played by protected areas to promote food security while taking Lebanon as a case study. For this aim, management plans of five different protected areas are revised. One of these protected areas is selected as pilot in which locals are interviewed for the aim of capturing the protected area’s impact on the locals’ livelihoods. Being a pilot in focusing on protected areas’ contribution to food security in Lebanon, this paper shall highlight the role that protected areas are playing or could be playing in promoting food security and recommend on best practices to support efficient contribution to food security.

Abstract ID 657 | Date: 2022-09-14 11:00 – 11:10 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room U1 |

Agrelo Janza, Luis Martin

Mountains have been a priority in nature protection policies since the emergence of national parks in the 19th century. Indeed, highlands are widely recognised by public institutions as territories that require specific attention due to their relatively large natural values, but also for their cultural and social significance. These processes of legitimation usually lead to new protected area designations, linked with extremely diverse impacts in terms of restrictions, regulations and public investments. Consequently, protected areas play a critical role in sustainable development policies. They are expected to be instruments that limit or boost some economic activities, determine how ecological or cultural elements must be preserved or assure social justice in nature conservation actions.

Despite the existence of several understandings of what sustainable development and nature protection mean, the role played by local communities presents a key challenge. They are often reluctant to new protected area designations coming directly from a government decision, in a top-down manner without any kind of participatory processes. Confrontations with political actors can also occur when the initiative for a new designation comes directly from local communities, in a bottom-up movement, and the government concerned rejects such a proposal. This second possibility is the object of study in this paper, focusing on the demands by local communities for two new natural parks in the Galician (Spain) mountains: Trevinca and Monte Pindo, where nature protection devices—albeit with less legal rank–currently exist.

This research is based on semi-structured interviews where participants were free to share perspectives on their respective protected areas, following a list of partially open-ended questions. To analyse these interviews, coding methods from the transcriptions were used, reducing the data to a list of codes. The analysis of the interviews shows diverse visions of how sustainable development should be translated in terms of protection mechanisms. Several strategies are verbalised by participants, demonstrating differences but also agreements in what changes should be implemented by the Galician government, which seems to be apathetic towards environmental issues.

Abstract ID 595 | Date: 2022-09-14 11:10 – 11:20 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room U1 |

Iglesias Letelier, Fernando (1,2); Rivera Fürst, Victoria (1)

The Southern Patagonian Ice Field is the third largest ice mass on the planet and the largest in the Americas. It stretches from north to south over 350 km, from 48º20 ‘S to 51º30’ S. It has an extension of 16,800 km2, of which 85% belongs to Chile and the rest to Argentina. Although the “Campo de HieloSur” and its surroundings are perhaps the best-preserved territory in Patagonia, the Lake O’Higgins basin is its only portion that currently lacks formal protection of any kind. As such, it is highly vulnerable to megadevelopment – roads, dams, and mining. In order to face these threats and promote a community vision of conservation in Chilean Patagonia, we are proposing to expand the lands under legal protection through the creation of a new protected área under the category of Bien Nacional Protegido (National Protected Good) the most recent category of the National system of public Protected Areas in Chile, which we have named “Río Pascua”, which encompasses around 80,000 hectares of the O’Higgins Lake basin and its imposing drainage the untamed Pascua River.

By protecting the Pascua, it would be possible to effectively conserve the biodiversity and the ecological and hydrological processes of the northeast portion of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. In addition, it would be possible to protect public access to the Bernardo O’Higgins National Park (BONP), the largest National Park of the country, ensure the landscape and ecological integrity of a fragile ecosystem with increasing pressure for tourist use, develop a plan for the conservation and sustainable management of this buffer zone. BONP and carry out scientific research to protect one of the most important populations of the endangered huemul deer worldwide.

This article reviews the history of the process of the scientific and community-based conservation work to create this new protected area at the same time all the administrative steps to declare the first river basin under legal protection in Chile and its state of the arts on its sixth year