This article examines how social innovations influence the economic growth orientation of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in mountain regions. Social innovations can help mountain regions solve local challenges by creating novel ideas to improve the situation. This, in turn, can have various effects on the mountain economy. However, there is still no consensus on the ways in which social innovations create economic impulses such as economic growth or even economic growth independence. This article aims to improve our understanding of social innovations and their impact on the local mountain economy. We examine the 100% Valposchiavo initiative, which aims to close regional value chains by bringing together economic actors in agriculture, production, and hospitality in a Swiss mountain region. In particular, the article examines the evolution of the initiative and its impact on local SMEs. We employed the novel method of innovation biographies and conducted narrative and guided interviews to examine the ways in which the initiative evolved and what its effects are on participating SMEs. The results show that 100% Valposchiavo induced potential growth effects through its focus on increased collaboration, whereas (re)localization created growth-independent effects. Some companies are growth dependent because of higher demand, junior management, modernization efforts, or a fast-growing market. The growth-independent companies pursue this strategy through personal contacts, their corporate philosophy, their management age, or their business form. Our study adds a postgrowth perspective to the discussion around the role of social innovations in mountain economies.
{"title":"Social Innovations and the Mountain Economy: The Case of 100% Valposchiavo and Its Influence on Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises","authors":"Anna-Lena Stettler, H. Mayer","doi":"10.1659/mrd.2022.00023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1659/mrd.2022.00023","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines how social innovations influence the economic growth orientation of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in mountain regions. Social innovations can help mountain regions solve local challenges by creating novel ideas to improve the situation. This, in turn, can have various effects on the mountain economy. However, there is still no consensus on the ways in which social innovations create economic impulses such as economic growth or even economic growth independence. This article aims to improve our understanding of social innovations and their impact on the local mountain economy. We examine the 100% Valposchiavo initiative, which aims to close regional value chains by bringing together economic actors in agriculture, production, and hospitality in a Swiss mountain region. In particular, the article examines the evolution of the initiative and its impact on local SMEs. We employed the novel method of innovation biographies and conducted narrative and guided interviews to examine the ways in which the initiative evolved and what its effects are on participating SMEs. The results show that 100% Valposchiavo induced potential growth effects through its focus on increased collaboration, whereas (re)localization created growth-independent effects. Some companies are growth dependent because of higher demand, junior management, modernization efforts, or a fast-growing market. The growth-independent companies pursue this strategy through personal contacts, their corporate philosophy, their management age, or their business form. Our study adds a postgrowth perspective to the discussion around the role of social innovations in mountain economies.","PeriodicalId":49793,"journal":{"name":"Mountain Research and Development","volume":"43 1","pages":"R20 - R31"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48165779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), at the top of the world, we are witnessing rapid climate change, biodiversity loss, increased disaster risk, and rising inequality. Ambitious partnerships must drive evidence-based action to solve these complex problems. As an intergovernmental knowledge center for the 8 HKH countries—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan—the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) aims to deliver tangible outcomes to address the challenges the region faces. It will meet these challenges through a new strategy and action plan. The vision is to work toward a greener, more inclusive, and climate-resilient HKH. This will be delivered through a refreshed mission to build and share knowledge that enables greener, more inclusive, and climate-resilient policies and through action and investment across the diverse countries and communities of the HKH.
{"title":"Moving Mountains: A New Strategy and Action Plan for ICIMOD to Embrace Change and Accelerate Impact to 2030","authors":"I. Koziell, P. Gyamtsho","doi":"10.1659/mrd.2023.00002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1659/mrd.2023.00002","url":null,"abstract":"In the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), at the top of the world, we are witnessing rapid climate change, biodiversity loss, increased disaster risk, and rising inequality. Ambitious partnerships must drive evidence-based action to solve these complex problems. As an intergovernmental knowledge center for the 8 HKH countries—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan—the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) aims to deliver tangible outcomes to address the challenges the region faces. It will meet these challenges through a new strategy and action plan. The vision is to work toward a greener, more inclusive, and climate-resilient HKH. This will be delivered through a refreshed mission to build and share knowledge that enables greener, more inclusive, and climate-resilient policies and through action and investment across the diverse countries and communities of the HKH.","PeriodicalId":49793,"journal":{"name":"Mountain Research and Development","volume":"43 1","pages":"P1 - P3"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46140608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
E. Suárez, A. Encalada, Segundo Chimbolema, R. Jaramillo, R. Hofstede, D. Riveros‐Iregui
The study of mountain ecosystems has a long tradition. This can be traced from the extensive geological surveys of Horace de Saussure in the 1800s in the European Alps (Billing 2019) to the seminal research that Humboldt performed on his trip through the Andes (Linder et al 2019; Moret et al 2019). However, the geographical distribution of the research has remained biased toward the global North and, more specifically, to the mountain ranges of Europe and North America (K€ orner 2003). This bias means that the understanding of mountains has been mostly based on temperate ranges in which the lives and ecology of organisms are tied to the marked rhythms that seasons impose on temperature, precipitation, and irradiance (but see Llamb ı and Rada 2019). The historical bias seems also to have percolated into the language that we use to describe mountain ecosystems. The adjective ‘‘alpine,’’ for example, has become a standard term to describe the high-elevation ecosystems that occupy the higher reaches of mountains, above the climatic tree line. Similarly, ‘‘tropical alpine,’’ is used to describe the ecosystems and vegetation that characterize the highelevation landscape of the Northern Andes and other tropical mountains (Hedberg and Hedberg 1979; Smith and Cleef 1988; Christmann and Oliveras 2020). However, this generalized use of ‘‘alpine’’ could result in 2 unintended outcomes. On the one hand, it might restrict the usefulness of the word ‘‘alpine’’ as a descriptor of the particular ecosystem traits and environmental characteristics of the temperate mountains that inspired the original use of the term. On the other hand, while used to describe the outstanding diversity of high-elevation ecosystems in the world, ‘‘alpine’’ might become simply synonymous with ‘‘high mountain,’’ thus failing to convey any meaningful idea of the diverse and unique environments that dominate the upper reaches of the mountains of the world. Therefore, does the term ‘‘alpine’’ accurately encompass the heterogeneous nature of all high-elevation ecosystems across the world, or does its reference to the temperate, seasonal landscape entail an ambiguous generalization? In this commentary, we examine the use of ‘‘alpine’’ as an overarching term to broadly describe high-elevation ecosystems and their species, using as an example the p aramo of the humid Northern Andes.
{"title":"On the Use of “Alpine” for High-Elevation Tropical Environments","authors":"E. Suárez, A. Encalada, Segundo Chimbolema, R. Jaramillo, R. Hofstede, D. Riveros‐Iregui","doi":"10.1659/mrd.2022.00024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1659/mrd.2022.00024","url":null,"abstract":"The study of mountain ecosystems has a long tradition. This can be traced from the extensive geological surveys of Horace de Saussure in the 1800s in the European Alps (Billing 2019) to the seminal research that Humboldt performed on his trip through the Andes (Linder et al 2019; Moret et al 2019). However, the geographical distribution of the research has remained biased toward the global North and, more specifically, to the mountain ranges of Europe and North America (K€ orner 2003). This bias means that the understanding of mountains has been mostly based on temperate ranges in which the lives and ecology of organisms are tied to the marked rhythms that seasons impose on temperature, precipitation, and irradiance (but see Llamb ı and Rada 2019). The historical bias seems also to have percolated into the language that we use to describe mountain ecosystems. The adjective ‘‘alpine,’’ for example, has become a standard term to describe the high-elevation ecosystems that occupy the higher reaches of mountains, above the climatic tree line. Similarly, ‘‘tropical alpine,’’ is used to describe the ecosystems and vegetation that characterize the highelevation landscape of the Northern Andes and other tropical mountains (Hedberg and Hedberg 1979; Smith and Cleef 1988; Christmann and Oliveras 2020). However, this generalized use of ‘‘alpine’’ could result in 2 unintended outcomes. On the one hand, it might restrict the usefulness of the word ‘‘alpine’’ as a descriptor of the particular ecosystem traits and environmental characteristics of the temperate mountains that inspired the original use of the term. On the other hand, while used to describe the outstanding diversity of high-elevation ecosystems in the world, ‘‘alpine’’ might become simply synonymous with ‘‘high mountain,’’ thus failing to convey any meaningful idea of the diverse and unique environments that dominate the upper reaches of the mountains of the world. Therefore, does the term ‘‘alpine’’ accurately encompass the heterogeneous nature of all high-elevation ecosystems across the world, or does its reference to the temperate, seasonal landscape entail an ambiguous generalization? In this commentary, we examine the use of ‘‘alpine’’ as an overarching term to broadly describe high-elevation ecosystems and their species, using as an example the p aramo of the humid Northern Andes.","PeriodicalId":49793,"journal":{"name":"Mountain Research and Development","volume":"43 1","pages":"V1 - V4"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47955538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-24DOI: 10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00016
Wendy Guamán Trávez, P. Guarderas
Changes in land use affect biodiversity and the biophysical structure of ecosystems, causing negative impacts on ecosystem services, such as climate regulation. However, few studies have evaluated the effect of land use changes on the local climate, particularly in tropical mountain systems such as the Andes. Therefore, this study compares 4 land use types (native forest, planted forest, maize monoculture, and pasture) in a mountain landscape in northern Ecuador as a proxy to assess the impact of land use change on local climate regulation. We estimated gap fraction with photographic techniques and recorded temperature and relative humidity using dataloggers set at 2 heights (0 m and 1 m) above ground level across the land use types. As we expected, native forests provided a more stable microclimate, demonstrating significantly lower temperatures and higher relative humidity values than the other land use types. This effect on microclimate was significantly explained with highest temperatures at intermediate gap fraction levels. In addition, we observed that native forests provided a buffer effect for the variations in mesoclimate; only native forests showed an evident reduction in local temperature over the range of mesoclimates. Local temperature variations registered in human-altered systems (planted forests and pastures) were significantly explained by the mesoclimate variation, with the exception of monocultures that exhibited a mismatch between the 2 scales of climate. These results highlight the importance of native forest for microclimate regulation, an ecosystem service that can act synergistically with other biodiversity and conservation goals to sustainably manage landscapes in Andean mountain systems.
{"title":"Land Use Affects the Local Climate of a Tropical Mountain Landscape in Northern Ecuador","authors":"Wendy Guamán Trávez, P. Guarderas","doi":"10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00016","url":null,"abstract":"Changes in land use affect biodiversity and the biophysical structure of ecosystems, causing negative impacts on ecosystem services, such as climate regulation. However, few studies have evaluated the effect of land use changes on the local climate, particularly in tropical mountain systems such as the Andes. Therefore, this study compares 4 land use types (native forest, planted forest, maize monoculture, and pasture) in a mountain landscape in northern Ecuador as a proxy to assess the impact of land use change on local climate regulation. We estimated gap fraction with photographic techniques and recorded temperature and relative humidity using dataloggers set at 2 heights (0 m and 1 m) above ground level across the land use types. As we expected, native forests provided a more stable microclimate, demonstrating significantly lower temperatures and higher relative humidity values than the other land use types. This effect on microclimate was significantly explained with highest temperatures at intermediate gap fraction levels. In addition, we observed that native forests provided a buffer effect for the variations in mesoclimate; only native forests showed an evident reduction in local temperature over the range of mesoclimates. Local temperature variations registered in human-altered systems (planted forests and pastures) were significantly explained by the mesoclimate variation, with the exception of monocultures that exhibited a mismatch between the 2 scales of climate. These results highlight the importance of native forest for microclimate regulation, an ecosystem service that can act synergistically with other biodiversity and conservation goals to sustainably manage landscapes in Andean mountain systems.","PeriodicalId":49793,"journal":{"name":"Mountain Research and Development","volume":"43 1","pages":"R10 - R19"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45403379","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-05DOI: 10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00059
S. Wangchuk, J. Bond, R. Thwaites, M. Finlayson
Internal migration has played a significant role in shifting the population from rural to urban areas worldwide. In Bhutan, rural depopulation is mostly concentrated in the country's eastern and some central parts, and is changing the rural landscape, economy, and society. In discussing rural population change, the term Gungtong is widely used in the Bhutanese media and public discourses. The literal translation of Gungtong is an empty registered house. However, Gungtong is often interpreted differently in the absence of a clear legal definition. Therefore, the primary objective of this article is to explore the various interpretations of the term Gungtong and understand its meaning. To explore this, 40 semistructured interviews with Bhutanese officials and rural residents were conducted. The study highlights that the Gungtong data gathered annually by the government are based on the administrative complexity of rural taxation policy rather than the actual departure of people from rural areas and empty houses. However, the conversation around Gungtong relates to the globally recognized issue of rural depopulation. Thus, there are discrepancies within the official dataset and between the dataset and the general understanding of the issues and implications of Gungtong. Developing a clear understanding of the term Gungtong and restructuring the data collection of empty houses will help answer some critical questions on the impact of rural depopulation in farming and the rural economy, considering Bhutan's aspiration to be food self-sufficient.
{"title":"Rural Depopulation and Empty Rural Houses in Bhutan: How Different Stakeholders Interpret the Local Term Gungtong","authors":"S. Wangchuk, J. Bond, R. Thwaites, M. Finlayson","doi":"10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00059","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00059","url":null,"abstract":"Internal migration has played a significant role in shifting the population from rural to urban areas worldwide. In Bhutan, rural depopulation is mostly concentrated in the country's eastern and some central parts, and is changing the rural landscape, economy, and society. In discussing rural population change, the term Gungtong is widely used in the Bhutanese media and public discourses. The literal translation of Gungtong is an empty registered house. However, Gungtong is often interpreted differently in the absence of a clear legal definition. Therefore, the primary objective of this article is to explore the various interpretations of the term Gungtong and understand its meaning. To explore this, 40 semistructured interviews with Bhutanese officials and rural residents were conducted. The study highlights that the Gungtong data gathered annually by the government are based on the administrative complexity of rural taxation policy rather than the actual departure of people from rural areas and empty houses. However, the conversation around Gungtong relates to the globally recognized issue of rural depopulation. Thus, there are discrepancies within the official dataset and between the dataset and the general understanding of the issues and implications of Gungtong. Developing a clear understanding of the term Gungtong and restructuring the data collection of empty houses will help answer some critical questions on the impact of rural depopulation in farming and the rural economy, considering Bhutan's aspiration to be food self-sufficient.","PeriodicalId":49793,"journal":{"name":"Mountain Research and Development","volume":"43 1","pages":"R1 - R9"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42693165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Glen MacKay, L. Andrew, Naomi Smethurst, T. D. Andrews
We describe collaborative archaeological research on caribou hunting sites in the homeland of the Shúhtagot'ine in the central Mackenzie Mountains of Canada's Northwest Territories. Shúhtagot'ine Elders and cultural resource managers are working together to investigate important cultural places that are at risk of destruction from climate-driven landscape changes. We use 3 case studies to illustrate how knowledge production in the context of long-term, place-based research has led to key insights about ancestral caribou hunting sites, including perennial alpine ice patches and wood hunting structures, and how that knowledge is being mobilized to help conserve important values in the Shúhtagot'ine cultural landscape. Archaeological research promotes the sustainability of Indigenous cultural landscapes through the preservation of cultural heritage, via the recall of “landscape memories,” and by unlocking archives of ancient biological material. The process of knowledge coproduction is mutually beneficial for all participants, especially when Indigenous Elders and youth are brought together in fieldwork settings.
{"title":"Weaving Together Knowledge Through Collaborative Archaeological Research in the Shúhtagot'ine Cultural Landscape","authors":"Glen MacKay, L. Andrew, Naomi Smethurst, T. D. Andrews","doi":"10.1659/mrd.2022.00014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1659/mrd.2022.00014","url":null,"abstract":"We describe collaborative archaeological research on caribou hunting sites in the homeland of the Shúhtagot'ine in the central Mackenzie Mountains of Canada's Northwest Territories. Shúhtagot'ine Elders and cultural resource managers are working together to investigate important cultural places that are at risk of destruction from climate-driven landscape changes. We use 3 case studies to illustrate how knowledge production in the context of long-term, place-based research has led to key insights about ancestral caribou hunting sites, including perennial alpine ice patches and wood hunting structures, and how that knowledge is being mobilized to help conserve important values in the Shúhtagot'ine cultural landscape. Archaeological research promotes the sustainability of Indigenous cultural landscapes through the preservation of cultural heritage, via the recall of “landscape memories,” and by unlocking archives of ancient biological material. The process of knowledge coproduction is mutually beneficial for all participants, especially when Indigenous Elders and youth are brought together in fieldwork settings.","PeriodicalId":49793,"journal":{"name":"Mountain Research and Development","volume":"42 1","pages":"R10 - R17"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47596507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Knowledge collaborations are fundamental for developing effective pathways toward more just and sustainable futures in mountains. Strengthening the resilience and wellbeing of mountain peoples and regions requires that Indigenous and academic ways of knowing contribute meaningfully to informed decisions and interventions at multiple levels. Mountain systems are experiencing increasing threats to their sustainability, including climate change impacts, biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, anthropogenic pressures, and increased vulnerability of local livelihoods. Rapid and disruptive changes to mountain systems also foreshadow impacts on the broader landscape. Indigenous Peoples’ understanding of relationality positions communities and livelihoods as integral parts of mountain systems and emphasizes interconnectedness of all the elements of these systems. However, historically, Indigenous knowledge and methodologies have been devalued and constrained in an institutional and peer-review context defined by academic traditions. Academic disciplines have developed related concepts and approaches intended to investigate and communicate system interconnectivity, including nature’s contribution to people, socioecological systems, and biocultural diversity. Importantly, all of these ways of knowing and doing recognize that people are a key element of mountain systems and that human decisions and actions have unique impacts within them. Innovative models of collaborative knowledge inquiry can enhance our ability to understand and address the impacts of rapid environmental, economic, and social change on the resilience of mountain systems, while empowering, respecting, and, where useful, bringing together Indigenous and academic knowledges and research approaches . This focus issue of MRD was born from a fruitful partnership with the Canadian Mountain Network (CMN). It focuses on knowledge collaborations by mountain researchers and Indigenous Peoples in support of the wellbeing of mountain people and regions. Articles published in this issue provide examples of knowledge coproduction and application in diverse mountain contexts across the globe. Beyond contributing to the recognition of multiple forms of scientific knowledge inquiry, we hope that this issue will inspire more ethical and meaningful cooperation between academics and Indigenous and local mountain communities, with a view to achieving more sustainable futures and redressing historical injustices . Indigenous and local knowledge from the Andes and the Himalayas is presented in the MountainViews section. As a result of an innovative peer-review process that acknowledges place-based forms of knowledge production, the 2 articles published in
{"title":"Focus Issue: Weaving Together Knowledges—Collaborations in Support of the Wellbeing of Mountain Peoples and Regions","authors":"Sarah-lan Mathez-Stiefel, Monique Dubé, Murray M. Humphries, Norma Kassi, Nicole Olivier","doi":"10.1659/mrd.4204","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1659/mrd.4204","url":null,"abstract":"Knowledge collaborations are fundamental for developing effective pathways toward more just and sustainable futures in mountains. Strengthening the resilience and wellbeing of mountain peoples and regions requires that Indigenous and academic ways of knowing contribute meaningfully to informed decisions and interventions at multiple levels. Mountain systems are experiencing increasing threats to their sustainability, including climate change impacts, biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, anthropogenic pressures, and increased vulnerability of local livelihoods. Rapid and disruptive changes to mountain systems also foreshadow impacts on the broader landscape. Indigenous Peoples’ understanding of relationality positions communities and livelihoods as integral parts of mountain systems and emphasizes interconnectedness of all the elements of these systems. However, historically, Indigenous knowledge and methodologies have been devalued and constrained in an institutional and peer-review context defined by academic traditions. Academic disciplines have developed related concepts and approaches intended to investigate and communicate system interconnectivity, including nature’s contribution to people, socioecological systems, and biocultural diversity. Importantly, all of these ways of knowing and doing recognize that people are a key element of mountain systems and that human decisions and actions have unique impacts within them. Innovative models of collaborative knowledge inquiry can enhance our ability to understand and address the impacts of rapid environmental, economic, and social change on the resilience of mountain systems, while empowering, respecting, and, where useful, bringing together Indigenous and academic knowledges and research approaches . This focus issue of MRD was born from a fruitful partnership with the Canadian Mountain Network (CMN). It focuses on knowledge collaborations by mountain researchers and Indigenous Peoples in support of the wellbeing of mountain people and regions. Articles published in this issue provide examples of knowledge coproduction and application in diverse mountain contexts across the globe. Beyond contributing to the recognition of multiple forms of scientific knowledge inquiry, we hope that this issue will inspire more ethical and meaningful cooperation between academics and Indigenous and local mountain communities, with a view to achieving more sustainable futures and redressing historical injustices . Indigenous and local knowledge from the Andes and the Himalayas is presented in the MountainViews section. As a result of an innovative peer-review process that acknowledges place-based forms of knowledge production, the 2 articles published in","PeriodicalId":49793,"journal":{"name":"Mountain Research and Development","volume":" ","pages":"1 - 2"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48731436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The health of soil, a fundamental resource for life on Earth, is severely compromised by global environmental change. Evidence shows that the knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and local communities influences sustainable land management, hence the importance of understanding Indigenous soil classification. Using a participatory approach, we conducted semistructured interviews, focus groups, and collective mapping of soils in 4 Aymara communities of the Bolivian Altiplano. We found that families in the 4 communities organize their territory in homogenous zones, based upon characteristics perceivable by sight, touch, smell, and taste. The description and meaning of the zones refer to characteristics such as location, soil color, preferred land use, and topography. We argue that homogenous zones are kaleidoscopic and polysemic units of spatial organization of the Aymara territory. Each meaning conveyed is like a face of a kaleidoscope and refers to different features of the zone. They are polysemic because the descriptions of the zones refer to multiple elements of different kinds (eg color and fertility). Indigenous and local knowledge of soils has coevolved with thousands of years of Altiplano farming, leading to prescriptive and flexible homogenous zones of sustainable land management. These knowledge systems and the cultures they belong to constitute crucial elements for generating knowledge supporting transitions to sustainability.
{"title":"The Sociocultural Construction of Soil Among Communities of the Bolivian Altiplano: Potential for Supporting Transitions to Sustainability","authors":"J. Postigo, Sonia Laura Valdez","doi":"10.1659/mrd.2022.00015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1659/mrd.2022.00015","url":null,"abstract":"The health of soil, a fundamental resource for life on Earth, is severely compromised by global environmental change. Evidence shows that the knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and local communities influences sustainable land management, hence the importance of understanding Indigenous soil classification. Using a participatory approach, we conducted semistructured interviews, focus groups, and collective mapping of soils in 4 Aymara communities of the Bolivian Altiplano. We found that families in the 4 communities organize their territory in homogenous zones, based upon characteristics perceivable by sight, touch, smell, and taste. The description and meaning of the zones refer to characteristics such as location, soil color, preferred land use, and topography. We argue that homogenous zones are kaleidoscopic and polysemic units of spatial organization of the Aymara territory. Each meaning conveyed is like a face of a kaleidoscope and refers to different features of the zone. They are polysemic because the descriptions of the zones refer to multiple elements of different kinds (eg color and fertility). Indigenous and local knowledge of soils has coevolved with thousands of years of Altiplano farming, leading to prescriptive and flexible homogenous zones of sustainable land management. These knowledge systems and the cultures they belong to constitute crucial elements for generating knowledge supporting transitions to sustainability.","PeriodicalId":49793,"journal":{"name":"Mountain Research and Development","volume":"42 1","pages":"V1 - V10"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42587909","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-30DOI: 10.1659/0276-4741-42.4.p2
{"title":"Publisher Information","authors":"","doi":"10.1659/0276-4741-42.4.p2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1659/0276-4741-42.4.p2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49793,"journal":{"name":"Mountain Research and Development","volume":" ","pages":"p2 - p2"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45677645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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