Introduction and road map for impact of global changes on high-mountains

Mountain regions encompass nearly 24% of the total land surface of the Earth and is home to approximately 12% of the world’s population, mountains are highly critical from the view point of ecosystem services that sustain human society both in highlands and lowlands in large parts of the planet. Mountains constitute the hot spots of biodiversity, and the mighty glaciers and forested mountain-ranges are the source of important rivers of the planet. Water discharge that builds up in these mountains is transported through the drainage system to the lowland where it sustains the economy and prosperity of people in numerous ways. Mountain regions with their super proportional discharge compared to the lowland, are therefore considered of signifi cant hydrological importance. See box 1 for defi nitions of mountains. Mountain ecosystems provide various services and goods as well1: 1. Provisioning services-freshwater, fresh air, timber, food, renewable energy supply.