Mountains in a changing climate

This nexus brief synthesizes the findings of recent publications on mountains and climate change, in particular IPCC Cross-Chapter Paper 5: Mountains (2022) and the OECD Development Co-operation Working Paper: Strengthening climate resilience in mountainous areas (2021). According to the latest IPCC reports, many mountain regions are experiencing climate change impacts with serious consequences for people and ecosystems – reductions in snow cover extent and duration, loss of glacier mass, thawing of permafrost, increases in the number and size of glacial lakes and changes in seasonal weather patterns – all related to higher temperatures.

The mainstreaming of mountain-specific challenges into National Adaptation Plans and Nationally Determined Contributions, as well as other national plans linked to global frameworks, is a necessary element in the broad goal of leaving no one behind. Similarly, the mainstreaming of mountain considerations can inform national plans for a green economy or an energy strategy or any plans related to biodiversity or disaster risk reduction. Furthermore, water users in upstream and downstream areas often have different and competing interests – the generation of electricity and the irrigation of crops, for example. Stakeholder engagement can help reconcile the differences, but it must be inclusive to be successful and must work to involve marginalised and vulnerable groups.