Founded | 1980 |
---|---|
Founders | Jack D. Ives, Roger Barry, Mischa Plam, Walther Manshard |
Founded at | Boulder, Colorado, USA |
Type | International organization |
Focus | Sustainable mountain development |
Headquarters | Bern, Switzerland |
Area served | Worldwide |
Website | www |
The International Mountain Society (IMS) is a scientific research society focusing on the dissemination of information about mountain research and mountain development throughout the world, but particularly in developing regions. [1] IMS is the copyright-holder and co-publisher, along with the United Nations University (UNU), of the quarterly journal Mountain Research and Development (MRD). IMS was incorporated in Boulder, Colorado in 1980. Since 2000 the IMS has been based in Bern, Switzerland. [2] Membership in the IMS, which includes subscription to MRD, is available to individuals and to organizations. [2]
The mission statement of both the IMS and its journal, Mountain Research and Development, is "to strive for a better balance between mountain environment, development of resources and the well-being of mountain peoples." [3] The practical purpose of the IMS was to provide a vehicle for collaboration with United Nations University in the publication of a new mountain research and applied study journal. [4] The intent was to build on the expanding commitments of a number of international institutions that were beginning to respond to the perceived widespread problems facing the mountains and mountain peoples of the world. [5]
The International Mountain Society grew out of multidisciplinary collaborations of participants in the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB), especially MAB Project 6 (study of the impact of human activities on mountain ecosystems). IMS and the new journal, MRD, were aided financially and intellectually by the UNU, Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Hochgebirgsforschung, UNESCO, the Commission on High Altitude Geoecology of the International Geographical Union (IGU), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). [6] The intellectual underpinnings included the Biosphere Reserve concept that was applied by UNESCO in promoting research, training, and genepool conservation in designated areas, as well as the UNU's approach to mountain research that emphasized the importance of highland-lowland interactive systems. [5]
The specific impetus for the founding of the IMS stemmed from 1974 conference on the Development of Mountain Environment that was convened by the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) in Munich. Participants, including John Cool, Frank Davidson, Klaus Lampe, A.D.Moddie, Joseph Stein, B.B. Vohra, and Jack D. Ives, concluded that there was a need for an organization linking mountain researchers and institutions and also for a journal focused on mountain research. These points came up again in a 1976 workshop convened in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At the time of incorporation in Boulder, Colorado, the officers of IMF were:
The primary product of the International Mountain Society is the quarterly peer-reviewed journal Mountain Research and Development. The editorial policies emphasize the need for accelerated interdisciplinary international research, both pure and applied. The membership of the founding editorial and advisory boards was international, representing sixteen nations, and special attention was paid to facilitating publication in English of manuscripts submitted in any language. MRD was edited by Jack Ives and Pauline Ives, and Jack Ives also served as President of the IMS until 2000, when both the journal and the organization were transferred to Bern University, Switzerland, with Hans Hürni assuming responsibility. [7] MRD has been able to ensure worldwide publication of a wide range of mountain research results. Serving as a linkage between many international institutions, universities, and NGOs, in collaboration with Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, the IMS contributed to the adoption of Chapter 13: Mountains o Agenda 21, the Rio action plan. This, in turn, led to the United Nations designation of 2002 as the International Year of Mountains and December 11 as the annual International Mountain Day. [8] [9]
The United Nations University (UNU) is the think tank and academic arm of the United Nations. Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, with diplomatic status as a UN institution, its mission is to help resolve global issues related to human development and welfare through collaborative research and education.
Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments.
The UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) covers internationally designated protected areas, known as biosphere reserves, which are meant to demonstrate a balanced relationship between people and nature. They are created under the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB). Aug
Mount Kenya National Park was established in 1949 to protect Mount Kenya, the wildlife, and the surrounding environment, which forms a habitat for wild animals, as well as acting as an area for the catchment of water, to supply Kenya's water.
There are 18 biosphere reserves in India. They protect larger areas of natural habitat than a typical national park or animal sanctuary, and often include one or more national parks or reserves, along with buffer zones that are open to some economic uses. Protection is granted not only to the flora and fauna of the protected region, but also to the human communities who inhabit these regions, and their ways of life. In total there are 18 biosphere reserves in India.
Gilbert Fowler White was a prominent American geographer, sometimes termed the "father of floodplain management" and the "leading environmental geographer of the 20th century". White is known predominantly for his work on natural hazards, particularly flooding, and the importance of sound water management in contemporary society.
The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the largest assembly of data on the world's terrestrial and marine protected areas, containing more than 260,000 protected areas as of August 2020, with records covering 245 countries and territories throughout the world. The WDPA is a joint venture between the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre and the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Commission on Protected Areas.
The United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) is a Research and Training Institute of the United Nations University (UNU). Based in Bruges, Belgium since 2001, UNU-CRIS specializes in the comparative study of regional integration and the provision of global and regional public goods, including environmental stability, poverty reduction, peace, and justice.
The United Nations University Office at UNESCO serves as academic interface between the United Nations University (UNU) and its Institutes and UNESCO and its Permanent Delegations in Paris, France. The UNU Office at UNESCO also develops contacts between UNU and other Paris-based international organisations as well with French academia.
Paul Thornell Baker was Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the Pennsylvania State University, and was “one of the most influential biological anthropologists of his generation, contributing substantially to the transformation of the field from a largely descriptive to a hypothesis-driven science in the latter half of the 20th century. He pioneered multidisciplinary field science, firmly established a place for biological anthropology and human population biology in national and international science, and trained a host of graduate students in good science, who, in turn, continued his commitment to collaborative research.”
The Krkonoše/Karkonosze Transboundary Biosphere Reserve is a MAB transboundary biosphere reserve, mixed mountain and highland system designated by UNESCO as Krkonoše/Karkonosze Mountains in 1992. It is shared by the Czech Republic and Poland. Notably, it is one of only two successful transboundary management structures in existence, aside from the East Carpathians Biosphere Reserve, due to contrasting goals in other shared areas covered by MAB.
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. It covers research on all aspects of Arctic, Antarctic, and alpine environments, including subarctic, subantarctic, subalpine, and paleoenvironments. Jack D. Ives founded the journal in 1969 as Arctic and Alpine Research and the name was expanded to include the Antarctic in 1999. The editors-in-chief are Anne E. Jennings and Bill Bowman.
Niwot Ridge is an alpine ecology research station located 65 km northwest of Denver in north-central Colorado. It is on the Front Range of the southern Rocky Mountains and lies within the Roosevelt National Forest. Niwot Ridge is 2,900 metres (9,500 ft) high.
The Jornada Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in southern New Mexico. It is one of three biosphere reserves representing the Chihuahuan Desert. The area extends from the crest of the San Andres Mountains, which are dominated by shrub woodlands, to the Jornada Plains characterized by semi-desert grasslands.
The Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve is located in the Western Cape Province of South Africa approximately 40 km east of Cape Town. The Biosphere Reserve extends from the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve in the south, northwards along the Cape Fold Belt Mountain Chain and the adjoining valleys constituting the Cape Winelands. The Biosphere Reserve incorporates key portions of the registered Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage Site. The Reserve was designated in 2007.
Boshra Salem is a professor, founder and the Chair of the Department of Environmental Sciences at Alexandria University in Alexandria, Egypt. She is president of Unesco's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) International Coordinating Council (ICC) and serves on the International Council for Science (ICSU)'s Committee for Scientific Planning & Review. She has received a number of awards, including being recognized as an outstanding female scientist in the Women in Science Hall of Fame by the Embassy of the United States in Cairo, Egypt.
Reza Ardakanian is an Iranian professor, politician and former Minister of Energy of Iran, a position he had held from 29 October 2017 to 25 August 2021. He was previously deputy energy minister in the 1980s and 1990s and has been involved with UN-Water.
Bruno Messerli was a Swiss geographer and university professor who focused on high mountains and highland-lowland linkages. He was appointed Full Professor of Geomorphology in 1968 by the University of Bern, where he taught and carried out research until his retirement in 1996. He contributed significantly to the inclusion of a mountain agenda, Chapter 13 — Managing Fragile Ecosystems — Sustainable Mountain Development in Agenda 21, the official action plan of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, the Rio Summit, the Rio Conference, and the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June in 1992.
Jack D. Ives is a Canadian montologist, an Honorary Adjunct Research Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, an author, and a prominent advocate of mountain issues at the global level. He was formerly director of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder, founding editor of two peer-reviewed journals, chair of the Commission on High Altitude Geoecology under the auspices of the International Geographical Union, and a senior advisor on mountain ecology and sustainable development for United Nations University.
Fatima Mereles is a botanist and academic from Paraguay, who specialises in wetland flora.
International Mountain Society.