| While politicians haggle over the Kyoto Protocol and debate climate change at the U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development, a group of renowned scientists is gathering in Banff to take a serious look at what’s happening in the world’s mountains.
The gathering is called the Ecological and Earth Sciences in Mountain Areas (EESMA) conference, hosted by The Banff Centre. Although it has yet to begin, there is already some data available: Glaciers in the Canadian Rockies have receded 25 per cent in the past century – they now reside at levels not seen in 3,000 years – and mountain snowpack is showing increased organic pollutants. Even visibility in North American mountains has deteriorated.
On the surface, that information means little to about 90 per cent of the world’s population that lives outside of mountain areas. But, as conference organizer Leslie Taylor points out, more than half of the world’s drinking water originates in mountain areas, so people would be wise to pay attention.
Taylor says the conference has generated interest recently due to a fierce debate in Canada, and around the world, over the Kyoto Protocol and how to deal with climate change.
"The nice thing for us is that everyone seems to be talking about it now," Taylor says.
The conference will bring together some of the world’s foremost ecological and earth scientists to discuss a variety of topics – climate change is only one aspect, with others including biodiversity, ecological risks and biophysical hazards.
Taylor says one of the unique aspects of the conference is that it focuses on a specific area.
"Quite often, scientists think of themselves in terms of their discipline first, rather than the geography where they work," she says.
"We’re bringing people together... and they may (start) thinking of themselves as mountain scientists."
She adds that although they come from different areas of study and different countries – there is a climate change expert from Switzerland, air quality expert from the United States and ecotourism expert from Australia planning to attend, for example – they all have the state of the world’s mountains in common.
"One of the things I find fascinating is showing the similarities in the problems, and often the solutions, in similar parts of the world," she says.
"Mountain people and mountain places often have more in common with each other than even their flatland counterparts in the same country." |
