Higher temperatures are affecting mountain ecosystems and their populations, as melting glaciers increase short-term water availability but also raise the likelihood of flooding, species migration and long-term water shortage, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Tuesday.
"As glaciers disappear and snowlines move upwards, river flows are likely to change and lack of water may lead to conflict and affect hydropower generation, forestry and agricultural-based livelihoods," said Alexander Muller, FAO assistant director general for natural resources, during the commemoration of the International Day of Mountains.
The effects that mountain ecosystems provide often extend well beyond their geographic areas and include water balance, climate regulation, and the maintenance of different species of plants and animals.
The main reason for climate change is increasing concentrations of greenhouse gas emissions. Man-made global greenhouse gas emissions have increased significantly in the past 30 years, rising by 70 percent between 1970 and 2004, according to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Agriculture, forestry and fisheries are affected by global warming and mountain areas are highly susceptible, the FAO said.
In Bhutan, a National Climate Change Committee has been set up to identify safe and unsafe zones for settlement in potential flood-affected areas.
People in rural areas, for example, have been given radios as a basic early warning tool, according to the FAO.
"The FAO has a vital role to play in addressing the serious challenges confronting the vast number of mountain communities in developing countries who are often the poorest and most food insecure," said Alemneh Dejene, a senior official of the FAO's Environmental Assessment and Management Unit.
This and other issues concerning climate change will be considered by a high-level meeting on world food security and bioenergy, to be held at the FAO in June 2008.
Source: Xinhua
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