What Dennis Said: Where are we
five years later?
mri
Mountain
research
initiative
Greg Greenwood
Ex ecutive Director,
M ountain R esearch I nitiative
University of Bern, Sw itzerland
Dennis Machida: 1947 - 2005
• guru of conservation
politics
• more Zen than Socratic
• if not a answer, then at
least a better
appreciation of the
question
• But he left notes!!!
• Not to be dissected but
rather use as a metric
Dennis Machida: 1947 - 2005
• “Alignment”
• “Locus of policy
discussion: authority,
responsibility and
accountability”
• “Science looking for a
program”
Dennis’s notes on Alignment
• need to assess our institutional capabilities - modification of
existing, creation of new...
• need to be strategic - to achieve vertical and horizontal
alignment
• vertical means up and down through governmental
hierarchies and from policy to science to implementation
• horizontal means across levels of government, and across
sectors: ag, business, environs, other NGOs -more difficult
• “the central question of who owns the problem and the
solution”
•http://home.roadrunner.com/~trumpetb/loco/
How are we doing on Alignment?
• Were we supposed to work on alignment?
– International: rhetoric of 1992 Mountain Chapter not reflected in current
budgets for international development agencies --> current efforts to “reanimate” the Mountain Partnership
– UNFCCC and IPCC: where are the mountains?
– What has CIRMOUNT been doing to “foster alignment”?
• Have we benefited from alignment?
– USA (seems much better than five years ago, but I don’t live here)
• Sierra Nevada Conservancy and a Climate Action Plan
• RISAs leading to Climate Services?
• local efforts (John Katzenberger and the Roaring Fork Initiative)
– MRI and the non-USA planet
• Europe: Major FP7 project (Beniston, ACQWA), Research Networks, Alpine
Convention Climate Action Plan
• Beneficiary of Geopolitics: China and Tibet: Third Pole Environment
(funding forthcoming for earth sciences)
• Dueling narratives in much of the world (Elizabeth Malone)
Dennis’s notes on the Locus of Policy
Discussion
• go through your agency or through papers, then assume someone
will know what to do with them - NOT!
• helpful if the science community prepared to participate in such
policy level discussion
• focus of a framework for discussion, not a prescription
• Context: “ARA”
– authorized by law (authority)
– a responsible entity (responsibility)
– need to conclude (accountability - write a report)
• Examples
– environmental review (e.g. relicensing)
– mandated planning processes (water, transportation, energy, forestry)
– broader than climate change ( Malone reprise)
• Normal planning processes (NEPA, CEQA) not be ultimately be
adequate
How are we doing at the locus of policy
discussion?
• Non-USA World: is there A-R-A?
–
–
–
–
Global: IPCC -??-> UNFCCC: IPCC as a scientist-focused exercise (Schmitt)
Regional: Alpine Convention and ISCAR: an uneasy relationship
Regional: SDC PACC Peru-Bolivia: noble attempt, but does it meet A-R-A?
National: MAB-JAB - considerable traction based on long, long term relations
(Weismann, MRI website)
• USA: where is the A-R-A?
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
CIRMOUNT’s meeting with managers: supply side/training
WMI’s connection with NPS managers: like MAB-JAB?
Colorado River Compact: A-R-A!
RISAs: looking for how to be helpful - was this connected with A-R-A!
NEPA processes, relicensing: has there been a conscious, organized effort?
who has provided comment on a NEPA process?
who has provided testimony to a commission?
Dennis’s notes on Science looking for a
program
• More research and monitoring needs to be institutionalized
• A comprehensive and integrated plan (10-20 years)
– scope of activities tied to a polity, legal requirement or investment (ARA)
– allocation of responsibility
– need to get funding (for reasons that go beyond costs)
• Explore management implications: forum for multi-jurisdictional
managers
• Bioregional assessments with socio-economic considerations
(multi-disciplinary, sense of place) (SNEP)
• Involve public and stakeholders in process
– uneasy, limits prerogatives, different skill set, opens us to criticism
– but these are the key to achieving alignment
• Encourage you to prepare a strategic plan
– survey the potential customers re: needs and form
– formalization in order to raise funds needed
How are we doing on science looking for
a program?
• Lessons Learned in the Non-USA world (<-MRI) : “Coordination and Promotion”
– GLOCHAMORE: is the assertion of a research strategy
sufficient? Probably not
– RP-squared (uncertain Swiss support for regional efforts)
• MRI-Europe - working with Austria, need a coordinator
• Africa: FINESSE -linking to a different narrative, stakeholder
involvement
• Tibet: associating with an emerging but well-funded effort
(TPE)
• Americas: ACT moribund
Global Change in
Mountain Regions
(GLOCHAMORE) - 2005
glochamore
research strategy - Main Headings
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Climate
Land Use Change
Cyrosphere
Hydrologic Systems
Ecosystem Function
Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Structure
7. Hazards
8. Pests and Diseases
9. Economies
10.Institutions
glochamore
research strategy - Main Headings
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Climate
Land Use Change
Cyrosphere
Hydrologic Systems
Ecosystem Function
Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Structure
7. Hazards
8. Pests and Diseases
9. Economies
10.Institutions
glochamore
research strategy - Main Headings
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Climate
Land Use Change
Cyrosphere
Hydrologic Systems
Ecosystem Function
Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Structure
7. Hazards
8. Pests and Diseases
9. Economies
10.Institutions
glochamore
research strategy - Main Headings
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Climate
Land Use Change
Cyrosphere
Hydrologic Systems
Ecosystem Function
Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Structure
7. Hazards
8. Pests and Diseases
9. Economies
10.Institutions
MRI-Europe: Coordinator!!
Regional Networks and Funding:
• MRI Europe: 2007 - ETH & FP7 call
• IGF - MRI MOU : Regional Networks
• Net-DYNAMO: ESF call
• CIRCLE ERA-Net CC & Mtn Call
Scandes?
Regional Networks
•We assumed that
the institutional
space of the Alps
was already taken:
correct?
Mediterranean Mountains?
•“Who’s Who, and
What are They Doing?”
•State of Knowledge
paper
•Research Strategy
•Potential Projects
Net-DYNAmics of MOuntain Catchments
“This Research Network Programme will expand the capacity of
European researchers to produce policy-relevant integrated
assessments of socially-relevant variables under global change
scenarios, yielding comparable outputs and promoting comparisons
among catchments (100 to 10000 km2) that sample the diversity of
European mountain environments. This RNP will focus on potential
linkages between existing models and on translation of outputs into
policy relevant terms. This RNP will will downscale existing scenarios to
catchment scales, develop methodologies and compare results.”
Principal Investigators:
Prof. Dr. Martine Rebetez, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research
Prof. Dr. Ulrike Tappeiner, University of Innsbruck
Dr. Rüdiger Grote, Research Center Karlsruhe (FZK/IMK-IFU)
Net-DYNAMO
Global Change Research Network for
African Mountains
• Launched in Kampala, Uganda July 2007
• No dedicated coordinator -rather MRI provided that
service
• EU Call in 2009 on integrated management of natural
resources in Africa
• “Climate change does not have a human dimension.
Rather, the human development trajectory has a
climatic aspect.”
• FINESSE: 22 partner proposal to EU
aFrIcaN appliEd land System SciencE
Third Pole Environment
• Chinese Academy of Science/Institute for Tibetan
Plateau Research effort to create multi-national
research program for highland Asia
• Program exists(!) but is not yet fully interdisciplinary
• MRI working with ITP to create multi-national AND
interdisciplinary
ice
snow
Cryosphere
Can past and current changes in t he
cryosphere be charact erized...?
( coverages of ext ent , mass balance)
permafrost
and it s f ut ure behavior behavior project ed in
Monsoon Asia mount ains?
( models t hat t ranslat e climat e and glacier
charact erist ics int o mass balance and dynamics)
Climate
-(fields of T,P, ...)
ice
snow
Cryosphere
permafrost
What are t he impact s of climat e change
on in part icular t he cont ribut ions of
ice and snow t o river runof f ?
( models t hat quant if y mass loss in liquid
rout it t hrough wat ercourse)
What are t he impact s of climat e change
on wat er resources as a whole..
( ?? - perhaps bet t er, precip variat ion
impact s on wat er cycle?)
Climate
-(T,P, ...)
-variability
runoff
Mtn Water
What are t he impact s of climat e change
on in part icular t he cont ribut ions of
ice and snow t o river runof f ?
( models t hat quant if y mass loss in liquid
rout it t hrough wat ercourse)
Can past and current changes
in t he cryosphere be
charact erized...?
( ext ent , mass balance)
ice
Can t he impact of local human
act ivit ies on wat er resources in
Monsoon Asia mount ains be
ident if ied and underst ood?
( ??- impact of land surf ace
modif icat ions and wat er wit hdrawals
on wat er cycle?)
Human Activities
snow
Mtn
Land
hydro
use
agriculture
projects
permafrost
Cryosphere
forestry
Climate
-(T,P, ...)
-variability
runoff
Mtn Water
nutrients
and it s f ut ure behavior
behavior project ed in
Monsoon Asia mount ains?
( models t hat t ranslat e
climat e and glacier
charact erist ics int o
mass balance and dynamics)
Can regional biogeochemical t ransport
be ident if ied in t he high-alt it ude
hydrological syst ems of monsoon
Asia?
( f rom ag and f orest ry: nut rient f luxes
int o wat er cycle)
What are t he impact s of climat e change
on wat er resources as a whole..
( ?? - perhaps bet t er, precip variat ion
impact s on wat er cycle?)
human activities
ice
snow
Cryosphere
permafrost
food security
MtnZn
Mtn Terrestrial
Ecosystems
sustainability
range
vulnerable ecotones
Mtn
Land use
Mtn ag
Forage/Residues
food security
elsewhere
ag elsewhere
hydro
projects
disasters
forestry
urban
Climate
-(T,P, ...)
-variability
slope failures
runoff
Mtn Water
high flows
Downstream
Does t his correspond t o t he rhet oric?
dangerous
lakes
ecosystems
aquatic ecosystems
nutrients
nutrients
human activities
ice
snow
food security
MtnZn
Policy input t o regional human
Mtn
development
? Terrestrial
Cryosphere
permafrost
food security
elsewhere
livelihood
Ecosystems
sustainability
range
vulnerable ecotones
Mtn
Land use
Mtn ag
Forage/Residues
ag elsewhere
hydro
projects
disasters
forestry
urban
Is securit y a suf f icient met ric f or
human well-being?
Climate
-(T,P, ...)
-variability
slope failures
runoff
Mtn Water
high flows
Downstream
Feedback t o t he climat e f rom land
surf ace and emissions?
dangerous
ecosystems
aquatic ecosystems
nutrients
lakes
nutrients
How are we doing on science looking for
a program in the US?
• CIRMOUNT proposals for an office and
coordinator
• Are the RISAs what is needed?
• WMI/WMI: Western Mountain Initiative/With
More Institutions
• Vladimir Aizen proposal to create a “mountain
program” at NSF similar to polar programs
• What would Dennis say...?