International Mountain Conference

Assessing the state of mountains with respect to global change phenomena such as climate change inevitably demands a concerted and collective interdisciplinary effort that not only responds to the assessment-relevant knowledge needs but also actively engages in its knowledge production process. In the context of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the contributions from the scientific research community to respond and contribute to specific knowledge needs are constrained both by what is available in terms of data, analyses & modelling, and information, and by the assessment goals and objectives, particularly when these are expected to support climate policy processes and action. The IPCC sixth assessment cycle (AR6) provided an opportunity to see much-awaited mountain-specific assessment content on the state of climate change in mountains. Chapter 2 “High Mountain Areas” of the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and the Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) presented an assessment of observed changes in the high mountain cryosphere, their resulting impacts and adaptation responses to those specific impacts. The Cross-Chapter Paper “Mountains”, as part of the Working Group II contribution to AR6 on Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation, expanded on this assessment by including mountain regions more generally, specifically on impacts, adaptation, and climate-resilient development. Before AR6, the last time climate change in mountain regions were systematically assessed in IPCC reports was in Chapter 5 of the Second Assessment Report (SAR), with projections made at the time of changes expected towards the middle of this century that are now seen as lived experience as early as the past decades.

Moderation and welcome

• Carolina Adler, MRI (Lead Author, IPCC WGII and SROCC, Co-Lead Cross-Chapter Paper Mountains)

Part 1. Introduction

Summary of key messages from IPCC AR6 on Mountains and historical overview spanning IPCC assessments since the 1990s.

• Philippus Wester, ICIMOD (Lead Author, IPCC WGII and Co-Lead Cross-Chapter Paper Mountains)

Part 2. Panel Discussion and Q&A

Perspectives from invited speakers involved in the IPCC AR6 process on their experiences and prospects that they consider could improve assessment-relevant knowledge and science-policy engagement for mountain regions, including an interactive exchange with the audience. The panellists include:

• Erich Fischer, ETHZ Switzerland (Lead Author, IPCC WGI on “The Physical Sciences Basis”)
• Veruska Muccione, UZH Switzerland (Lead Author, IPCC WGII on Chapter “Europe” and “Cross-Chapter Paper Mountains”)
• Ana Ochoa, Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca, Ecuador (Contributing Author, IPCC WGII on “Cross-Chapter Paper Mountains”)
• José Romero, Head of the Technical Support Unit for the IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report

Intermezzo

Input on “the mountain research community participation in AR6: an analysis” (title tbc)

• Christian Huggel, UZH, Switzerland (Lead Author, IPCC WGII on Chapter “Central and South America” and “Cross-Chapter Paper Mountains”)

Closing statement

• Carolina Adler, MRI (Lead Author, IPCC WGII and SROCC, Co-Lead Cross-Chapter Paper Mountains)