Writing Resources
The awareness that mountain environments are an integral component of the earth's ecosystems in terms of the valuable resources and services that they provide has significantly risen over the past two decades In June 1992 the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development UNCED Rio de Janeiro addressed a wide range of issues pertaining to sustainable development as a means of reducing human induced environmental stress and Chapter 13 of Agenda 21 is exclusively devoted to mountain regions Beniston 2003 Sustainable mountain development is the subject of Chapter 13 of Agenda 21 which also highlights the crucial role played by mountain environments in supplying water resources to a large portion of the world's population Occupying close to 25 of Earth s continental surfaces mountains and their adjacent valleys are home to around 26 of the global population 25 30 who directly depend on mountain resources namely water Funnell Parrish 2001 Mountain regions have been recognized as being among the most sensitive ecosystems to climate change and are being affected at a considerably faster rate than any other terrestrial habitats With climate change water will most likely become less available and because mountains provide over 50 of the world's freshwater for domestic agricultural industrial and tourism purposes its reduction will become the main concern for populations living in or near mountain environments which will require a more integrated and comprehensive approach to water use and management Fragile mountain environments are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of a rapidly changing climate and thus provide unique locations to detect and study the signals of climatic change and its possible impacts on the hydrological cycle Around 40 of the global population lives in the watersheds of rivers originating in Earth's different mountain ranges and they depend on numerous and diverse mountain resources with water supply being considered the most critical Beniston 2003
