Mountain Environments in Changing Climates

Mountains - once seen as hostile and economically non-viable - are now attracting major investment. This examines them as sites of tourism, hydro-power and routes of communication, but also considers the physical impacts of climatic change.
Home to large numbers of people, sources of water, centres of tourism, and sensitive ecological zones, mountain environments share distinctive climactic characteristics. Once regarded as economically non-viable regions, mountains now attract major investment as sites of tourism, hydro-power and communication routes. This book brings together some of the current work on the physical and human ecology of mountain environments, the impacts of climate change, the processes involved and their observation and prediction.