Mountain people around the world are in great danger of the negative effects of the worsening environment, according to a UN report.
As global warming and deforestation accelerate and technology makes wilder places more accessible, environmental and social pressures on the world’s remotest regions increases.
The UN has found that many mountainous regions—inhabited by one out of five of the world’s people—are barely recognizable when they are compared to what they ere like 60 years ago. This is mostly because forests were cut to make way for cattle grazing and agriculture.
The authors of the UN study expect 98 percent of its mountain areas to experience severe climate change by 2055. Biological losses are expected to be heavy. The mountains of Europe, part of California and the northwest Andes in South America are among the most threatened mountain areas in the world and should be given priority in conservation.
The UN is anxious to raise awareness of the problem facing mountain areas because they are inhabited by some of the most vulnerable people. These people could lose their culture and theirlivelihood with even the smallest shifts in climate.
At the same time, many mountain regions are losing people. Thousands of villages in Europe aredeserted most of the year. In other areas like Nepal, people are drifting to the cities in search of work.
