Inhalt

Welcome statements

Beatrix Karl (Austrian Federal Minister of Science and Research (BMWF)

Helmut Denk (President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences)

Tilmann Märk (Vice-Rector of Research at the University of Innsbruck)

1 Mountain research in Austria

Axel Borsdorf, Georg Grabherr & Johann Stötter: Mountains under global change conditions – excellence strategies for Austrian mountain research

Günter Köck: Mountain and global change research programmes in Austria

Roland Psenner & Reinhard Lackner: The mountain research focus of the University of Innsbruck

Matthias Monreal & Eric Veulliet: alpS – Centre for Climate Change Adaptation Technologies

2 Global change

Christian Georges: Climate change – downscaling the global dimension to regions

Matthias Monreal & Johann Stötter: Alpine permafrost: a rock glacier inventory of South Tyrol based on laser-scanning data

Georg Grabherr, Harald Pauli & Michael Gottfried: A worldwide observation of effects of climate change on mountain ecosystems

Harald Pauli, Michael Gottfried, Christian Klettner & Georg Grabherr: Mount Schrankogel (3 497 m, Stubaier Alpen, Tyrol) – the GLORIA pioneer master site

Clemens Geitner: Soils as archives of natural and cultural history; examples from the Eastern Alps

Christoph Wiegand & Clemens Geitner: Shallow erosion in grassland areas in the Alps. What we know and what we need to investigate further

3 Living in the mountains – living with risks

Johann Stötter & Matthias Monreal: Mountains at risk

Clemens Pfurtscheller & Klaus Kleewein: Are alpine regions especially affected by natural hazards? Meso-scale assessment of economic resilience and vulnerability based on the 2005 floods in the Austrian federal states of Tyrol and Vorarlberg

Rafael Sánchez: Risks in the Andean metropolises

4 Challenges for the future

Manfred Perlik: Leisure landscapes and urban agglomerations – disparities in the Alps

Oliver Bender: Cultural landscape, traditional food and tourism. Rural development in the “Franconian Switzerland” (Bavaria, Germany) and in the Wachau (Lower Austria)

Mathilde Schmitt: Women – indispensable actors in sustainable development of alpine agriculture

Sigrun Kanitscheider: Transit traffic in the Alps and the Andes. One phenomenon, different perceptions

5 Paths towards sustainability

Carla Marchant: Paths to sustainable development in the Andes

Axel Borsdorf: The hydroelectrical potential of North-Western Patagonia – balancing economic development and ecological protection

Falk F. Borsdorf: Regional management is social work! Activating social capital as a key task of regional managers – the case of the Biosphere Reserve Wienerwald

Lars Keller: Quality of life in the Alps. Developing a scientific model on an elusive geographical topic

6 Products

Brigitte Scott & Valerie Braun: eco.mont – Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research and Management

Axel Borsdorf, Ulrike Tappeiner & Erich Tasser: Mapping the Alps

Oliver Bender, Axel Borsdorf & Kati Heinrich: The interactive alpine information system GALPIS

Astrid Björnsen Gurung: Alpine knowledge gardening – research networks for the advancement of science and development

Fides Braun: Closing the gap between science and practice. mountain.TRIP – an EU project coordinated by IGF

Afterword

Bruno Messerli: Mountains, their resources and risks – common goods or common concerns?

The authors