The United Nations' International Year of Mountains - 2002 can be regarded as the culmination of a long process involving research, development of research networks, a greater awareness by various sectors of society of the critical importance of mountain regions for a sustainable future, and recognition of that fact by policy makers. This volume reviews climatic trends in high elevation regions of the world, assessing the reliability of various environmental indicators that can be used for monitoring climatic change and whether physical impacts of climatic change in high elevation areas are becoming evident, as well discussing a range of monitoring strategies needed to observe and to understand the nature of such changes.
