Floods and famine from ranges threat

WASHINGTON - Environmental damage to mountain ranges around the world could trigger more floods, landslides and fires, and bring famine to people living on their slopes, says the United Nations University.

In a study, the Tokyo-based university said mountains were threatened by pollution, war, deforestation, agriculture, mining and too many tourists - all of which could lead to serious natural disasters.

Mountains, which play a crucial role in world water supplies, cover about 20 per cent of the world's landmass and are home to about 10 per cent of all humans.

"We can think of them [mountain regions] as the water towers of the world," said Jack Ives, senior adviser to the university and an expert in mountain ecology. More than 50 per cent of the water we use and need comes from mountains."

Among the most threatened mountain ranges are the European Alps, which feed four major rivers, and the Himalaya-Karakorum-Hindu Kush chain, which rises from subtropical South Asia and stretches 5000km to landlocked Afghanistan. The Alps have been hurt by growing tourism and a migration of people from lower levels into more mountainous terrain. The Himalayas are being harmed by war, deforestation, drought, logging and overgrazing.

Eight other mountain ranges in Europe, Asia and North America were also cited as under great stress.

Professor Ives, of Carleton University in Canada, said it was difficult to design a global policy to protect mountains because each region had its own strengths and problems.

"Mountain ecosystems are essential to the wellbeing of the global environment. Yet there is a serious problem of widespread over-simplification of mountain-related issues and a tendency to try to solve problems that are not properly defined," said Hans van Ginkel, a professor at UN University.

Other ranges under stress were:

* The Rockies and Coast ranges of western North America, because of increasing pressure from recreational activities such as skiing and home-building in prime mountain land.

* Great Smokey Mountains in the eastern United States, because of air pollution.

* Amber Mountains in Madagascar, where 80 per cent of forests has been lost to farming, mining and charcoal production.

* Snowy Mountains in Australia, where 250 plant species were threatened by a series of warm winters.

* Western Carpathians/Tatra Mountains in the Slovak Republic and Poland, affected by air pollution and growth of tourism.

* Sierra Chincua in Mexico, winter home of the monarch butterfly, where forest is being lost to logging and farming.

- REUTERS

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