Mountain Research Initiative
The Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) envisions a world in which research to identify and understand drivers and processes of global change in mountains is promoted and linked across disciplines and mountain regions worldwide.
Context
Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) is a non-profit organization that promotes global change research in mountain regions across borders and disciplines through connection, communication, and collaboration – with a view to supporting pathways towards sustainable mountain development.
Aims and Objectives
The MRI’s objectives for the period 2019-2023 reflect three long-term and interconnected knowledge needs to which the MRI network can respond:
- To identify and understand mountain social-ecological SYSTEMS (components, elements, interactions, and trends) via long-term empirical observations and modelling.
- To identify visions and substantiate TARGETS that reflect and sustain vibrant mountain social-ecological systems, where sustainability outcomes are aspired to and their trade-offs are defined in context.
- To enable pathways and TRANSFORMATIONS to sustainability by identifying, assessing, and supporting decisions, policies, and actions, as well as their fitness-for-purpose in closing the problem–solution gap, specific to diverse mountain contexts, from the observed changes (systems knowledge) to the desired outcomes (target knowledge).
Professor Rob Marchant (Department of Environment and Geography, University of York)
Principal Investigators
Prof. Jörg Balsiger, Chair, Department of Geography and Environment and the Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva
Prof. Christian Huggel, Department of Geography, University of Zurich
Dr. Theresa Tribaldos, Centre for Development and Environment and designated UNESCO Chair on Natural and Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Mountain Development, University of Bern.
Prof. Adrienne Grêt-Regamey, Institute for Spatial and Landscape Development, ETH Zürich (Switzerland)