Abstract
The Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) is a research coordination network promoting global change research in mountains and connecting a diverse and globally distributed community of scientists and practitioners. Since the 1990s, and with the establishment of its Coordination Office in July 2001 at the Swiss Academy of Sciences as a joint initiative of the then International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP), and the Global Terrestrial Observation System (GTOS), the MRI has sought to “achieve an integrated approach for observing, modelling and investigating Global Change phenomena and processes in mountain regions, including the impacts of these changes and of human activities on mountain ecosystems”. For the past 20 years, the MRI Coordination Office has fulfilled a nodal coordinating role that connects the MRI community as a network and supports this community in initiating numerous collaborations and activities in pursuit of this overarching objective. In this contribution, we present a historical overview and context that not only grounds the foundations of the MRI, its achievements, and its role in continuing to promote integrated global change research in mountains, but also highlights that there is an enduring and critical need to address system complexity in responding to relevant policy and societal knowledge needs.
Published Version
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