Abstract
European mountain regions have already been impacted by climate change, and this is projected to increase in the future. These mountain regions experience rapid changes, which influence social-ecological systems in the lower-mountain and floodplain regions of Europe. There is scattered evidence across different strands of academic literature on the ways in which the impacts of changing climate in mountain regions are addressed and adaptive capacity is enhanced. Using a systematic mapping review, we mapped English-language scientific journal articles that analyzed the climate change adaptation options that are planned or implemented in European mountain regions. Our understanding of how academic literature has investigated climate change adaptation is critical to identifying key knowledge gaps and research foci. Following the Reporting Standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses in environmental research protocol, 72 scientific articles published between January 2011 and August 2019 were identified from a total of 702 scientific articles. Our findings show that existing academic literature has a strong focus on the western and southern European mountains: the European Alps (n = 24), Pyrenees (n = 11), and Sierra Nevada (n = 4). Key climate impacts reported for the biophysical systems include reduction in forest carbon, soil erosion, changes in vegetation patterns, and changes in plant population and tree heights; in human systems, these include water availability, agricultural production, changes in viticulture, and impacts on tourism. Key adaptation options reported in this article are wetland conservation options, changing cropping and cultivation cycles, tree species management strategies, and snow-making technology. We found very few articles analyzing governance responses to planning and implementing adaptation; these had a strong bias toward techno-managerial responses. We conclude that, while climate impacts are substantial in European mountain regions, there are knowledge gaps in academic literature that need to be addressed.
Highlights
Climate change in European mountain regions is a reality (EEA 2017; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2018)
We found that most of the studies followed a single or small-sample-size comparative research design, whereby the focus was on exploring a single mountain case in great detail (n 1⁄4 61)
Most studies focused on 4 mountain ranges: the European Alps (n 1⁄4 24) and Pyrenees (n 1⁄4 11), the Sierra Nevada (n 1⁄4 4), and the Carpathians (n 1⁄4 3); see Figure 2
Summary
Climate change in European mountain regions is a reality (EEA 2017; IPCC 2018). By the end of the current century, European mountains will have changed physically, and large glaciers will have experienced significant mass loss (Beniston et al 2018). Changes in these regions impact the lower, mid-hills, and floodplain environments, thereby impacting water availability, agricultural production, tourism, and health sectors (BAFU 2012: 44–64; Beniston et al 2013; IPCC 2018; Hock et al 2019). In high mountain countries, such as Switzerland, climate change will impact the water balance, which will have repercussions on hydropower, urban drainage, navigation, and an increase in the intensity of water-induced natural hazards (BAFU 2019)
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