History

The Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment Network was initiated by the Swiss Academy of Sciences in the year 2000 and inaugurated by DIVERSITAS in fulfillment of Agenda 21. The network’s activities were officially taken up by convening the First International Conference on Mountain Biodiversity in Rigi-Kaltbad LU, Switzerland in September 2000.
After almost 15 years under the auspices of DIVERSITAS and the leadership of Basel Professor Christian Körner, GMBA is now a project of the new international research programme Future Earth following the closing of the activities of DIVERSITAS. From 2015 to 2022 its leadership has been with Professor Markus Fischer from the University of Bern. Since 2022, GMBA is co-hosted by Professor Markus Fischer at the University of Bern and Professor Antoine Guisan at the University of Lausanne. Since 2018, GMBA is one of five research networks within the Commission for Research Networks of the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences.