About the project

Background

Mountain biodiversity is uniquely rich and important for ecosystem services, human wellbeing, and for global sustainability, but it is also increasingly threatened. Accordingly, its protection has been internationally recognized, for example in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Agenda (SDG 15.4) and through the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Work Program on Mountain Biodiversity. Yet, neither the state of our knowledge about mountain biodiversity nor current trends in mountain biodiversity have to date been systematically synthesised, globally or regionally. No assessment exists yet that taps into the wealth of information that has become available on mountains, their ecosystems, and their species to establish baselines for reporting on progress towards conservation goals or to inform research priorities.

Objectives

The Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment has the ambition to close this gap with a dual assessment of mountain biodiversity research and of current trends in mountain biodiversity. Methodologically, the former consists in a systematic mapping study with the aim to achieve an overview of mountain biodiversity research and identify research trends and gaps. The latter consists in a systematic literature review, with a focus on gathering and synthesising evidence that can be corroborated and evaluated based on the analysis of actual data. Currently (June 2024), the project team is working on finalizing the assessment scoping document.