UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Mountain Development, UHI Millennium Institute (2009)
Purpose/Objectives of the Chair
Mountains cover 24% of the Earth’s land surface. Twenty six percent of the global population lives in and around mountains, which provide vital goods and services to more than half of humankind. The UNESCO Chair contributes to sustainable mountain development, which concerns both mountain regions and populations living downstream or otherwise dependent on these regions in various ways. A particular focus is on mountain biosphere reserves and their sustainable development in the context of global change.
The Project objectives are, firstly, to facilitate further development and implementation of the Global Change in Mountain Regions (GLOCHAMORE) Research Strategy; secondly, to organise and contribute to international meetings that facilitate understanding of, and action towards, sustainable mountain development, taking global change into consideration, and publish the outcomes; and thirdly, to foster and support the development and delivery of Masters-level courses that support sustainable mountain development. Partners include both global organisations and regional organisations in Asia and Latin America.
Chairholder Professor Martin Price
Address: Centre for Mountain Studies, Webster Building, Perth College UHI, Crieff Road, Perth, PH1 2NX, UK
Email: martin.price [at] perth.uhi.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1738 877217
Fax: +44 (0)1738 877018
Professor Martin Price established the Centre for Mountain Studies (CMS) at UHI-Perth College (part of the future University of the Highlands and Islands) in 2000. He has a PhD in Geography from the University of Colorado and was appointed Professor of Mountain Studies by UHI in 2005.
He previously worked at the University of Oxford, and in France, Switzerland, and the USA. He has played key roles in formulating and implementing the mountain chapter of ‘Agenda 21’ and the International Year of Mountains, 2002. He has written and edited 13 books and over 100 reports, papers, and articles on mountain issues. As a Principal Lead Author with the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, he shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former US Vice-President Al Gore.
He has acted as a consultant on mountain issues to the European Commission, EEA, FAO, IUCN, UNDP, and UNEP; and on the human dimensions of global environmental change for the European Commission, International Social Science Council, US Forest Service, and US National Science Foundation. He has a long association with UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, and is currently in his second term on the International Advisory Committee on Biosphere Reserves.
Recent Publications
- Maintaining mountain biodiversity in an era of climate change. In Borsdorf, A, J. Stötter and E. Veulliet (eds.) Managing Alpine Future. Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna: 17-33. 2008.
- Representing mountains: From local and national to global common good (with B Debarbieux). Geopolitics Vol. 13, 2008
- The call of different wilds: the importance of definition and perception in protecting and managing Scottish wild landscapes (with R. McMorran and C.R. Warren). Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 51, 2008.
- Mountain Area Research and Management: Integrated Approaches (Ed.). London: Earthscan. 2007.
- Global Change in Mountain Regions (Ed.). Duncow: Sapiens Publishing. 2006.
Select Activity
- EVENT: Global Change and the World's Mountains International Conference, 26 September - 30 September 2010 (Perth, Scotland). Organised in collaboration with the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI)
- EVENT: Martin Price attended the 3rd annual meeting of the Himalayan University Consortium, a network of academic and research institutions from the eight Himalayan countries (held in Dehra Dun, India, February 2009). This has led to UHI becoming an associate member of the Consortium, to be involved in the development of a framework for education on sustainable mountain development in the Himalayas.
