Mountain Research and Development
The leading international scientific journal specifically devoted to sustainable development in the world’s mountains

Published by the International Mountain Society (IMS)

Mountain Research and Development Journal
Large quantities of chhurpi—a hard cheese made from yak buttermilk—produced by a private dairy in Gatlang, Nepal. While the state-supported marketization of yak products has boosted some households’ income, it is simultaneously eroding traditional sustainable herding practices and causing environmental degradation, as shown in the article by Indra Mani Rai and colleagues in this issue. Photo by Dipak Raj Rai

Open Issue

VOL 45 | NO 4
November 2025

Shifts in yak herding in Nepal, science–society interaction in biosphere reserves worldwide, topography–development links in the European Alps: read about these and other topics in this open issue.

University students engage in a landscape assessment during a field excursion in the Dedoplistskaro Biosphere Reserve, Georgia, guided by a local ranger. Photo by Alexander Mitrofanenko

Policy Implementation Challenges of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Program, Illustrated by Science–Society Interactions in 18 Mountain Biosphere Reserves

By Alexander Mitrofanenko et al
MountainResearch

Mountain biosphere reserves have great potential to link science and society in advancing sustainability transformations—but achieving UNESCO’s vision for them requires grounded and consistent support.

Hybrid innovation—merging old and new technology—in a mountain product value chain in Hungary: a henhouse made of mud, wood, straw, and stones to keep the animals cool, warm, and safe, fitted with a solar-panel-driven door that closes automatically at sunset to keep foxes out. Photo by Gusztáv Nemes

Innovation Pathways to Sustainability in Mountains

VOL 45 | NO 3
August 2025

How can innovation contribute to sustainability in mountains? Exploring this from different angles, the issue’s articles reflect the diversified nature, processes, and impacts of innovation in mountains.

A herder takes chauri (female yaks) to the designated pasture for day herding in Gatlang. Photo by Dipak Raj Rai

Yak Herding in Gatlang, Nepal: The Shift from Traditional to Market-Driven Practices

By Indra Mani Rai et al
MountainResearch

Market-driven yak herding is threatening traditional sustainable grazing practices. Policies must recognize and integrate these traditional practices to sustain mountain ecosystems.

This harvested cereal field is a site of agricultural innovation in Grisons, Switzerland: In one of the 455 value chains analyzed, a cooperative of organic cereal producers revived cereal production at high elevations up to 1600 masl by leveraging a diversity of cereal breeds, ancestral techniques, and modern standards. Photo by Emilia Schmitt

Understanding Innovation in European Mountain Product Value Chains: Empirical Typology, Patterns of Co-occurrence, and Policy Implications

By Emilia Schmitt et al
MountainResearch

Policy-relevant evidence suggests that innovation in mountain product value chains deserves a new typology and adapted metrics more representative of social and governance innovations.

Andean peatlands, or bofedales, such as the one in the community of Caripe in Sajama National Park—shown here with Sajama peak—provide vital pasture for llamas and alpacas. An article in this issue shows that community-based land tenure arrangements can support adaptive livelihoods among pastoralists by incentivizing labor migrants to return occasionally to their home communities to maintain land and animals according to customary practices. Photo by Tom Perreault

Open Issue

VOL 45 | NO 2
May 2025

Read about adaptive pastoralist livelihoods in the Andes, interface areas in the European Alps, trail running sustainability in Romania, off-piste skiing and climate change in France, and more.

Panoramic view of an Alpine interface area, taken from above Garmisch-Partenkirchen, looking towards Munich. Photo by Elias Günther

Interface Areas in the European Alps: Defining Functional Regions Between Mountains and Lowlands

By Dominik Bertram et al
MountainResearch

This article defines and analyzes the spatial and functional characteristics of Alpine interface areas—a new spatial category for Alpine spatial development.

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