Preface

One of the most prominent changes currently being experienced around the globe, including in mountain regions, is contemporary climate change. In the Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region of Asia, climate change is of increasing concern since rising temperatures threaten to melt mountain glaciers and snow while disrupting already variable monsoon precipitation patterns, both of which will impact downstream water supplies vital to the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. Mountain ecosystems are also important to peoples of the region and face dramatic shifts in composition and distribution as temperatures rise and the water balance changes.