GEO Mountains' first General Meeting of the year was held on 22 May 2024. This online meeting provided an opportunity to update network members about recent activities and developments, including the outcomes of the recent workshop series and some updates regarding Adaptation at Altitude and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO).
The primary objective of the General Meeting was to update participants on GEO Mountains' recent, ongoing, and forthcoming activities. 35 members of GEO Mountains participated in the meeting. Following welcoming remarks from the Initiative's Co-Leads, the last regional workshop of the series, which was held in February in the Andes, was briefly summarised, and the availability of the associated report was communicated.
It was also mentioned that a page on the GEO Mountains website is now dedicated to the projects that have received the GEO Moutains Small Grants. Each project will also be shared on our social media channels over the coming weeks. The next Small Grants Call was also presented, with a reminder that the deadline to submit a proposal is on the 3 June 2024. An information webinar which was held recently can be viewed here (Passcode: $&vg9+a9).
An ongoing project, the spatialisation of the International Environmental Agreements Data Base (IEADB), was presented and preliminary results of the first part were shown. The second part of this project, will focus on the spatialisation of the database and future activities could be developed, such as regional case-studies, defining the mountain-relevance of the agreements, or evaluating the agreements' impacts. A call for volunteers to join the Task Group has been made.
In addition, GEO Mountains' membership has been redefined. The new MRI website has been launched, and with it a new interface for the MRI Expert Database. In order to continue receiving GEO Mountains news, GEO Mountains members should now subscribe to the MRI Expert Database and click on the box to join GEO Mountains during the final registration step.
Following this, updates on the previous workshop on the Uniform High-Elevation Observing Platform (UHOP) were given. In conjunction with the MRI's Elevation Dependent Climate Change Working Group led by Dr. Nick Pepin (University of Portsmouth), this group aims to define protocols and operationalise a common approach for monitoring climate and other variables across elevational gradients (transects) globally, building upon existing infrastructure.
The second part of the meeting focused on how to get involved in GEO Mountains, and sought engagement from the network for GEO Mountains' future activities. The ongoing and future GEO Mountains Task Groups were presented, and participants were invited to complete a registration form if they are interested in joining one or more groups. The form will remain open until the 15 June 2024.
Finally, participants were asked about their participation in activities and events, such as the GEO Symposium, the International Year of Glaciers Preservation, etc.
Should you have any questions or are interested to become involved in any GEO Mountains activities, please do not hesitate to contact us:geomountains@mountainresearchinitiative.org.
The meeting slides can be downloaded here.
Cover photo by Cristofer Maximilian.