On 11 June 2025, 25 members of the GEO Mountains network gathered online for the network’s biannual General Meeting. Against the backdrop of the recently adopted post-2025 GEO Work Programme, the meeting offered an opportunity to reflect on recent achievements, share ongoing developments, and discuss strategic directions as the global mountain community prepares for the years ahead.

A key announcement shared was the official confirmation of GEO Mountains continuing as a GEO Initiative in the post-2025 GEO Work Programme, beginning with an initial three-year implementation period (2026–2028). As a GEO Participating Organization, the MRI attended the GEO Global Forum as part of the Swiss delegation and as co-lead for GEO Mountains, where the post-2025 Work Programme was adopted by members Other updates shared at the GM, was the introduction and welcome to Glenn Hunt, who joined the MRI in June as Senior Project Coordinator. Going forwards, Glenn will also support and be actively involved in GEO Mountains’ activities.

A number of recent activities and prospects were presented and discussed at the GM:

• The MRI contributed to a recent Regional Adaptation Dialogue in the South Caucasus (RADISC) in Georgia entitled "Snow and Ice in the Caucasus Mountains - Adapting to a Critical Resource in Decline". The MRI-led segment, in collaboration with the WMO, included a follow up on infrastructure, data and information needs from the July 2023 GEO Mountains workshop held in Kutaisi, Georgia. The event brought together experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia (national hydrometeorological agency experts & researchers), plus international experts, to discuss enhancing cooperation regarding climate and cryosphere monitoring and data sharing, alongside adaptation policy responses. An associated Policy Brief on these topics is currently in development.
• Two Task Groups are also active: Task Group 1 (Inventories) held its first meeting in March and shared feedback on both GEO Mountains Inventories. Plans for Task Group 3 are underway, with the next meeting scheduled for 18 June. Participants also received updates on the treaties spatialisation project, including a new map of “mountain-specific” international agreements and a preview of the upcoming interactive map and database. These results will be presented at the International Mountain Conference in September 2025 (session WS 3.121: "The science-policy interface for regional mountain governance").
• Finally, key updates on the recent governance structure consultation with the “core group”, where various potential models were presented and discussed, were shared. The participants suggested a preference for a council / Board–governed network, with a lead-organisation–governed network coming in second place.

Looking ahead, the GEO Mountains 2026 implementation plan will be developed and presented and discussed at the next General Meeting in November for feedback. It will include activities such as the expansion of existing inventories on mountain observation data and infrastructure; explore prospects to develop a Virtual Research Environment for enhanced data access; and systematise outcomes and outputs form the 2023-2025 Implementation Plan to inform and guide on the development of concrete user-driven outputs in the post-2025 period. The network also aims to provide targeted analyses to support global and regional assessments, and to refine its governance structure.

Four main thematic priorities will guide these efforts:

• Integrating diverse information sources, including socio-economic data, citizen science, and indigenous knowledge.

• Improving data interoperability and practical applications for climate change adaptation.

• Fostering diversity across the mountain research community
• Strengthening youth engagement through targeted and structured initiatives.

The second half of the meeting provided a space and opportunity for two presentations from GEO Mountains members on their activities and relevant contributions to the network. First, Michael Matiu (University of Trento) gave an overview of the Joint Body on the Status of Mountain Snow Cover (JB-SMSC), which is co-sponsored by the MRI, the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS), and the WMO Global Cryosphere Watch (GCW). The overall goal of the JB-SMSC, which gathers snow experts working on snow observations and highlight the relevance of mountain snow cover as part of this joint initiative. Dr Matiu reported that small working groups have now developed several outputs regarding snow in-situ data monitoring infrastructure and products derived from remote sensing. One important aspect raised by Dr. Matiu was the importance of “real-life” considerations, and the challenges posed by global ambitions and the importance of having individuals to lead and take on responsibilities to keep people motivated through volunteer-based joint efforts.

Ruben Basantes (Universidad Yachay Tech), then shared his work on Revisiting inter-annual glacier mass balance as a response to the recent climate variability along the Andes region. As a 2023 Small Grants recipient, Ruben was able to present progress made in that project, including his ongoing work on improving glacier mass balance estimates for 10 glaciers across the Andes — a region where data is often fragmented and inconsistent. The Andean Glacier Story Map has been developed as a key output.

The meeting ended with the presentation of upcoming projects and events for GEO Mountains. The next months promise to be busy, with several major events on the horizon, including representation at the Climate Change Networking Regional Workshop in the Andes (July 2025) and the Adaptation at Altitude Mountains Connect Workshop, to be held next February 2026 in Kathmandu, Nepal. As which a dedicated session on monitoring and observations is planned by GEO Mountains. Additionally, a reminder was shared about the multiple sessions at the upcoming International Mountains Conference in Innsbruck this September, where we hope to see and connect again with many from the network there.

We look forward to meeting many GEO Mountains members in person at these events, which will all be posted soon on our Events webpage. In the meantime, you can find the slides of the meeting here, and the recording of the session can be made available upon request.

Cover image by Mark Koch.