The IGU commission on cold region environments within the context of changing land use impacts in permafrost areas

GUDE, M.; DOUBLEDAY, N.; HUMLUM, O.; JONASSON, C.; MATSUOKA, N.; MURTON, J.; NELSON, F.E.; TROMBOTTO, D.; VANDENBERGHE, J.; VLASSOVA, T.; YANG, X.

Potsdam, Alemania

Congreso; 2nd European Conference On Permafrost; 2005

European Permafrost Association

Cold region environments encountered significant changes in recent decades – a trend expected to be continued and even accelerated in the near future. This is due to changing global climates, but it is also caused by direct human impact on a regional and local basis, in particular in terms of increased pressure on nature and its resources. In many sites, both in polar areas and in high mountains, land use in many regions is already intensive and probably will even get more intensive in the future, because: -          infrastructure, construction and transportation developments  are increasing as technical facilities and societal needs are increasing; -          living standards are improving; -          political pressure for resource exploration, mining and transportation is growing; -          tourist activities are increasing. All of these land use types may effect significant changes in natural geosystems, especially in hydrology, permafrost, snow cover, soils, geomorphology, and regional and local climate (e.g. water contamination, permafrost degradation). In addition, in many regions such land use is accompanied by hazards for humans and their constructions, especially due to the sensitive landscape character in these cold environments. These aspects of land use – among others – are investigated and discussed from a geographical perspective within the IGU commission on Cold Region Environments (CRE), with the principal aim of providing information for sustainable land use in these regions. For achieving this sustainability, beside geo-ecological features the social assessment of land use impacts and human-nature systems’ vulnerability are essential. These issues are discussed in general and illustrated by several examples.