Montología: una perspectiva de montaña hacia la investigación transdisciplinaria y el desarrollo sustentable

Abstract

Mountain regions face decisive challenges, not only for their sustainable development but also for their very reproduction. These challenges have to do with the increasingly serious impact of climate and environmental change, the impact of socioeconomic and cultural globalization on mountain populations and the ecosystems they inhabit, and the effects of urbanization on mountain agriculture. Based on these premises, this article introduces the notion of "montology" by investigating, on the one hand, the historical development of the term and, on the other, by presenting the essential principles of a perspective committed to building a real transdisciplinarity in mountain studies. Finally, through the example of urbanization and its impact on Andean agriculture, we intend to highlight the need to adopt a montological perspective in order to contribute to the analysis of human-environmental problems and to the sustainable development of the region.

Joint Endeavor Toward Sustainable Mountain Development: Research at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences

“…Human geography researchers at the IGF have analyzed the impacts of urbanization and local responses to it (Haller and Branca 2020), found new systems of human land use in mountains (Borsdorf and Haller 2020), expanded knowledge on landscape, regional, and urban development (Bender and Haller 2017), and presented best-practice examples to learn from (Wymann and Ruiz Peyr e 2020).…”

La urbanización y la verticalidad de los vínculos rurales-urbanos en las montañas

“…La montología es una perspectiva integrada, transdisciplinaria y orientada a la sostenibilidad de las regiones de montaña y sus poblaciones. Surgió en los años 70 con referencia a la ecología del paisaje de Carl Troll (Troll, 1939) y ha sido desarrollada desde la década de los 90 por investigadores como Ives, Messerli, Rhoades (Ives et al, 1997;Rhoades, 2007) y Sarmiento (2020) (para una vista general, véase Haller & Branca, 2020).…”

Mediating mind-sets: the Cerro Khapía Landscape Reserve in the Peruvian Andes

“…Using the same words does not automatically mean speaking the same language. To carry out an appropriate categorization, especially for local mountain communities, the process of finding the right protected area category could take place within a participatory and transdisciplinary montological setting (Haller & Branca 2020;Sarmiento 2020). Such an approach could help to mediate between mindsets and avoid more socio-environmental conflicts, making common imaginaries of peaceful protected mountain areas a reality.…”