Abstract
Many contributions in the two volumes of this book clearly show the increasing pressures that mountain social–ecological systems are facing worldwide—due to changing climate conditions, natural hazards, and socio-economic processes within an increasingly complex globalized world. Many articles underline the importance of mountain ecosystem services which benefit at least half of the global population; see, for example, in Volume 2 of this book, Schuster et al. (2023) for the supply of water, Rakotoarivelo et al. (2023) for biodiversity provision, or Pons and Siebert (2023) concerning the production of energy and food. When considering the invaluable services provided by mountain systems, it is obvious that mountains continue to lack adequate recognition within international frameworks, initiatives, and programs. For instance, within the targets of the Agenda 2030s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), mountains are only explicitly named within the context of SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and SDG 15 (Life on Land). However, a systematic analysis of all the articles in the two volumes of this book and their links to the SDGs reveals that sustainable development in the mountains is directly or indirectly linked to the content of many SDGs. In addition to SDGs 6 and 15, prominently addressed are also SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) as well as SDG 2 (Zero Hunger). The first figure shows the overall number of articles in both volumes of this book which cite each SDG (excluding the introductory chapters of the regional sections). This demonstrates the importance of mountains in sectors that are not always associated with high-altitude areas by the general public and policy makers, sectors such as food production, sustainable livelihoods of (rural but also urban) communities or innovative industries and infrastructure development.