CNH-RCN: Bridging Communities and Scales Through a Global Transdisciplinary Mountain Sustainability Network

山脉在自然和人类系统之间提供了一种重要而独特的耦合类型。首先，山脉本身就有特别多样和错综复杂的栖息地安排，无论是野生动物还是人类。其次，山区容易发生山体滑坡和地震等自然灾害，容易受到人类造成的侵蚀和气候变化造成的栖息地变化的影响。第三，通过利用水和木材等资源，自然山地系统与人类系统之间的相互作用将相当大的距离延伸到低地。第四，不同的山脉在物种和文化上往往不同，因此为自然和人类之间的耦合提供了比较的例子。这一研究协调网络将通过综合世界各地山区自然和人类过程的许多单独研究的数据，促进对自然和人类系统如何相互影响的基本理解。这些成果将为美国和其他地方的森林和供水管理、生物多样性保护以及人类生计和文化提供信息。通过落基山可持续发展与科学学院，研究人员和利益相关者将接受专业培训，以增加职业机会并支持集体行动。该项目还将培训研究生并促进国际科学合作。该网络将使用创新的全球框架方法，确定当今动态中的共性和差异，并探索世界各地山地耦合自然和人类系统未来的替代轨迹。研究人员、利益相关者和政策制定者将使用动态模型开发和测试山地系统类型和轨迹。该网络将利用简单的模型进行练习，以便与一系列利益攸关方建立共同理解和共同产生知识。建模工作和分析讨论将促进对山区耦合过程和变化的学习、概念化和比较分析。该网络将为通过面对面和虚拟互动分享知识、经验和数据提供新的机会。

Mountains provide an important and distinctive type of coupling between natural and human systems. First, mountains themselves have especially diverse and intricate arrangements of habitats for both wildlife and people. Second, mountains are prone to natural catastrophes such as landslides and earthquakes and vulnerable to human-caused erosion and shifts in habitats due to climate change. Third, the interactions between natural montane systems and human systems extend considerable distances into lowlands, through use of such resources as water and timber. Fourth, different mountain ranges often differ in species and cultures and so provide comparative examples of how coupling between nature and humans works. This research coordination network will advance basic understanding of how natural and human systems affect one another by synthesizing data from the many individual studies of natural and human processes in mountains around the world. Results will inform management of forests and water supplies and protection of biodiversity and human livelihoods and culture in the U.S. and elsewhere. Through the Rocky Mountain Sustainability and Science Academy, researchers and stakeholders will receive professional training to enhance career opportunities and support collective action. The project will also train graduate students and promote international scientific cooperation.Using an innovative global-framework approach, the network will identify commonalities and differences in present-day dynamics and explore alternative future trajectories of montane coupled natural and human systems worldwide. Researchers, stakeholders, and policy-makers will develop and test mountain system typologies and trajectories using dynamic models. The network will engage in exercises with simple models to build common understandings and co-production of knowledge with a range of stakeholders. The modeling work and analytical discussions will promote learning, conceptualization, and comparative analysis of coupled processes and changes in mountains. The network will provide novel opportunities for sharing knowledge, experience, and data through face-to-face and virtual interaction.