For the first time, the IPCC’s 5th Assessment Report (AR5) (Special Report on the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate, Chapter 02 – High Mountain Areas) dedicates a chapter to the impacts of climate change con mountain environments, thus demonstrating the growing of the awareness on those ecosystems, their fragility, the importance of their resources, fundamental for our lives and the need of taking urgent actions to protect them.
The cryosphere is an integral element of high mountain regions, which are home to roughly 10% of the global population. Widespread cryosphere changes affect physical, biological and human systems in the mountains and surrounding lowlands, with impacts evident even in the ocean. Evidence of the impact of climate change on snow cover, glaciers and permafrost are visible in the alterations of most related natural hazards, increasing the exposure of people and infrastructure, due also to growing population, tourism and socioeconomic development.
Changing in cryosphere and variations in the amount and seasonality of runoff cause impacts on water resources and agriculture, but also on species composition and abundance and on tourism and recreation activities such as skiing, glacier tourism and mountaineering. Adaptation in agriculture, tourism and drinking water supply has aimed to reduce the impacts of cryosphere change, though there is limited evidence on their effectiveness owing to a lack of formal evaluations, or technical, financial and institutional barriers to implementation.

Future projections of cryospheric changes, their impacts and risks, and adaptation in high mountain areas highlight that current trends in cryosphere-related changes in high mountain ecosystems are expected to continue and impacts to intensify, with negative impacts on agriculture, hydropower and water quality in some regions but also on cultural assets, such as snow- and ice-covered peaks in many UNESCO World Heritage sites, and tourism and recreation activities, are expected to be negatively affected by future cryospheric changes in many regions.

Target n.1 of Sustainable Development Goal n° 15 explicitly mentions mountains among the ecosystems to be conserved, restored and sustainably used in line with international agreements.

By providing key environmental services such as freshwater, biodiversity conservation and hydropower to more than half of humanity, mountain ecosystems play a critical role in world development. Mountain are essential for long-term sustainable global development, poverty alleviation and the transition to a green economy underlying the importance of pursuing and investing in sustainable mountain development. In order to face those scenarios, a global engagement is fundamental to define adaptation planning at different level (regional, national and global) supported by international multilateral cooperation concrete actions.