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Mountains at COP30 and beyond

During COP30, the Mountain Partnership put forward a proposal to hold an Annual Dialogue on Mountains and Climate Change, which was well received by the Parties and will be further discussed next summer. 

What is the Mountain Partnership?

This United Nations alliance, which includes The Resilience Institute as a partner, is dedicated to improving the lives of mountain peoples and protecting mountain environments around the world. 

Worldwide, mountain regions provide essential freshwater, immeasurable cultural heritage, and a home for 15% of the world’s population. About half of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots are found in mountain regions! But mountain ecosystems and their residents—humans and wild species alike—are under threat from climate change, pollution, and overexploitation.  

Mountain regions are uniquely vulnerable. Glacial recession threatens water availability for many across the globe, which can trigger instability and conflicts over limited resources. Mountain regions face landslides, changes in precipitation, permafrost melt, loss of snow cover, and a decrease in pollinator diversity. Combined, these changes affect people’s livelihoods, safety, food security, access to clean water, and cultural values, as well as tourism and recreation.  

This is why it is essential to spotlight mountains in climate adaptation. Here are a few ways you can learn more about the value and vulnerabilities of mountains:  

A watercolour painting of an elk.

P.S. Check out our posts for International Mountain Day, featuring the TRI team’s favourite mountains on our Instagram.

Laura Stewart

Board Member

Laura Stewart is the Community Wildfire Resilience Coordinator with Forsite Fire, supporting communities across Canada with wildfire risk assessments, mitigation planning, and program delivery. She has more than a decade of experience advancing wildfire resilience at Indigenous, municipal, provincial/territorial, and national levels. Previously, Laura served nearly eleven years as Alberta’s Provincial FireSmart Specialist, leading community, WUI, neighbourhood, and Home Ignition Zone programs, coordinating funding, and partnering with communities and fire services across the province. She has also served as Board Chair with both the Partners in Protection Association (FireSmart Canada) and the Community Wildfire Resilience Association of Alberta.

 

Sara Walsh, PhD

Board Member

Sara Walsh, PhD, is a disaster risk reduction and climate resilience specialist with more than 15 years of experience spanning Canada, Nepal, the Middle East, and North Africa. Until November 2025, she served as Thematic Lead for Climate and Resilience with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), where she supported Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to strengthen their climate and risk reduction work across the region. Sara currently works as a freelance consultant with the United Nations, governments, and humanitarian organizations on recovery, risk governance, and community-based resilience. She teaches at a Canadian university and holds a PhD in Disaster Risk Reduction. Her work emphasizes anticipatory action, equity, and bridging research with practice to shape more resilient and sustainable futures.

Alison Criscitiello

Board Member

Alison Criscitiello, PhD, is an ice core scientist and high-altitude mountaineer who explores the history of climate and sea ice in polar and high-alpine regions using ice core chemistry. Alison’s work also focuses on environmental contaminant histories in ice cores from the Canadian high Arctic and the water towers of the Canadian Rockies. In 2010, she led the first all-women’s ascent of Lingsarmo, a 22,818-foot peak in the Indian Himalaya. Alison has earned three American Alpine Club (AAC) climbing awards, the John Lauchlan and Mugs Stump alpine climbing awards, as well as the first Ph.D. in Glaciology ever conferred by MIT. She is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Canadian Ice Core Lab at the University of Alberta. She is the co-founder of Girls on Ice Canada.