Drivers of mountain landscape change during the twenty-first century

Twenty-first century mountain landscapes are evolving under the globally scaled controls of hydroclimate and the spatially and temporally discontinuous impacts of human activity and tectonic plate movements. Attention is drawn to the difficulty of comparing the effectiveness of the three drivers of change (tectonics, using relief as a surrogate, hydroclimate, and human activity) because of their differing temporal rhythms. The direct role of human activity in landscape modification both in terms of land degradation and landscape enhancement is increasingly dominant. Examples drawn from seven different mountain landscapes lead to the conclusion that only the polar mountain landscapes can be effectively interpreted under the ruling hypothesis that climate is the dominant driver of mountain landscape change. An emphasis on climate as the fundamental driver of mountain landscape change in the twenty-first century is inadequate.