Work

Deglaciation creates contested socio-ecological frontiers in the European Alps

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: Rapid glacier retreat is transforming mountain landscapes, exposing terrain where postglacial ecosystems emerge while new opportunities for infrastructure development also arise. These newly ice-free areas are therefore becoming socio-ecological frontiers in which ecosystem development, land use and conservation frameworks increasingly overlap. Yet spatially explicit evidence of where these overlaps occur remains scarce, limiting the ability of governance systems to anticipate emerging conflicts. Here, using the European Alps as a data-rich case study, we pair satellite-derived land cover mapping with inventories of ski infrastructure, hydropower reservoirs and protected areas within the end-of-Little Ice Age glacier footprint. We show that newly exposed terrain already contains emerging vegetated and freshwater habitats, whose regional distribution is mainly modulated by temperature gradients. Concomitantly, ski and hydropower infrastructures already occupy parts of postglacial terrain, even within strictly protected areas, revealing mismatches between formal conservation status and land-use decisions. Emerging postglacial ecosystems fall into a de facto legal vacuum, as current tools encourage reactive, piecemeal decisions that fail to safeguard ecosystem functions and services. We argue for anticipatory stewardship that recognizes glacier and postglacial ecosystems in law and planning as a single transforming system. These regional findings foreshadow a global governance challenge that will intensify as deglaciation expands in regions where deglaciation exposes land to competing ecological, economic and political interests.

Source: Research Square

DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8871146/v1