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Mountainous regions are vitally important ecosystems. They are an important storage of fresh water and energy, a rich source of biodiversity and a significant provider of food for the people living there. They are ecologically highly variable, complex and vulnerable and ethnically, socio-culturally and economically extremely heterogeneous. At the same time they are under severe and increasing pressures caused by higher population growth, inmigration, resource exploitation and rising demands and expectations. They also account for a major share of poverty and food insecurity in rural areas. Given their importance, complexity and vulnerability mountainous regions pose a demanding and new challenge for agricultural research, particularly for research that is addressing environmental sustainability, poverty and food insecurity.