Beyond Ice Futures - Bridging inter- and transdisciplinary gaps
to achieve positive proglacial futures

While glacier retreat becomes unavoidable in many mountain ranges around the world, the deglaciated areas left behind offer high potentials for human use and safeguarding threatened mountain biodiversity. Consequently, we need inter- and transdisciplinary plans to achieve “positive futures”, i.e. net gains for nature and people, for recently deglaciated (glacier foreland, proglacial) landscapes around the world.

In our “BeyondIceFutures” project, funded as a synthesis activity by the Mountain Research Initiative (https://mountainresearchinitiative.org/), we integrate scientific, stakeholder and practitioners’ perspectives to identify key knowledge gaps and nature’s services to people (NCPs) in recently deglaciated landscapes and formulate positive narratives and guidelines to achieve positive ‘beyond ice’ futures. 

This survey, targeted at scientists, is our first step to identify key knowledge gaps and NCPs from a scientific perspective and we are very happy to have you participating! All participants in the survey are welcome to join for further work in the project, e.g. related to data analysis and publications.

Our first survey will be followed by a workshop from 1st to 3rd October 2026 at Innsbruck University’s University Center Obergurgl in the Austrian Alps, summarizing survey and workshop results in a synthesis paper and brochure for stakeholders, practitioners and policy makers. We will be able to support travel costs and workshop participation for at least ten scientists participating in our survey. For selected sessions of the workshop it will also be possible to listen in online.  Please let us know at the end of the survey if you would like to participate in the workshop as well! 

Our survey will take you about 5-10 minutes. If you cannot answer a question please feel free to leave the field empty. We look forward to hearing your ideas and thoughts on how we can together create positive “beyond ice” futures!