Das Projekt "The European dimension on the Global Obeservation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments - a contribution to gtos (GLORIA-EUROPE)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Zürich, Geographisches Institut durchgeführt. High mountains comprise cold climate wilderness areas in all major life zones of Europe. Hence they provide a unique opportunity to compare climate change effects along the principal climatic gradients: a) in altitude, b) in latitude and longitude. GLORIA-EUROPE establishes a network of 18 target regions with a total of 72 monitoring sites distributed over all life zones of the continent. The network will act as an early warning system by providing a comparative data basis for a) detecting long-term changes of biodiversity and habitat stability and b) drawing data-based scenarios on the direction in which these changes may go.