Mountains make up about 25% of the global land area. They are not only hotspots for research on global biodiversity and Earth's surface systems but also home to over one billion people worldwide. Mountain systems are highly sensitive to climate change, serving as crucial sources of regional water towers and key hubs for material cycling on the Earth's surface. Faced with common challenges including global climate change, frequent extreme weather and climate events, unprecedented and unforeseeable disasters, degradation of vulnerable ecosystems, and imbalanced regional development, the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Mountain Partnership have placed mountain sustainable development at the core of their efforts. Deepening mountain science research and the development of key scientific and technological solutions is essential to serving the safety and development of mountain regions globally and enhancing human well-being.

The Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment (IMHE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), founded in 1966, is a national research institution dedicated to mountain science research and technological development. Over the past 60 years, generations of mountain scientists have firmly established themselves in the mountainous regions of Southwest China, as well as the Tibetan Plateau, and surrounding areas. Their fields included the formation, evolution, and comprehensive prevention of mountain hazards, mountain environmental evolution and ecological restoration, theories and technologies for mountain development, and digital mountain and applications of remote sensing. A series of groundbreaking scientific and technological achievements have been made nationwide. On the institute's 60th anniversary, the "Second International Conference on Mountain Science" is scheduled to be held by IMHE from October 17 to 19, 2026. The conference is designed to convene leading experts and scholars who works for mountain sciences worldwide, to advance the frontiers of mountain science and technology, to foster high-quality and sustainable development in mountain regions, and to present China's solutions for global mountain governance.