This issue of MRD offers transformation knowledge, with a paper on how self-governed small-scale irrigation in Tajikistan helps a local rural population maintain its productivity in spite of interventions and external regulations. It also offers systems knowledge, with articles examining how commercial horticulture affects Mount Kenya’s water resources; how extensive grazing impacts on soils in a protected mountain forest in Mexico; how topsoil removal, storage, and redeployment influences vegetation recovery on Peruvian mining sites; how anthropogenic threats affect vascular plants in a National Park in Ethiopia; how climate change influences treelines of key species in Nepal; and how climate warming impacts on snow and water availability in a ski area in New Hampshire, USA. Read about the journal’s section policies, guidelines and submission procedure at: http://www.mrd-journal.org/.