Should mountains (really) matter in science and policy?

This preface to the special issue “Frames on the move: Regional governance in mountain areas” has the following aims. First, it introduces governance in mountain regions as a special and instructive case of regional environmental governance in terms of territorial scaling, policy integration, and actor diversity. Second, the preface elaborates three themes that resonate throughout the articles in this special issue, namely the important role of global agenda setting, the status of mountains as a category of regional knowledge and action, and the dynamics and consequences of policy diffusion. The third aim is to provide an overview of the nine articles. Finally, the preface summarizes what can be gained from examining mountain governance.