Suchergebnisse

Mountain areas cover a significant proportion of the European continent. Within the European Union (EU), many of the newest Member States have particularly high proportions of mountainous land. Ongoing debates in the EU relate to perceptions of mountains as being "handicapped" or marginalized versus having specific development opportunities, and to the challenges of climate change and other global changes. In 2015 and 2016, these issues have been highlighted by the European Parliament and through the publication of a strategic research agenda by the Swiss–Austrian Alliance.

The world's mountains are vital regions for all of humanity, providing a wide range of goods and services to their inhabitants, to those living nearby or downstream, and to the hundreds of millions who visit them or for whom they have spiritual significance. How to preserve fragile mountain ecosystems that provide critical goods and services while improving the lives of those who live in the mountains? This and other key issues of sustainable mountain development are examined in a series of papers prepared by globally-recognised experts.While mountain areas have long been on the periphery of national and global policy debates, their importance is underlined by the fact that they cover 24% of the Earth's land surface and 26% of the global population lives on them or very close by. They are sources of water, food, timber, minerals and other natural resources; they provide many opportunities for recreation and tourism; and they are centres of biological and cultural diversity and religious significance. At the same time, mountain people and mountain environments are particularly threatened by global environmental change and global economic and political forces. Unfortunately, a disproportionate number of conflicts occur in mountain regions, and their inhabitants include many of the poorest and most vulnerable in the world.This book explores many of these issues, with particular emphases on appropriate institutions and policies for sustainable mountain development. It is thus a key reference for scholars, policymakers and others interested in the future of the world's mountain areas.

The institutionalization of mountain regions in Europe, Regional Studies. Since the 1990s, many 'project regions' have emerged in Europe, a trend deriving from the tendency to adopt ad hoc institutions for specific spatial and environmental issues and the empowerment of diverse stakeholders who compete with the dominant role of states. This article addresses the building of institutionalized mountain regions in Europe, analysing how the specificity of mountain areas was considered in policies by states and the European Union, and later for transnational mountain ranges. Environmental and trans- boundary issues have been major driving forces for new institutional arrangements combining a territorial and environmental focus and complex networks of stakeholders.