provided by Research Papers in Economes
39th Congress of the European Regional Science Association (ERSA)
Dublin, Ireland, 23-27 August 1999
theme: Sparsely populated regions
Regional dynamics in mountain areas and the need for integrated policies
by Thomas Dax, Gerhard Hovorka and Elisabeth Loibl
Bundesanstalt für Bergbauernfragen
Mollwaldplatz 5
A-1040 Wien
AUSTRIA
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1. Introduction
Mountain regions cover about one-fifth of the world’s surface and greatly influence regional and
continental climate conditions, atmospheric circulation as well as water and energy cycles.
Estimations reveal that about a tenth of humankind live in mountain areas and the lives of half of the
world population is indirectly affected by them (Ives 1992). The relation between population and
surface area indicates that mountain areas, in general, comprise sparsely populated areas. Given its
extreme topography which entails small-scaled “regional” units and a high degree of local variability
considerable parts of the mountain areas have been affected by isolation.
This appearance has been also true for mountain regions like the Alps which tend to be more
integrated into the national economies (and European economy) and more densely populated.
Particularly in the Alpine area the economic conditions have been related to the rise of external
demands, characterised by factors such as tourism, demand for agricultural products, industry,
landscape preservation, water resources etc. Within this area the natural resources have been
realised since long time as a major potential for regional development and hence traditional tourism