Sustainable Mountain Development - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 620

FIGURE 12.11 Trekking group in the Simen Mountains, a World Heritage Site in northern Ethiopia.
Tourism can strengthen conservation aims if it is guided by clear rules and if it involves the local
population as service providers or beneficiaries. (Photo by H. Hurni.)
One characteristic of traditional mountain societies is their internal cooperation,
built on partnerships involving different players in the common interest. Yet, in many
mountain regions, such cooperative structures have decayed, or been marginalized, as
regional and national governments have taken away many of the rights and responsibil-
ities of mountain people over their resources, often giving them to government agencies
staffed by people—often coming from far away—with scientific and technical training.
The knowledge of local people, based on centuries of experience, has been ignored, and
they have been excluded from using the resources of protected areas. This has some-
times led to the danger of losing some of the qualities for which an area was desig-
nated. For example, after a national park was declared in Poland's Tatra Mountains, loc-
al people were not allowed to graze their animals. Consequently, some rare plant spe-
cies on formerly grazed meadows began to decline in number because they were shaded
out by taller plants that had previously been grazed down. Once this was recognized,
farmers were invited to bring their animals back into the park—and the populations of
the rare plants recovered. Similarly, in the Vanoise National Park in the French Alps,
local people are now paid to mow species-rich meadows, replacing grazing animals. In