Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
At the national scale, a number of countries have passed laws and/or established
policies or institutions with direct relevance for SMD (Castelein et al. 2006). A key issue
with all laws and policies is the definition of the area defined as “mountain,” a topic that
continues to receive significant interest in Europe (Price et al. 2004; European Envir-
onment Agency 2010). While France, Greece, Italy, and Switzerland had mountain laws
before UNCED, Cuba, Georgia, and Ukraine developed and passed laws subsequent to
it; and Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Poland, Romania, and the Russian Federation
have also begun this process. There is also subnational legislation for mountain areas,
for example, for North Ossetia-Alania in the Russian Federation, most of Italy's moun-
tain regions, and the mountains of Catalonia in Spain. The protection and sustainable
development of mountain areas are the primary aims of most of these laws, as well
as of the Alpine and Carpathian Conventions. Some also underline the importance of
maintaining the cultural identity of mountain people; the law for North Ossetia-Alania
gives them priority in rights to use natural resources. Other countries have implemen-
ted laws or policies that address specific economic sectors—particularly agriculture,
tourism, and biological or landscape conservation—in mountain areas (European Envir-
onment Agency 2010).
To implement these laws and specific actions in mountain areas, various new institu-
tions have been created, including a National Board for Mountain Regions in Bulgaria;
an interministerial commission to promote socio-economic development in mountain
areas in Cuba; and a National Agency for the Mountain Area in Romania. Other coun-
tries have created institutions that are mainly concerned with mountain areas, such as
the Agency for the Development of Economically Underdeveloped and Frontier Areas
in Macedonia, and the Agency for Rural Development and Assuring Sustained Presence
of Rural Populations in Slovenia (Price 1999; Castelein et al. 2006); and special funds
that contribute to SMD in mountain areas, both generally (e.g., Bulgaria, France, Italy)
and with respect to individual sectors. These include agriculture (e.g., France, Geor-
gia, Italy, Switzerland, and also the European Union), tourism (e.g., France, Georgia,
Ukraine, Vietnam), infrastructure (e.g., Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Italy, Switzerland,
Ukraine, Vietnam), and environmental protection, especially soil erosion (e.g., Burundi,
Italy, Uganda) (Castelein et al. 2006).
Principles for Sustainable Mountain Development
Most of the laws, policies, and institutions with a mountain focus are in Europe; relat-
ively few are in developing countries. However, many GEF-funded and World Bank pro-
jects at the subnational, and in some cases national, level have aimed at creating effect-
ive institutions in these countries for the conservation of biodiversity, or managing eco-
systems in transboundary watersheds, within the broader context of SMD (MacKinnon
2004; Walsh 2002). From 2000 to 2010, the World Bank made investments relevant to
SMD of approximately US$66 billion globally (UN General Assembly 2011). Yet, wheth-
er in European or developing countries, such national or subnational approaches are
often piecemeal, without an overall strategic approach at any scale, and many continue
to serve “downstream” interests.
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