On the Sunny Side of the Alps: Slovenian Mountains and Their Perspectives - Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions: Southeastern Europe - page 195

Chapter 16
On the Sunny Side of the Alps: Slovenian
Mountains and Their Perspectives

Dušan Prašnikar

Abstract Slovenia lies in the south-eastern part of the Alps. Most of the country
is defined as a mountainous area. Because of the structure of mountainous areas in
Slovenia, the sustainability is adapted in most of the state policy, legislatively and
in practice, and there is almost no specific policy for mountainous areas. Therefore,
Slovenia generally does not have many problems of adapting its legislation with the
Alpine Convention. In most of the country there is a dispersed type of settlement,
although more than a half of the state is covered with forests. Today Slovenia faces
the challenge to keep the countryside cultivated and alive. Large protected areas are
one kind of the state measures, while their aim is not only to protect the nature but
also the landscape and to support the settlement of mountainous areas as well.

Keywords Slovenia · Mountains · Sustainable development · Mountain

policy · Alpine Convention

16.1 The Characteristics of the Mountain Areas in Slovenia

Slovenia lies at the crossroads of the Europe. Its position is one of the most inter-
esting in Europe. Although Slovenia measures only 20,000 km 2 ,itisapartof
four big European regions - the Alps, the Mediterranean area, the Balkans and
the Pannonian Plain. Diversity of everything (environment, climate, culture, etc.)
is one of the highest per km 2 in Europe, which makes Slovenia very attractive,
and the Slovenians are proud of this diversity. Despite different regional variations
Slovenia is an alpine - mountain country. The country lies in the south-eastern part
of the Alps and despite its position at the margin of the Alps it has characteris-
tics of an alpine country. Concerning regionalisation, Slovenia is divided into four
main regions and the Alpine region is the most extensive one. It measures 42%
of the Slovenian territory and it is a place for 47% of the Slovenian population.