What Governance for Sustainable Development in the Mountains? Insights From the Alpine Region

Abstract

This article considers different governance structures, policies, and strategies that focus on the sustainable development of mountain areas in the European Alpine region and investigates how different countries integrate sustainable development into their mountain policies. Even though mountain areas cover around one third of European land, only a few countries have established place-based policies for their sustainable development. We analyzed 4 cases (Austria, France, Italy, and Switzerland) to reveal extremely diverse systems in terms of policies and actions. Furthermore, we scrutinized the sustainable development governance frameworks in policies directed at mountain areas, comparing national legislation. We also performed 4 semistructured interviews with national experts in mountain governance. Our results show that interacting with different stakeholders is a precondition for place-based sustainable development processes. We conclude by providing evidence-based policy recommendations for the sustainable development of mountain areas.

Keywords

• governance
• mountain development
• place-based policies
• regional policy
• sustainable development