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MOT Study on cross-border issues in mountain areas

This work, which has taken place in the context of part II of the Montagne Act, adopted on 22 December 2016, involved the updating of the knowledge on border region mountain ranges in mainland France, as well as the analysis of the issues relating to their development, planning and protection, with the aim of improving support in the implementation and coordination of public actions.

Four mountain ranges were analysed: the Alps, the Jura, the Pyrenees and the Vosges, which encompass all of the "natural areas" involved in cross-border cooperation projects:
- the Northern Vosges-Pfälzerwald Cross-Border Biosphere Reserve in the Vosges mountain range;
- the Franco-Swiss Doubs Cross-Border Park project and the Haut-Jura Regional Nature Park in the Jura;
- the Espace Mont-Blanc, the Hautes-Vallées Conference, the Mont-Viso Cross-Border Biosphere Reserve and the Alpi Marittime-Mercantour European Park in the Alps;
- the European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation of the Espace Pourtalet, Huesca Pirineos-Hautes Pyrénées, Pirineus-Cerdanya, the Cross-Border Art and History Country, the Pyrenees and Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Parks, and the Pyrénées Ariégeoises and Pyrénées Catalanes Regional Nature Parks in the Pyrenees.

The study consists of three parts:
- an analysis of the cross-border issues specific to each mountain range, and a comparative analysis of the common issues;
- a typology of the areas specific to each mountain range: the inhabited border mountain area, the periurban border mountain area, the border mountain area in demographic and economic decline, and the tourist destination border mountain area;
- an examination of good cross-border practices in domains such as transport, accessibility, biodiversity and ecological development, access to services, governance, territorial marketing and tourism.

* General Commission for Territorial Equality.

Photos: All rights reserved: Andrea Alborno.