DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES IN THE ALPS Report on the state of the Alps ALPINE CONVENTION Alpine Signals – Special Edition 5 IMPRINT Editor: Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention www.alpconv.org [email protected] Office: Herzog-Friedrich-Strasse 15 A-6020 Innsbruck Austria Branch office: Viale Druso-Drususallee 1 I-39100 Bolzano/Bozen Italy Graphic design: De Poli & Cometto - Belluno - Italy Printing: Stampatori della Marca - Castelfranco Veneto - Italy Translations: INTRALP Cover Photo: T. Borghetti - Autonomous Province of Trento - Archive Department of forests and fauna © Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention, 2015 ISBN 9788897500216 DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES IN THE ALPS REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE ALPS ALPINE CONVENTION ALPINE SIGNALS – SPECIAL EDITION 5 2 ALPINE CONVENTION | DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES IN THE ALPS This report was approved by the Alpine Conference at its XIIIth meeting in Turin, held on 21 November 2014. The preparation of this report was coordinated by the Italian Presidency of the ad-hoc expert group in coordination with the Permanent secretariat of the Alpine Convention. The text has been drafted by the Italian Presidency of the ad-hoc expert group and its members, with the coordination of the Permanent secretariat. The report includes different theme analyses; the authors of these analyses are reported in the text. Different European Territorial Cooperation Projects were involved to prepare the text and collect good practices; contributors from the ETC Projects are listed below. The maps were prepared by the Institute for Regional Development and Location Management of Eurac research. This report builds upon the preliminary assessment carried out by the Working Group of the Alpine Convention on Demography and Employment. Coordination of the ad-hoc expert group Presidency ISTAT (Italian National Statistical Institute) (Saverio Gazzelloni) Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention (Simona Vrevc, Marianna Elmi) Members of the ad-hoc expert group Austria Umweltbundesamt (Andreas Bartel) (Environmental Agency Austria) Statistik Austria (Peter A. Rumpolt) (Austrian National Institute of Statistics) France Direction régionale de l’INSEE Rhône-Alpes, Lyon (Jerome Harnois, Pascal Oger) (General Directorate of INSEE Rhône-Alpes, Lyon) Italy ISTAT (Mauro Albani, Giorgia Capacci, Angela Ferruzza, Antonella Guarneri) (Italian National Statistical Institute) Eurac Research, Technical and Scientific Secretariat of the Italian Presidency of the Alpine Convention (Andrea Bianchini, Raffaele Vergnani) European School of Economics, Technical and Scientific Secretariat of the Italian Presidency of the Alpine Convention (Luca Cetara) Liechtenstein Amt für Umweltschutz (Hanspeter Eberle) (Department for Environment Protection) ALPINE CONVENTION | DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES IN THE ALPS 3 Slovenia Ministrstvo za okolje in prostor (Blanka Bartol) (Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning) Statistični urad Republike Slovenije (Barica Razpotnik, Mojca Merc) (Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia – SORS) Observers of the ad-hoc expert group CIPRA Italia – Associazione Dislivelli (Federica Corrado) (CIPRA ITALY – Dislivelli association) ISCAR and Institut für Interdisziplinäre Gebirgsforschung (IGF) Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW) (Oliver Bender) (ISCAR International scientific committee on alpine research and Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences) Further institutions and persons that contributed to the report The authors have drafted the report based on data, their elaboration and good practices. Special thanks go to: The focal points of the Alpine Convention ISTAT (Alessandra Battisti, Alessandra Burgio, Alessandro Cimbelli, Carlo Lucarelli, Matteo Mazziotta, Laura Murianni, Giulia Milan, Stefano Tersigni, Enrico Tucci) (Italian National Statistical Institute) Statistik Austria (Erika Baldaszti, Gernot Katzlberger, Alexander Wisbauer) (Austrian National Statistical Institute) Eurac Research – Institute for Regional Development and Location Management (Elisa Ravazzoli, Anna Scuttari, Thomas Streifeneder) The staff of the Italian Presidency of the Alpine Convention (Martina Lauretti, Claudia Ricci) The permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention (Giulia Gaggia, Taja Ferjančic-Lakota, Vera Bornemann, Pauline Kaltenbach, Charlène Lagarde, Gilles Chomat) CIPRA Italia – Associazione Dislivelli (Roberto Canu, Erwin Durbiano) (CIPRA Italy – Dislivelli Association) Università di Torino (Pier Paolo Viazzo) (University of Turin) Università di Parma (Fabio Sforzi) (University of Parma) EEA, European Environment Agency The network of the European Territorial Cooperation Projects: ADAPT2DC (Nuria Mignone) ALIAS (Natalia Allegretti) CAPACITIES (Guido Baschenis, Ermenegildo Del Degan, Janez Nared, Paolo Zeppetella) COMUNIS (Miriam Laura Weiß) DEMOCHANGE (Nuria Mignone, Emanuela Dutto, Erich Giordano) DIAMONT (Caroline Pecher, Janez Nared) HELPS (Matteo Apuzzo) NATHCARE (Natalia Allegretti) OPEN-ALPS (Antonio Ballarin Denti, Chiara Gandini) PADIMA (Maria Grazia Pedrana, Massimo Bardea) PUSEMOR (Massimo Bardea) RE-TURN (Nuria Mignone) 4 ALPINE CONVENTION | DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES IN THE ALPS Special thanks for the active contribution provided by Working Group Demography and Employment Presidency Università di Torino (Pier Paolo Viazzo) (University of Turin) Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention (Wolfger Mayrhofer) Austria Statistik Austria (Stephan Marik-Lebeck) (Austrian National Statistical Institute) Germany Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft, Infrastruktur, Verkehr und Technologie - STMWIVT (Reinhold Koch) (Bavarian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology) Italy Eurac Research, Italian delegation of the Alpine Convention (Andrea Bianchini, Eleonora Cerutti, Luca Cetara, Raffaele Vergnani) Slovenia Ministrstvo za okolje in prostor (Blanka Bartol) (Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning) Statistični urad Republika Slovenija (Barica Razpotnik) (Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia - SORS) Switzerland Bundesamt für Raumentwicklung / Office fédéral du développement territorial / Ufficio federale dello sviluppo territoriale ARE (Christian Wirz) (Swiss Federal Office for Spatial Development) Observing members ISCAR and Institut für Interdisziplinäre Gebirgsforschung (IGF) Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW) (Oliver Bender, Sigrun Kanitscheider) (ISCAR - Austrian Academy of Sciences) ALPINE CONVENTION | DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES IN THE ALPS 5 ACRONYMS EEA European Environment Agency AC Alpine Convention CIPRA Commission Internationale pour la Protection des Alpes (International Commission for the Protection of the Alps) ESPON European Spatial Planning Observatory Network ETC European Territorial Cooperation EGTC European grouping of territorial cooperation INSEE National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies INTERREG Interregional Cooperation Programme ISCAR International Scientific Committee on Research in the Alps LAU Local Administrative Units LEADER Liason entre les Actions de Développment de l’Economie Rurale (Links between the rural economy and development actions) NUTS Nomenclature des Unités Territoriales Statistiques (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) WHO World Health Organization 6 ALPINE CONVENTION | DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES IN THE ALPS FOREWORDS Alpine valleys appear today as a landscape moulded by centuries of human settlements and operations, by populations that have lived and still live in symbiosis with the mountain environment, made up of natural resources and elements that form a solid foundation for local economies, and yet often places where life is not easy. During the 20th century, population size and structure and the related dynamics had to face significant changes. On the one side, many areas were affected by extensive emigration and depopulation developments, while the number of inhabitants grew significantly in other areas, accompanied by growing urbanization. It is certainly incumbent on the Alpine Convention and its Contracting Parties to not remain indifferent to these changes. In fact, they should set the stage to govern these processes, protect the Alps and the possibility to live in this area. In order to manage an area, it is necessary to know the size and reasons for these changes, the drivers behind them and good practices to deal with them. By means of this Report, for which Italy chaired the analysis and drafting activities, our intention is to provide Alpine decision- makers with the necessary know-how to consider demographic changes, the causes that affect them and their consequences. Barbara Degani Undersecretary at the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea, Presidency of the Alpine Conference 2013-2014 This Fifth Report on the State of the Alps tackles a crucial issue for the Alps: demographic change. The Alps are a dynamic living space, where the comprehensive interaction between the environment and human presence has shaped the landscapes and cultures for centuries. The alpine population plays a central role in these dynamics, be it through its traditions and innovations, its cultural and linguistic richness, its economic activities, and its intensive interactions with the surrounding regions. This role of the Alpine population is highlighted in the Declaration on Population and Culture of the Alpine Convention, adopted in November 2006, through which the ministers of the Member States have recognised the need to establish