Implementation of innovative structures for a sustainable development in mountain areas: Evidences from Switzerland Ueli Stalder1 and Jörg Wyder2 Swiss Center for Mountain Regions (SAB), Switzerland1 2002 [email protected] [email protected] Keywords: mountains, protected areas, sustainable development, policies, Valais, Switzerland. 1. General Description of the Study Area "Valais" 1.1 Area The Swiss study area comprises the canton Valais (fr) resp. Wallis (ge), situated in the south-west of Switzerland in the western central alps. The Valais is the third largest canton of total 26 cantons of Switzerland and covers 5'225 km2 (13% of Switzerland). It extends up to Italy (200 km), France (90 km) and 4 other Swiss cantons (228 km). Almost the whole area belongs to the basin of river Rhone and it is enclosed by high mountain ranges: The Bernese Alps in the north (with Mt. Finsteraarhorn, 4274 m above sea level), the Massif of Mont Blanc in the south-west, the Penninic Massif in the south and south-east and the Gotthard Massiv in the east. The highest point of Valais is the Pte Dufour (4634 m above sea level), the lowest the bank of the Lake Geneva (372 m). The climatic conditions in the Valais are strongly influenced by the geographical situation in the central alps: It is a continental alpine climate with semiarid zones in the lower areas (< 600 mm rain a year) and snow and glacier covered, humid areas in the mountain ranges (> 3'200 mm rain). Corresponding to the climatical and topographical variety, flora and fauna are very manifold and valuable; the Valais is an area with a very high biodiversity of Mediterranean and Nordic species. 1.2 Land use In 1997, there were 54% of the whole surface of the Valais nonproductive, 20% agricultural area, 23% woodland and forests and 3% of the area was sealed by settlement and roads. Between 1980 and 1997, the settlement area has increased for 22%, while the agricultural area has diminished about 6% (BFS 2001). The agricultural area consists of arable land and meadows (234 km2), orchards, viniculture and vegetable production (93 km2) and alpine pastures (734 km2). Especially important for export is thereby the wine and fruit production. 1.3 Protected areas and valuable environmental objects 1306 km2 of the whole canton Valais belongs to national inventory of landscapes and natural monuments of Switzerland - more than in each other canton of Switzerland. Special known in this context is e.g. the Aletschgletscher (largest glacier of the alps), the Mt. Matterhorn (Mont Cervin), the Pfynwald (near Leuk) or the delta of the river Rhone in the lake of Geneva. 1.4 Conclusion After an educational journey in 1761 wrote J.-J. Rousseau of the Valais: "[in the Valais] nature joins all seasons in one moment, all climats at one site, geological strata on same location and let prosper the commodities of mountains next to these of the plains" (UBS 1997). The topographic, climatic and scenic diversity is as well a characteristic trait and a valuable potential of the Valais as a big challenge regarding a sustainable development of the area. 2. SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS 2.1 Population and Demography In 1880, the Canton Valais was populated by approx. 100'000 inhabitants. After the Second World War, about 150'000 persons lived in the area, in 2000 there were 276'200 inhabitants (fig. 2.1). But these favourable figures have to be differed: 1. The shifts on the level of districts and municipalities were significant: The centers in the plain (Sion, Martigny, Sierre, Monthey, and Brig) and some tourist municipalities (Zermatt, Verbier, Crans-Montana, Saas Fee, Nendaz etc.) were the winners with a proliferation of population. At the same time, the population in many agricultural municipalities stagnated or decreased in the last 100 years (s. fig. 2.2). 2. In the last century, the natural live birth rate was often higher than growth of population and the Valais was repeatedly an area of emigration (but not in the 90ties!). 3. On various occasions, mainly foreigners left the canton because of economic reasons: E. g. between 1910 and 1920 (crisis in building industry and tourism) resp. 1970 and 1980 (recession after oil-crisis). Fig. 2.1: Key data of population structure 2000 (BFS/www.statistik.admin.ch) Ct. Valais Ct. Geneva Switzerland Population 276'200 408'000 7'204'100 Foreign people (in %) 16,5 37,7 19,8 Population density (inh. per km2) 53 1'448 174 Live birth rate (per 1'000 inh.) 11,1 11,5 11.0 Death rate (per 1'000 inh.) 8,0 7,7 8,7 Fig. 2.2: Population 1880 - 2000 in selected municipalities of the Valais (BFS/www.statistik.admin.ch) Municipality 1880 1910 1920 1950 1970 1990 2000 Polit. and econ. Centres: Sion 5'500 7'254 7'642 11'770 21'925 25'336 27'018 Brig-Glis 2'075 3'934 4'512 5'876 8'755 10'602 11'726 Industrial municipalities: Collombay-Muraz 1'073 1'191 1'260 1'598 2'279 4'493 5'373 Chippis 241 887 776 978 1'561 1'635 1'540 Tourist municip.: Zermatt 492 805 740 1'395 3'101 4'225 5'479 Randogne (Crans) 310 695 896 1'616 1'937 2'838 3'044 Agricultural municip.: Liddes 1'267 1'079 983 720 635 620 693 Binn 222 237 184 193 202 163 172 Valais total 100'190 128'381 128'246 159'178 206'563 249'817 276'200 2.2 Level of profession and education The activity rate and the level of education in the Valais differs not so much from the figures in other cantons of Switzerland. Corresponding to the economic structure, there are less self-employed persons but more qualified and unqualified employees. During the nineties, the number of unemployed persons increased from less than 1'000 p. (1989) to 8'000 p. (1994). There are no university and no advanced technical college but several other colleges (e.g. tourism, commercial, teacher training) in the canton. Thus, after the abitur, a great majority of students leave the canton for the universities in Lausanne, Geneva, Bern and Fribourg and only a part of them return after final degree. 2.3 Conclusion • The canton of Valais underwent in the last 100 years a favourable evolution of population. The precondition was a rather rapid structural change corresponding to industrialisation (i.p. industries needing a lot of electric power) and tertiarisation (i.p. tourism) - see below. • Focussed on single municipalities and valleys, the evolution was less harmonious: One the one hand there are "winners", which suceeded to quintuple or even to decuple the population in the last 120 years. On the other hand, small agricultural municipalities underwent a serious emigration which could only temporary be retarded. • Age structure of population as well as the level of education and profession is just now rather balanced and similar to these of whole Switzerland. 3. ECONOMIC STRUCTURE AND PRODUCTION DATA 3.1 Overview The figures 3.1 - 3.5 show some economic characteristics of the Valais which can be resumed in four points: • As many other regions, the Valais underwent in the last 120 years a rather fast change from an agricultural to a postindustrial service society. Compared to other rural areas, the secondary sector was (and still is today) very important. • The secondary sector is dominated by three branches which depend on the natural potential of the area for the production of electric power: (1) Production of energy itself, (2) Chemical industry and (3) metal processing (aluminium!). In all these branches, there are some large companies which dominate the labour market. Furthermore, timber processing and building industry have some importance. • The tertiary sector is dominated by tourism, which includes hotels, restaurants and transports and a great deal of trade and commerce (and also of building industry). • The national resp. cantonal income of the canton Valais and the financial power of the cantonal administration are below Swiss average, whereas the taxes are above. Fig. 3.1: Economic structure 1889 - 1998 in % (SAKW /BFS div.) Fig. 3.2: The most important employers of Valais 1995 (Egger 2001:20) Company Location Industry Nr. of employees Lonza Valais Visp Chemical industry 2'600 Ciba-Geigy (Novartis) Monthey Chemical industry 2'500 Alusuisse Chippis/Steg Metal processing 2'200 ETA SA Sion Watches / el.-technics 630 Scintilla (Bosch SA) St. Niklaus El. Implements 500 Fig. 3.3: Jobs in different branches of industry 1990 (SAKW/BFS div.) Jobs in the... VS: absolute value VS: in % CH: in % ...Primary sector 4'010 3.4% 4.1% ...Secondary sector 37'112 32.7% 31.8% - Timber processing, furniture 3'313 (+) 2.8% 1.8% - Chemical industry 5'718 (+++) 4.8% 1.6% - Metal processing 4'759 (++) 4.0% 2.6% - Electro-technics, engineering 1'437 (--) 1.2% 3.0% - Building 14'644 (++) 12.3% 8.8% ...Tertiary sector 72'378 63.8% 63.9% - Trade and commerce 17'560 14.7% 14.5% - Hotels and restaurants 8'980 (++) 7.5% 4.4% - Transports 3'357 (++) 2.8% 1.5% - Banking business and assurance 3'857 (--) 3.2% 5.6% - Commercial services 5'222 - 4.4% 5.7% - Public adminstration 4'927 4.1% 3.9% Fig. 3.4: Key data of economic Power 2000 (BFS / www.statistik.admin.ch) Ct. Valais Ct. Geneva Switzerland National income (per inhabitant) in CHF1 33'695 54'866 46'420 ... in euro 22'844 37'197 31'471 Tax burden in % (income of CHF 50'000.-) 7,7% 5% 6,8% Index of financial power (è tax equilibration) 30 130 100 11 CHF is about 0,65 Euro resp.