Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions Southeastern Europe
The mountain regions in Southeastern Europe are unique natural regions of great beauty and ecological value, and home of the head waters of major rivers. They constitute a major ecological, economic, cultural, recreational and living environment in Europe
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Georgi Zhelezov Editor
Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions Southeastern Europe
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Editor Dr. Georgi Zhelezov Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Inst. Geography Sofia Bulgaria [email protected]
ISBN 978-94-007-0130-4 e-ISBN 978-94-007-0131-1 DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-0131-1 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Cover illustration: Pirin mountain and village Gorna Sushitsa, Southwestern Bulgaria. Photograph by Krasimir Stoyanov. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
The mountain regions in Southeastern Europe are unique natural regions of great beauty and ecological value, and home of the head waters of major rivers. They constitute a major ecological, economic, cultural, recreational and living environment in Europe, shared by numerous peoples and countries. The Southeastern European Mountain Regions are an important reservoir for biodiversity and habitats in Europe. A great number of protected areas – national parks, nature parks, reserves and nature monuments are located in these regions. From a socio-economic point of view, the mountain regions are observed to be the poorest areas in the Southeastern European countries, but they have potential for the implementation of successful economic practices and activities. There is an opportunity to set measures for the development of the regions and, in particular, for trans-border integration and cooperation. Regional cooperation is of paramount importance as the EU integration differs among the countries and synchronization of this activity, originally triggered through the EU accession process, is needed to avoid future imbalance of developments in border regions. Positive examples as the Alpine Convention or the Carpathian Convention do demonstrate the broad aspects and potential of local embedded processes contributing to the sustainable development of (also trans-border) regional cooperation and the high economical potential of mutual learning from each other. The development of these conventions provided the framework for cooperation and multi-sectoral policy coordination, a platform for joint strategies for sustainable development, and a forum for dialogue between all stakeholders involved. Both conventions were triggered or assisted by researchers in their development and implementation. The recent developments and the more stabilized peaceful neighbourhood opens up the chance for preparing a Balkan Convention on Mountainous regions. The most important aspects of the problems in mountain regions in Southeastern Europe formulated as a
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