Contenu du sommaire : Les territoires de montagne, fournisseurs mondiaux de ressources

Argentina's mining industry has grown rapidly in recent years, making the sector an essential part of the country's economy and placing the Andes at the heart of numerous economic, political and social issues. The present article examines the spatial distribution of mining activities and the role attributed to the mountains of northwest Argentina. Exploiting these territories as reservoirs of raw materials was uncontroversial at the beginning of the century; however, this approach is now being contested because it leads to little territorial development. Latin America's renewed focus on primary industries, involving the extraction and export of unprocessed natural resources, could be viewed as a step back to colonial-style exploitation. As such, it raises questions about North-South relations and the development of mountain territories, which are often peripheral, poor and sparsely populated. Our research examines the territorial-development trajectories of three provinces - San Juan, Catamarca and Jujuy – and analyzes how interactions between governmental and non-governmental actors affect a territory's approach to constructing and exploiting its resources. Questions about the way in which these interactions shape the development of mountain territories have led to alternative models that take into account the need for territorial development to be built locally.

Argentina's mining industry has grown rapidly in recent years, making the sector an essential part of the country's economy and placing the Andes at the centre of numerous economic, political and social issues. This article examines the spatial distribution of mining activities and the role attributed to the mountains of northwest Argentina. Exploiting these territories as reservoirs of raw materials was uncontroversial at the beginning of the century; however, this approach is now being contested because it leads to little territorial development. Latin America's renewed focus on primary industries involving the extraction and export of unprocessed natural resources can be viewed as a step back to colonial-style exploitation. As such, it raises questions about North–South relations and the development of mountain territories, which are often peripheral, poor and sparsely populated. Our research examines the territorial-development trajectories of three provinces – San Juan, Catamarca and Jujuy – and analyses how interactions between governmental and non-governmental actors affect a territory's approach to constructing and exploiting its resources. Questions about the way in which these interactions shape the development of mountain territories have led to alternative models that take into account the need for territorial development to be built locally.

The Chartreuse Regional Nature Park is often considered a raw water reservoir for its borderlands. Although it is an abundant resource, current and expected impacts of climate change are already reflected in the emerging pressures on different water uses. These new challenges imposed on water resources raise questions about the relationships between urban and mountain areas, typically considered through the centre/periphery paradigm. In particular, this article deals with the question of transfers between water basins. In so doing, it analyses the new management strategies that communities have adopted and explores possible synergies against a backdrop of the power relationship between private and public management in order to move towards an approach that embraces solidarity and security of supply.

The Chartreuse Regional Nature Park is often considered a raw water reservoir for its borderlands. Although it is an abundant resource, current and expected impacts of climate change are already reflected in the emerging pressures on different water uses. These new challenges imposed on water resources raise questions about the relationships between urban and mountain areas, typically considered through the centre/periphery paradigm. In particular, this article deals with the question of transfers between water basins. In so doing, it analyses the new management strategies that communities have adopted and explores possible synergies against a backdrop of the power relationship between private and public management in order to move towards an approach that embraces solidarity and security of supply.

The aim of this article is to consider the mountains of Lesotho as suppliers of water to the Gauteng metropolitan area in South Africa. By analysing the hydropolitics of the Southern African region in the context of politics of scale, the focus is on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), a transboundary water transfer project between Lesotho and South Africa. The goal is to link hydropolitics with territorialities. The LHWP has resulted in a reproduction of the asymmetrical relations between and inside the metropolitan and mountain areas of both countries. Coalitions of actors have emerged from these new relations that the transfer has produced, and as such, this project should be analysed as a hydraulic assemblage in which three distinct scales of territorialities are clashing or cooperating with each other: the regional scale, made up of South Africa's political and economic elites, who seek to direct Southern Africa's water resources towards the thirsty region in and around Johannesburg; the scale of the Lesotho government, which has a nationalist policy of monopolising any social and spatial stakes for the benefit of the national territory; and the scale of the Maloti communities, which claim their rights as a transnational Basotho nation and autonomy in the face of interventionism from the Lesotho state.

The aim of this article is to consider the mountains of Lesotho as suppliers of water to the Gauteng metropolitan area in South Africa. By analysing the hydropolitics of the Southern African region in the context of politics of scale, the focus is on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), a transboundary water transfer project between Lesotho and South Africa. The goal is to link hydropolitics with territorialities. The LHWP has resulted in a reproduction of the asymmetrical relations between and inside the metropolitan and mountain areas of both countries. Coalitions of actors have emerged from these new relations that the transfer has produced, and as such, this project should be analysed as a hydraulic assemblage in which three distinct scales of territorialities are clashing or cooperating with each other: the regional scale, made up of South Africa's political and economic elites, who seek to direct Southern Africa's water resources towards the thirsty region in and around Johannesburg; the scale of the Lesotho government, which has a nationalist policy of monopolising any social and spatial stakes for the benefit of the national territory; and the scale of the Maloti communities, which claim their rights as a transnational Basotho nation and autonomy in the face of interventionism from the Lesotho state.

Amenity migration in the mountain regions of southern Chile is a phenomenon that academia has not analysed very often. However, it has gained greater prominence in recent years and is becoming an important factor in generating change in these rural areas. This paper presents the results of the economic and social transformations observed in Malalcahuello, a mountain village in northern Chilean Patagonia that finds itself in an emerging stage of this process. The arrival of new economic actors, together with amenity, has produced a revival in the village and developed new economic functions, now aimed at developing residential real estate and special interest tourism. These activities represent an opportunity and also a challenge for the future development of this mountain village as a tourist destination. Furthermore, changes in social dynamics have been observed and influenced by the new inhabitants in particular, who possess the means to take action to protect the environment and the territory. This has provoked a re-evaluation of the territory, in part by the traditional inhabitants.

By examining the settlement typology and the relationship between the people and the landscape where they have chosen to dwell, this paper investigates the territorial transformation processes in Roncegno Terme, a small town in the Italian province of Trento, which can be considered a paradigmatic context for metropolitan-mountain development. Starting from the model of housing that the town has been generating, we ask whether these processes manifest the features of a monofunctional residential transformation and examine the effects it may have on the transformation of the inhabited mountain and the genesis of spatial homogeneity and possible spatial inequalities. This reflection is based on a critical reading of field work carried out during an urban planning experience, and the case study is presented with the phenomenal and empirical data collected during a study about landscape perception, conceived as a structural survey to propose socially shared planning processes and territorial transformations. One of the main issues that this article tackles is the possible correlation between the shape of the newer buildings that have been erected in some areas of town and the transformation of a peri-urban mountain reality that tends to gradually take on the features of a dormitory town. The paper therefore intends to make explicit the link between the densification of the building processes and the dissolution of the collective spaces. In so doing, at the present stage of an as yet incomplete densification of the mountain settlements, we work under the assumption that this survey can be useful to reflect on the possibilities of the planning and territorial governance tools to correct the territorial disparities that might be generated when small mountain towns turn into mostly residential suburbs of the metropolitan centres nearby.

By examining the settlement typology and the relationship between the people and the landscape where they have chosen to dwell, this paper investigates the territorial transformation processes in Roncegno Terme, a small town in the Italian province of Trento, which can be considered a paradigmatic context for metropolitan-mountain development. Starting from the model of housing that the town has been generating, we ask whether these processes manifest the features of a monofunctional residential transformation and examine the effects it may have on the transformation of the inhabited mountain and the genesis of spatial homogeneity and possible spatial inequalities.This reflection is based on a critical reading of field work carried out during an urban planning experience, and the case study is presented with the phenomenal and empirical data collected during a study about landscape perception, conceived as a structural survey to propose socially shared planning processes and territorial transformations.One of the main issues that this article tackles is the possible correlation between the shape of the newer buildings that have been erected in some areas of town and the transformation of a peri-urban mountain reality that tends to gradually take on the features of a dormitory town. The paper therefore intends to make explicit the link between the densification of the building processes and the dissolution of the collective spaces. In so doing, at the present stage of an as yet incomplete densification of the mountain settlements, we work under the assumption that this survey can be useful to reflect on the possibilities of the planning and territorial governance tools to correct the territorial disparities that might be generated when small mountain towns turn into mostly residential suburbs of the metropolitan centres nearby.

Both the hydropower and the conservation sectors are concentrating their focus on the Himalayas, which have high hydropower potential and rich bio-cultural diversity. The aim of this present study, carried out in villages adjacent to the Nanda Devi National Park in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand in India, is to understand the linkages between conservation- and development-induced displacement and the process of designing compensation packages for the local community. The study also examines the various gender-specific impacts of displacement, and the results suggest significant gender-specific differences regarding the impact of displacement in critical respects. The findings further indicate that, despite an early recommendation to do so, no impact assessment study had been conducted prior to the notification of the area as a national park. Furthermore, there appears to be no systematic linkage between the compensatory schemes and the grievances of the impacted communities.

In Eastern Europe's westernmost mountain region, the Carpathians, the Slovak State Nature Conservancy is preserving a unique biodiversity in line with directives of the European Union. This is being done in large protected areas (LPAs). In this paper, we discuss current challenges of LPA management with a particular focus on contradictions between local people's views and nationally to internationally determined sectoral planning strategies. We take stock of the benefits LPAs offer local populations, analyse the reasons for conflict between conservation interests from outside the region and local people's vital needs, and explore ways of uncovering, tackling, and solving land use conflicts at the interface of national or international conservation interests and sustainable local development. Slovak and Swiss universities (Banská Bystrica, Žilina, and Bern) and nature conservation partners adapted, tested, and analysed a transdisciplinary research approach to mitigate land use conflicts in and around LPAs. . A joint Slovak–Swiss financing mechanism enabled Slovak project partners to implement small innovative projects proposed by local stakeholders – so-called Seed Money Actions (SMAs). First results show that this might be a fruitful new form of cooperation between protected area managers and local populations, as it may ultimately lead to a higher acceptance of nature conservation among locals while offering Slovak mountain farmers more tangible benefits from nearby protected areas.

In Eastern Europe's westernmost mountain region, the Carpathians, the Slovak State Nature Conservancy is preserving a unique biodiversity in line with directives of the European Union. This is being done in large protected areas (LPAs). In this paper, we discuss current challenges of LPA management with a particular focus on contradictions between local people's views and nationally to internationally determined sectoral planning strategies. We take stock of the benefits LPAs offer local populations, analyse the reasons for conflict between conservation interests from outside the region and local people's vital needs, and explore ways of uncovering, tackling, and solving land use conflicts at the interface of national or international conservation interests and sustainable local development. Slovak and Swiss universities (Banská Bystrica, Žilina, and Bern) and nature conservation partners adapted, tested, and analysed a transdisciplinary research approach to mitigate land use conflicts in and around LPAs. . A joint Slovak–Swiss financing mechanism enabled Slovak project partners to implement small innovative projects proposed by local stakeholders – so-called Seed Money Actions (SMAs). First results show that this might be a fruitful new form of cooperation between protected area managers and local populations, as it may ultimately lead to a higher acceptance of nature conservation among locals while offering Slovak mountain farmers more tangible benefits from nearby protected areas.

Territorial cohesion is today a guiding principle of spatial planning, especially at city region scale. Given the extension of city region perimeters, the relationships between cities, outskirts and rural areas could undergo a renewal. The objective of this article is to show that governance processes in the framework of strategic spatial planning projects tend to reveal, or even to maintain, disparities between urban and peripheral territories, especially in mountain areas. Their capacities to influence the territorial projects turn out to be unequal, as territories do not have the same resources (financial, social, human and institutional capitals). On the basis of spatial planning documents and interviews, the article analyses two alpine city region planning initiatives, Greater Geneva and Grenoble city region.

Territorial coherence is today a guiding principle of spatial planning, especially at the city-region scale. The increasing number of spatial planning initiatives on such extended perimeters comes with the hope of a renewed relationship between cities, outskirts and rural areas. The aim of this article is to show that the governance processes at work in strategic spatial planning projects tend to reveal, or even to maintain, disparities between urban and peripheral areas, especially in mountain regions. Such areas' ability to influence spatial projects proves to be uneven since they have different resources (financial, social, human and institutional). Based on spatial planning documents and interviews, the research reported in this article analyses the planning initiatives in two alpine city regions: Greater Geneva and Grenoble.