The MAB-6 ALT PIRINEU program: results and conclusions

Abstract

The final results of the HIGH PYRENEES MAB-6 program show that there exists a critical situation of deterioration in the high mountains of Catalan Pyrenees. This problematic situation has its most visible symtoms in a profound agricultural and demographic crisis, but it is graver than that, because it implies the destruction of the social, economic and cultural structures of the mountain society. The total integration of these marginal areas into the industrial territory of Catalonia requires a specific policy for these regions. The different proposals have been analyzed and presented in a set of eighteen studies that recommend the conservation of landscape and natural environment and the reconstruction of the economic and demographic structure of the area based on the pluriactivity, services and infrastructure that guarantee a minimum quality of life. These proposals will only be effective if there exists an institutional intervention and a participation of people from the area.