Europes ecological backbone.pdf

Mountain economies and accessibility
Table 3.2
Summary of average values and standard deviations (STD) for economic density
and accessibility indicators per country
Country Economic density (KEuro) Accessibility (minutes)
Inside mountains Outside mountains Inside mountains Outside mountains
Average STD Average STD Average STD Average STD
Austria 1 655 8 707 5 148 34 362 145 32 104 37
Belgium 909 2 767 8 785 37 522 105 23 76 35
Bulgaria 119 1 270 159 1 402 138 32 135 26
Cyprus 412 923 2 003 4 522 171 12 161 20
Czech Republic 516 2 147 1 022 5 506 128 26 112 32
Denmark No mountain 4 092 23 798 No mountain 137 28
Estonia No mountain 161 2089 No mountain 159 25
Finland 8 27 417 4 516 180 0 168 20
France 1 083 7 046 3 155 34 497 144 34 129 32
Germany 3 614 12 647 6 323 23 190 117 29 102 33
Greece 394 4 436 2 612 21 906 161 23 140 33
Hungary 651 4 733 649 5 962 128 31 130 28
Ireland 374 4 039 1 845 13 327 165 26 154 32
Italy 1 795 9 848 7 622 29 882 142 33 105 35
Latvia No mountain 149 2 276 No mountain 152 34
Lithuania No mountain 208 1472 No mountain 142 30
Luxembourg 5 692 16 294 8 840 30 390 127 9 121 12
Malta 3 135 8 204 14 917 28 059 111 12 114 42
Netherlands No mountain 12 611 32 999 No mountain 97 30
Poland 502 2 010 690 5407 135 28 123 31
Portugal 687 3 545 1 814 13 155 163 23 154 31
Romania 102 784 236 2 321 150 24 129 29
Slovakia 275 1 438 811 4 159 148 16 128 24
Slovenia 780 2 871 1 949 6 755 121 27 114 30
Spain 578 8 014 2 123 21 647 155 28 141 35
Sweden 30 260 668 6 648 179 3 165 24
United Kingdom 614 5 637 8 562 39 900 153 36 104 46
lower or similar within mountains than outside
mountains. Countries where the difference is most
marked include Austria, Belgium, Greece, Italy
and, particularly, the United Kingdom. Countries
where the difference is least include Bulgaria,
Hungary, Portugal, and Slovenia. Considering
countries with a significant mountain area, the
most accessible mountains are in Germany,
Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria; and
those with the least accessible mountains are
Sweden, Cyprus, Ireland, Portugal, and Greece.
There is no clear geographical or historical pattern
to accessibility.
3.2.1 TEN-T corridors
Mountain areas have very often been regarded
as barriers to communication for those who live
in adjacent lowland areas. According to national
priorities, and frequently for military or strategic
reasons, particularly in the states along the former
'Iron Curtain', road and rail access was developed
from the lowlands into mountainous border areas,
but not across borders. With the expansion of the
European Union, European policy makers have
decided to establish a single, multimodal network
integrating land, sea and air transport networks.
The aim of the Trans-European transport network
(TEN-T) is to allow goods and people to circulate
quickly and easily between Member States and
to assure international connections, and is a key
element in the Lisbon strategy for competitiveness
and employment in Europe (http://ec.europa.eu/
transport/infrastructure/index_en.htm). While
the development of the TEN-T clearly contributes
to economic and social cohesion at the European
scale, it also creates disparities in accessibility
within mountain regions and, like all types
of transport infrastructure, may be linked to
environmental impacts such as noise, pollution,
and fragmentation of habitat and ecological
connectivity. A number of studies have been done
to evaluate these impacts in the mountains of
the EU‐27.
Europe's ecological backbone: recognising the true value of our mountains
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