Land resources in the Alps and instruments supporting their sustainable management as a matter of regional environmental governance

AbstractAn important issue in Alpine regions is urban sprawl, which affects land resources and their environmental qualities as well as social and economic conditions. As the available area for permanent settlement is limited in Alpine regions due to natural constraints, land resource management here is even more relevant than outside the Alpine area. Land resources are being claimed for social, economic and ecological purposes, which is why efficient land resource management is a precondition for sustainable development at regional level. To implement such sustainable regional development, about 110 instruments have been collected in most Alpine countries. With a compilation of instruments for their better application, land resource management touches also on the understanding, development and perception of regions. The instruments for the implementation have been assessed in qualitative terms and lead to the conclusion that many instruments already exist, however there is a bottleneck at the point of implementation