Walter Leimgruber

Between global and local : marginality and marginal regions in the context of globalization and deregulation

Introduction, Lennart Andersson Prologue. General Aspects: Setting the frame Peripheries and margins World-views and value systems. Domains of Marginality: The economic perspective Marginality and politics Society, culture and marginality The marginalization of the environment. Responses to Marginalization: Regional policies The answers from below. Conclusion Bibliography Appendices Index.

Understanding marginality : recent insights from a geographical perspective

Marginality and marginalisation have been researched extensively, especially during the 1960s and 1970s within the context of rapid urbanization in Latin America, mostly to try to find out who is marginal and who is not. But most researchers stumbled on the complexity of the phenomenon of marginality. Drawn from a geographical perspective, this note brings together research results presented in 2010, and coming from up-to-date fieldwork research in various regional contexts. Trying to find out common denominators, it highlights the importance of scale and perspective in considering marginality, as well as changes in power relations, the very basis of the marginalisation process.

Border Effects and the Cultural Landscape: The Changing Impact of Boundaries on Regional Development in Switzerland

Boundaries mark the edges or the periphery of all kinds of territories. Restricted to the political perspective, they represent the end of a state’s or a government’s sphere of direct influence: all public efforts take place within the state’s territory, but in some cases, the border is the place where specific measures become effective towards the neighbouring countries (e.g. immigration control). In such cases, boundaries are a means of defence and segregation, the centripetal role prevailing over the centrifugal one. In this way, politics can be distinguished from the economy (Figure 10.1).

Mountain hazard susceptibility and livelihood security in the upper catchment area of the river Beas, Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India

BackgroundNatural hazards have had significant impacts on life, livelihood and property in the mountain regions. Hazards identification in high mountain areas involved intensive and lengthy fieldwork and mapping with the interpretation of landforms and its related hazards, compulsion of increasing intensity of land-use and careless application of technology leading to further land degradation. Frequent occurrences of hazards such as landslides, snow avalanche, floods and other types of mass wasting are becoming common features in mountainous regions.ResultsHimalayan watershed has undergone a most dynamic change in land-use owing to the rapid increase in the population. The change in biophysical systems posed the direct bearing on the hydrological regime of Beas River. The peoples’ perceptions regarding origin of hazards and techniques of control to the hazards showed that indigenous and lowland communities are more susceptible to hazards. Deforestation, slope cutting, construction of roads and heavy rainfall were high responsible factors resulting frequent landslides and soil erosion. Hazards cannot be avoided, however their disastrous pursuits can be lessened through pro-active uses of a variety of planning measures, infrastructure and risk transfer mechanism. Afforestation, embankment, better drainage techniques on slope, check on urban sprawl, and ecotourism are effective techniques to offset the local hazards and livelihood vulnerabilities.ConclusionOwing to the typical geomorphic setting such as high relief variations, thick forest cover, presence of glacier and glacial lakes along the higher reaches, the Beas River is prone to cloudbursts, flash floods, forest fires, landslides and mass movement. The sustainable livelihood of Beas River may best be bestowed by enhanced land-uses aided by technologies of bio-engineering, denaturalization of degraded mountain geosystem and resilience for changes.

The Swiss Jura. Reflections on Marginality

The Swiss Jura is part of a larger region, the Jura, which stretches from Geneva to Germany, partly as a series of folds, partly as tablelands. The mountains were formed during the late phase of the Alpine folding during the Tertiary and are composed of Mesozoic rocks, mainly limestone and clay. The changing strata give way to a particular landscape, and the presence of limestone makes it a vast karst area with subsequent problems of livelihood.

Values, Migration, and Environment: An Essay on Driving Forces behind Human Decisions and their Consequences

Ahead of the Bonn summit, held in July 2001 and intending to save the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, expectations had been high that the problem of increasing global warming could be solved by a general decrease of CO2 and other emissions of greenhouse gases to a level below that of 1990, and maybe even further. However, the Bonn summit succeeded only to a minor extent. Once more, little more than lip service has been paid to the warnings of the scientific community. The compromise which has been reached after tough and tiring negotiations is the absolute minimum of what has to be undertaken to prevent global warming from going on as before. Even so, there is no guarantee that the ecosystem will not capsize and put an end to humanity. Arrogance and narrow-mindedness continue to dominate human decisions. The outcomes of the Bonn summit and of the subsequent conference at Marrakech in November 2001 illustrate the everlasting political dilemma: to find the right balance between what is urgently needed and what politicians are prepared to concede. It also demonstrates that the ecosystem is still perceived as a bottomless reservoir from which we can scoop an endless quantity of resources, and an equally bottomless sink into which we can dip all our waste – naturally everything at zero cost. This observation marks the point of departure of this essay: the driving forces behind environmental change and environmentally induced mass migration lie with human decisions and actions. Based on the subjective perceptions of the reality, they reflect the worldview and the underlying value systems of a given society. Solutions towards the mitigation of humaninduced global warming effects and of environmentally induced migration will therefore have to root in a change in attitude of the human race. Everybody is concerned by such a change; politicians alone cannot be made responsible for the near-failure in Bonn and Marrakech. As representatives of their countries and populations, however, they bear an enhanced share of

Boundaries and Transborder Relations: The Case of Switzerland

Political boundaries separate different political systems, but can also be an incentive for cooperation. This dualism mirrors two different approaches: the political system protects its territory and the economic system needs exchange. Three different border effects result from these two opposing attitudes: direct effects (the doubling of infrastructure on either side) and induced effects (the visible signs of state authority). Both are directly related to the political system. Indirect effects, on the other hand, result from economic considerations: differences in salaries and prices provoke flows of workers and consumers in the direction of maximum advantage. By using Switzerland as an example, we show how transborder contacts can arise, how they can be gradually expanded and what the consequences are. The region of Basle, a trinational conurbation, is an excellent example to demonstrate the evolution of such cooperation, which started at the local scale but expanded further north into the upper Rhine valley and triggered the creation of other regional cooperation associations. It is an excellent example of how a population with a common history can collaborate across national (and even external EU) boundaries.

Minorities—An Expression of Diversity and an Exercise in Tolerance

Every country in the world is confronted with minorities, and resulting problems have always to be solved in the specific context. The conventional approach to the minority issue is from a quantitative perspective (minorities seen as numerically inferior groups), but beyond this simple perspective there are other concerns, such as the access to and the exercise of power, which determine the relationships between majority and minorities. Every society is a system, composed of numerous elements, and there are usually minorities of some sort. This fact is often forgotten by the mainstream and/or dominant social group(s). Certain minorities are therefore either overlooked or persecuted, and also the political system tends to ignore them. Ethnic and cultural groups figure prominently among such minorities, but we can add others, such as the handicapped, the poor, the unemployed, or ex-convicts. However, there is also the possibility of an alternative approach: minorities can be seen positively, as a sign of diversity and a reminder of certain human duties. Diversity is desirable because it is the opposite to (sterile) uniformity and a challenge to linear thinking. It also ensures the long-term survival of a society and its development potential. The chapter addresses the minority issue by drawing on the example of Switzerland, a country composed of several overlapping minority groups. The political challenge is substantial, and the changing national and international contexts put the system to a constant test.

Tourism in the Swiss Alps: The Human Factor in Local Development

Most mountain regions in the world are also marginal regions. Exceptions are those areas that are either of central importance for transit traffic, special industries, or tourism . However, none of these activities is necessarily stable over time. Traffic routes may change through technology (such as tunnels replacing pass routes), industries may lose their resource base or become less competitive, and tourism depends on the economic situation in the countries of origin and on exchange rates. Creativity is therefore important for local and regional inhabitants in order to survive and create a stable basis of living. While niche products have become one possibility for mountain farmers, more imagination is demanded when it comes to the other economic sectors. Individual actors often play an important role in such cases. The chapter discusses three cases of tourism and recreation in the Swiss Alps that demonstrate the importance of the cooperation on all scales, from local to international. It shows that inhabitants of mountain regions are not narrow minded when it comes to take decisions that are related to their survival. However, the risks are considerable, and they may also result in certain persons coming into conflict with the law.

Introduction: Globalization and Marginalization in Mountain Regions

Living in a totally interconnected world where neoliberal economic thinking prevails, humanity faces two major challenges for the future: an on-going disequilibrium of the ecosystem, of which global warming is but one element, and a growing gap between the rich and the poor, which persists despite considerable international efforts. Ecosystem deterioration and growing social inequality occur globally, although with regionally different levels of intensity. They are particularly acute in fragile living spaces. Mountains are such fragile environments, both from the perspective of the ecosystem and of human societies. Economic thinking (based on the law of the jungle) has eclipsed our sense for both the natural environment and those people that are on the losing side of society—it is marginalization taking place in certain people’s minds. Divergence and unevenness have therefore become interwoven with globalization, and in this book we take globalization as it is seen reflecting with mountain and marginal societies of the world.