1. What is the Demography and Employment WG?
As stated in the Declaration on Population and Culture of the Alpine Convention, socio-economic and cultural aspects are considered by the Alpine states to be central for the implementation of an integrated policy ensuring the protection and sustainable development of the Alps. Member states therefore committed themselves to preserve and promote cultural diversity in the Alps as well as to focus on the needs, wishes and opinions of the people who live in the Alpine area. The Working Group addresses in particular the effects of demographic change on living and working conditions in the Alpine areas.
The Xth Alpine Conference (Evian, France, March 2009) decided to set up a Working Group composed of experts (Decision X/B4/2) whose mandate is to work on the subjects of demographic change, regional development, employment, innovation and brain drain.
List of members
2. Objectives
The main task of the Working Group is the compilation of a report (which is also a preparatory document for a possible future elaboration of a specific Report on the State of the Alps on demography and employment) on the various aspects of demographic change in the Alps and their interrelations with the job market. Besides the compilation of an overall picture of the situation in the Alps, the Working Group will also give attention to regional and local case studies in order to:
- cast light on and analyse the changes in the population structure and composition with a particular focus on “new mountain inhabitants”, their needs and possible contributions to local communities;
- observe employment dynamics, including various kinds of commuting flows (cross-border, between rural and urban areas, etc.);
- consider the roles of different levels of education and training and their effects on society;
- recognise the strengths and weaknesses in the various areas and chart them;
- exchange good practices, by creating a stakeholder network, intensify cooperation with the scientific community and investigate why demographic and social trends lead to more positive results in some regions than in others and what factors can raise attractiveness by use of endogenous resources.
3. Activities, documents, results
- Download the mandate*
- Download the decision of the last Alpine Conference adding some elements to the mandate of the Demography and Employment Working Group (Brdo, 8th March 2011 ) (Find in DE, FR, IT, SL)
* un-official English translations provided by the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention