Implementation of innovative structures for a sustainable development in mountain areas: Evidences from Switzerland

The Swiss study area comprises the canton Valais (fr) resp. Wallis (ge), situated in the south-west of Switzerland in the western central alps. The Valais is the third largest canton of total 26 cantons of Switzerland and covers 5,225 km2 (13% of Switzerland). It extends up to Italy (200 km), France (90 km) and 4 other Swiss cantons (228 km). Almost the whole area belongs to the basin of river Rhone and it is enclosed by high mountain ranges: The Bernese Alps in the north (with Mt. Finsteraarhorn, 4,274 m above sea level), the Massif of Mont Blanc in the south-west, the Penninic Massif in the south and south-east and the Gotthard Massiv in the east. The highest point of Valais is the Pte Dufour (4,634 m above sea level), the lowest the bank of the Lake Geneva (372 m). The climatic conditions in the Valais are strongly influenced by the geographical situation in the central alps: it is a continental alpine climate with semiarid zones in the lower areas (< 600 mm rain a year) and snow and glacier covered, humid areas in the mountain ranges (> 3,200 mm rain). Corresponding to the climatical and topographical variety, flora and fauna are very manifold and valuable; the Valais is an area with a very high biodiversity of Mediterranean and Nordic species.