Hard work, little income: the work on a total of around 30,000 alpine pastures in the Alps is arduous.
Alpine researcher Werner Bätzing sees the companies in danger.
And calls for concrete steps.
Munich / Bad Hindelang - For Werner Bätzing, the alpine pastures and alps are more than just a special form of agriculture.
"Especially for city dwellers, the alpine pastures are a place they long for," says the renowned alpine researcher.
"They are a myth for the original naturalness." And that, although the cultivation of the mountain meadows is by no means original nature, but a form of cultural landscape that has been practiced for centuries.
Alpine pastures in Bavaria's Alps: Researcher Bätzing identifies three core problems
But Bätzing, Professor of Cultural Geography at the Institute of Geography at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, sees the 30,000 or so alpine pastures in danger.
On Monday in Bad Hindelang he presented his new bibliography on alpine farming, in which he listed 2,400 works in six languages on more than 300 pages - for everyone who wants to get an overview of current and past research on alpine farming .
And he identified three problems that are particularly troubling for alpine farmers.
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Werner Bätzing
© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand
1. The economic pressure.
While less productive areas are being given up and growing over, productive areas are being used more and more intensively in order to be able to keep up with the large farms in the valley. Only with the proceeds for their products cannot the common good of the alpine farmers be compensated from the nature-friendly landscape maintenance to the cultural heritage in the regions, says Bätzing. Therefore, from his point of view, state subsidies for alpine farming should be expanded even further.
2. The predators.
Many alpine farmers have been on the barricades against the spread of the wolf for years.
And Bätzing also says: herd protection measures are difficult to implement, especially in high altitudes.
“That's why the wolf has to be kept at a distance,” demands Bätzing.
Means: shooting near the alpine pastures.
For this, from Bätzing's point of view, the protective status of the wolf would have to be relaxed - because it was still at the level of the 1970s.
Recently a pastor also appealed for more shooting and called for wolf-free zones.
Bavarian Alps: mass tourism does more harm than good
3. Tourism.
Frightened animals, noise, wild camping - "Hikers and e-bikers put a strain on the alpine pastures with inappropriate behavior," says Bätzing. In addition, more and more alpine villages are being converted into hotel landscapes. But mass tourism harms the Alpine regions more than it creates added value, says Bätzing. “Unregulated excursion tourism only leaves scorched earth. That is why we need significantly more control measures and education. ”Because many day trippers no longer have any idea what is actually going on on the mountain pastures. And he is of the opinion: "E-bikers have no business in the mountains." It is a complex problem *.
Strong theses that Bätzing is presenting in Bad Hindelang.
But he is convinced that it is worth tackling the challenges of alpine farming.
Because for him the alpine pastures are also a symbol.
“They show us in an exemplary way that it is possible to produce valuable food and at the same time increase biodiversity and manage it in a climate-friendly way.” Therefore, according to Bätzing, “the alpine pastures must not be lost under any circumstances”.
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