Welcome to European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on the EU Strategy for the Alpine region.

The Alpine region is home to 80 million European citizens and while it's one of the largest

economic and productive regions in Europe as well as an attractive tourist destination, it also

faces major challenges. That's why the seven countries and 48 regions involved in the EU strategy for the Alpine region

are working together to overcome these challenges and secure the region's sustainable development.

Want to know more to the Alps with this.

Often called Europe's Water Tower, the Alps are known worldwide for their natural beauty, varied landscapes, rich biodiversity and cultural heritage.

But this unique territory faces major challenges, most notably sustainability.

Human activity and climate change are putting the Alps rich natural resources at risk.

In the last 150 years, temperatures have increased by nearly

2 degrees Celsius in the region, almost twice as much as a global average. If this trend continues,

glaciers that have already lost half of their ice volume could lose all of it in less than 100

years. Apart from the obvious effects on the water cycle and natural environment, this could also have

catastrophic effects on the winter tourism sector. As ski resorts in the Alps attract millions

of snow sports fans from all over the world, which also, however, translates into highly

congested motorways. The region is indeed a key transport node linking the four points of the

European compass,

but there are other important challenges linked to contrasting realities and imbalances between the various territories of the region.

Notably demographic trends such as ageing and depopulation,

the isolation of certain territories, a lack of competitiveness and innovation,

or energy supply, to mention just a few.

So better cooperation between the regions and states is needed to tackle those challenges,

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