Empowering marginalised mountain communities to act for change

A demographic trend in marginalized mountain areas of Europe has been the out-migration of younger people and relocation of population from the most remote areas into nearby villages and towns. This has exacerbated the trend in the demographic profile of an ageing population with implications for delivering services and public policy addressing societal inequalities. Challenges for some mountain areas include poverty, social exclusion, and decline in public services, whereas in others large scale development (e.g., of tourism complexes, renewable energy) creates significant environmental pressures. This research employs a case study-based, mixed methods approach to understanding the challenges facing remote villages in Scottish Highlands, and the Alpine (Swiss) and Carpathian Mountains, as examples, and designing solutions to empower marginalized communities to act for change. We explore existing perspectives concerning the sustainable development of such areas and the role of social innovation for its delivery. We advance the conceptual and practical knowledge of social innovation and reveal its potential in meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We demonstrate that social innovation can help in tackling societal challenges, utilizing opportunities, and enabling third sector actors to realise their capabilities, while improving social inclusion and reducing inequality. A challenge is how to balance trade-offs (between tourism and nature restoration; bio energy production and biodiversity conservation, etc.) and take advantage of opportunities available in the mountains. Our findings inform the design of policy and practice measures in European mountain areas to address sustainability and promote social justice.

Acknowledgements
This research is funded by the Scottish Government Strategic Research Programme 2022-2027, project JHI-D5-1, the VEGA 2/0170/21 project in Slovakia, and the EU funded projects of SIMRA (GA 677622), SHERPA (GA 862448), FirEUrisk (GA 101003890) and RURACTIVE (GA 101084377). This output is linked to the activities of the IUFRO Unit 4.05.05 on Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship.