Holarctic Marmots as a factor of Biodiversity.
Rumiantsev V.Yu;, Nikol'skii A.A. & Brandler O.V. eds.,
Abstracts, 3d Conference on Marmots (Cheboksary, Russia, 25-30 August 1997),
Moscow ABF 1997, 216p., 81 (Russian), 182 (English).


SOME ASPECTS OF THE PRESENT SOCIO-ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE ALPINE MARMOT IN FRANCE


R. Ramousse, O. Giboulet

Laboratoire de Socioécologie; et Conservation Bâtiment 403, UCBL1, Villeurbanne Cedex, France


Alpine marmot is an emblematic animal of human populations of the Alps and of their economic evolution. We try to precise and to evaluate the impact of some cultural and economic aspects of this wild species on the present French society.

From local (farming and trading) and regional (re-introductions) studies on demands and costs linked to the alpine marmot, a financial assessment is proposed.

A comparative study of the trading use of the marmot and chamois names, in the different French departments, by analysis of the French electronic directory of telephone numbers, showed the importance of the use of the marmot image or name as economical support.

The frequency and the localization of the people contacting our WWW site on marmots (in French, English and Italian) allowed to precise the international importance of this new media and its interest as cultural promotion.

At last, the study of a world bibliographic directory on marmots, showed that these animals are used as model in numerous research fields, that the number of researches is increasing, especially in biodiversity conservation and valuation of patrimony fields. Among the fourteen species of marmots, the alpine marmot was and is still the most often studied. The reason may be that this species was endangered till the Second World War in Europe and is now linked to the summer touristic development of the Alps.

The traditional socio-economic value of this species changed and followed the social, cultural and economic changes which convulsed the alpine environment in France these last decades. Its attractive power on summer tourism makes this species a valuable asset of alpine patrimony.


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