The Alps

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The Alps

Average altitude 1700 m (5576 ft.). The Alps determine the climate and vegetation,

providing a continental watershed. While the Alps contribute enormously to the Swiss

identity, economic activity is concentrated in the Plateau.

The Platue

Depopulated mountain regions

Two thirds of the country is covered by mountains, ice, rocks, forests and alpine

meadows. 11 per cent of the population live in the mountain regions.

Urbanized landscape

If you travel across the Plateau, from Lake Geneva to Lake Constance, you never pass

through unpopulated territory. The landscape continually shows signs of man's presence.

When you leave a town, the next one is never far away. Villages lie within sight of each

other.

Cultivated land: green and intensively used.

if you travel through the Plateau, you will be amazed at how green the countryside is; it

appears to have just been painted. Then you notice how organized everything is, as if it

has been drawn with a ruler. Fields are followed by more fields, with a dense road

network between them. Everything is neat and clearlylaid out. Nowhere will you drive

past endless fields given over to a single crop. Instead, meadows alternate with fields

sown to cereals or other crops. Between them are small woods. The land is used

intensively.

Land utilization

The dense population and economic concentration in the Plateau (30 percent of the

country's surface area) means that more and more cultivated land is being lost. In

Switzerland as a whole, 1 m2 (11 sq.ft.) of land has been built over every second since

the early 1980s by encroaching housing and infrastructure. The greatest expansion has

been in the conurbations of the Plateau. Even outside the built-up areas there have...

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...membership of the

international body. The issue is due for a popular vote in 2002. The Swiss also voted to

remain outside the European Economic Area in 1992. All the neighboring countries -

with the exception of Liechtenstein - are EU members. Switzerland is not. Despite this,

Switzerland's most important trading partners are EU countries. The biggest partner is

Germany, followed by France, Italy and the United Kingdom. In 2000 60% of exports

went to EU countries, and 78% of the imports came from EU states. In May 2000 the

Swiss people approved a bilateral agreement with the EU that had taken 4 years to

negotiate, but in 2001 nearly 77% of the population voted against a proposal to start EU

accession negotiations immediately.The Swiss government, which called for the proposal

to be rejected, has made it clear that it wishes to take the country into the EU.

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