ABSTRACT
High-altitude environments have long been successfully utilised to productive effect by human populations. The various climatological and geomorphological zones have been used for different purposes, and the method of resource use has, in many cases, allowed sustainable exploitation of these resources. As a general rule, in the highest zones, the land is effectively wilderness. On the intermediate slopes, a transition between grazing and forest use and cultivated terraces occurs, and on lower slopes intensive settlement and agriculture takes place, where every plot of land is carefully guarded and managed in order to maintain its productivity.
