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作者

来源

EUROPEAN PLANNING STUDIES,Vol.26,Issue5,P.1028-1040

语言

英文

关键字

Isolation; island borders; cost of insularity; outermost regions; island regions; Canary Islands

作者单位

[Leon Garcia-Rodriguez, Jose] Univ La Laguna, Dept Geog & Hist, Tenerife, Spain. [Castilla-Gutierrez, Carlos] Univ La Laguna, Dept Econ Aplicada & Metodos Cuantitativos, Tenerife, Spain. [Garcia-Rodriguez, Francisco J.] Univ La Laguna, Dept Business Management & Econ Hist, Camino de La Hornera S-N, Tenerife 38071, Spain. Garcia-Rodriguez, FJ (reprint author), Univ La Laguna, Dept Business Management & Econ Hist, Camino de La Hornera S-N, Tenerife 38071, Spain. E-Mail: fgarciar@ull.es

摘要

The defining element of island regions is their isolation, the separation of the islands from the mainland; there is an inherent notion of natural border. This condition has preserved ecosystems and protected against outside threats, stimulating coevolution' between man and the environment, a fundamental ingredient of sustainability. But insularity also means the evident added costs of access to markets which, together with territorial limits and the scarcity of basic resources, especially on small islands, hinders their socioeconomic development. These costs are even greater in the case of outlying islands, which suffer from a double insularity' in the form of both external and internal borders. For this reason, it is common for governments to establish various forms of support, from tax exemptions to the creation of permanent aid funds, like those implemented by the European Union for the outermost regions. This article discusses these aspects in the case of the Canary Islands, an example of a European outermost island region. The findings show that the support measures have not always been favourable for all the islands.