The Pyrenean valleys of Aezkoa, Salazar and Roncal would be a demographic desert of 3.8 square kilometres of population density (with an average of 68.1 inhabitants per square kilometre). In addition, 6.3% of this population would be older and the eastern Pyrenees would be an "open-air geriatric".

Revitalization of the agri-food industry

In the last decade, a generation of young entrepreneurs has been registered in these valleys, which has led to the rebirth of the agri-food industry. Proof of this are the cheese manufacturing companies, together with other holdings engaged in the sale of organic pork, lamb, pork and calf products.

In this context, on January 27, we attended the inauguration of the Bordaxaki project, led by local entrepreneurs Andoni Arizkuren and Iñaki Zoko. This facility features a porcine product processing plant known as "Euskal Txerri" and a sales shop for these products, showing that the new sap has reached the heart of the Navarre Pyrenees and that a living and sustainable Pyrenees is possible.

Need for new jobs

The variability of the energy market makes green energy appear as an energy alternative. This means that the current forestry industry will have to be transformed into farms that plant species of higher added value or sustainably produce the biomass needed to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, being the paradigm of the wood carving biomass plant of Aoiz (Navarra).

Furthermore, since the production of wood chips is cheaper than that of pellets, it cannot be ruled out the deployment of new wood biomass plants in the Pyrenees. Thus, the Government of Navarra would commission a study on the feasibility of a new plant for biomass of chips in the Iciz de Salazar polygon to take advantage of the synergies of forestry holdings in the Salazar, Aezkoa and Roncal valleys. In fact, pine wood cuts increased exponentially due to the significant increase in the price of this raw material.

Unfortunately, this study would be hidden in a drawer, so it seems urgent to us that the Boards of the three valleys put pressure on the Foral Government to launch it by the year 2025 and, consequently, create permanent jobs that enable the demographic growth of the Navarre Pyrenees.

Bank desertification

According to the Cash Vulnerability Index (IVAE), just over 36,300 people (about 5.5% of the population of Navarra) would be in a situation of "vulnerability" to traditional cash acquisition. In Navarre, since 2008, 41% of the branch network has been closed, so some 42,000 people from 145 municipalities would live in a digital limbo, as 6.3% would be older and digital illiterate, and would have to do more than 20 kilometers to make arrangements, and would also have to resort to third parties to use ATMs, especially for their special viability in Pirineos, Valle de Salazar.

Scarcity of occupational housing

The initiatives of local entrepreneurs are hampered by the lack of housing for rent; the case of Ochagavía would be paradigm, because whoever wants to buy or rent a house has to go to neighboring villages, because there is no residential offer in the villa of Salazar.

Accordingly, the Salazar Board and the Table of the Pyrenees should request Nasuvinsa to comply with the commitment to rehabilitate the old schools of Blanca and to build four rental homes to alleviate the endemic deficit of occupational housing, since without the supply of rental housing it is not possible to achieve a living and sustainable Pyrenees.

In short, in the Pyrenees we are experiencing decisive moments to achieve the utopia of a young, living and sustainable Pyrenees, and to achieve this we believe that government cooperation in the rehabilitation of housing, in the facilitation of access to cash and in the creation of new niches of employment is necessary and indispensable, in order to prevent the Pyrenees from becoming "theme parks of a demographic desert".

Germán Gorraiz López, Analyst (Ochagavía)