The proximity of the city of Geneva generates an ever-increasing border-population of 800,000 at the foot of the Haute Chaîne. The district of Gex, which comprises 29 communes of the Pays de Gex and of the Valserine valley, will soon have a population of 90,000.

This considerable population, alongside profound changes in society in less than 50 years, has placed a heavy burden on the High Jura: from being a working area it has evolved into a leisure space. It has become a consumer commodity like any other. Access is considered a “right” and the Reserve an area of freedom where the visitor is relieved of all constraints. It is seen as a “return to nature”, a need which has never been so vital nor so promoted by the media.

In order to limit their impact on the area, tourist activities and sport (rock climbing, potholing, walking, horse riding, VTT biking, snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing, ski touring, hang gliding, and dog-sledding) must conform to the access plan drawn up by the Prefect (articles 18 and 21 of the original statutory decree).