Re:Réunion: the postmen of the peaks
by Mediterraneo10 on Thursday May 06, 2021 @11:04AM
(#27064285)
I read this article a few days ago, and the question I was asking myself was: how do people in these isolated communities support themselves? The article mentions people even moving back to these communities from the developed parts of the island. Is there some industry there to keep them employed, or do they live purely from benefits?
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Benefits play a large part, and many of the costs for logistics (such as bringing in materials by helicopter) are subsidised.
As far as industry goes, there is none. Activities are limited to tourism and hospitality (it's a famous destination) and farming.
Until 2019, each inhabitant was producing their own electricity with solar panels, but since then they are experimenting with a "micro-grid" to try to manage this resource in a collective way.
They're mostly self-sufficient for food, and then have some revenue from tourism (with lodges, etc) and state employment (civil servants working for the schools, town hall, forestry service, etc).
It's not a high income community and there's a lot of unemployment, but it's not like people are just sitting there waiting for money to fall from the sky.