Das Netzwerk Alpiner Schutzgebiete
The short video "Alpine Dream - Alpine Nightmare" (original title: Alp(en)traum) is about a hiker who discovers an untouched landscape. He takes pictures with his smartphone and posts them on the Internet. His posts reach a large number of people. Different investors start developing numerous business ideas for the area. The original untouched landscape and quietness has to give way to a noisy and colorful amusement park. After a few years the hiker comes back and notices the landscape changed completely.
What do you think might be the reactions to his current pictures of the landscape on the Internet? To see the answer - Watch the video!
The short video has been developed by Berchtesgaden National Park in the frame of the Interreg Alpine Space project YOUrALPS.
"Vivre la montagne - une pédagogie de la rencontre" (Living the mountain - a pedagogy of the meeting) presents the importance of outdoor experiences in the mountains for kids and stresses the key role of schools. The students of the High school Reinach had the chance to do a school field trip to discover the mountain and to experience the rich natural and cultual Alpine heritage. The video presents students', teachers' and other stakeholders' perception of the experience.
This video has been producted by the High School Reinach (Chambery - FR) under the framwork of the Interreg Alpine Space project YOUrALPS
The short film "Together Alone" (original title: Gemeinsam Einsam) is a reflection on the impact of the use of smartphones on youth and their connection to nature. It was made by and with kids from the National Park Berchtesgaden (DE). The video was developed under the framework of the Interreg Alpine Space project YOUrALPS.
The dystopic short film "Last Flower“ describes how the world in 2069 could look like if humanity failed to achieve the necessary climate goals. Will there be enough hope to save humanity? The film has been made by and with the kids from the Berchtesgaden National Park (DE) within the Interreg Alpine Space project YOUrALPS.
The short film "The Insect effect“ (original title: Der Insekteffekt) is all about the long-term impacts of biodiversity loss. In a very creative way, it links matters of ecological relevance and biodiversity in Alpine spaces and beyond, with social aspects such as humanity. The film was made by and with kids from the Berchtesgaden National Park (DE) within the Interreg Alpine Space project YOUrALPS.
Official video from the 3rd edition of Youth at the Top!
This working group’s main objective is to foster exchanges between educators in the protected areas in order to share various pedagogical activities and tools, to identify future opportunities for collaboration and to define common needs for the working group itself. The group meets every two years in a different protected area in the Alpine arc to discuss different key themes. This exchange allows for educators and project managers to discover new approaches and to exchange experiences and practices. In the past few years, the group also gave feedback on the international project ‘Youth at the Top’ with the aim of further improving the initiative. The latest working group meeting was held in Triglav National Park (SL) in 2018 and different debates took place on the use of new technologies in outdoor education and youth participation in protected areas.
The ESD in the Alps working group was originally created in 1998 as a communication working group with the goal of being a horizontal group that touches upon a wide range of topics. In ALPARC's early years, the emphasis was on developing internal communications by fostering exchanges between the managers of Alpine Protected Areas. The working group also incorporated various communication initiatives, such as the results from the ALPENCOM project from 2005 to 2007, whose goal was to establish a communication and information exchange system for the sustainable management of natural resources in the Alps and to ensure a regular exchange, training and common planning on environmental management issues.
The Memorial
The Memorial Danilo Re is a two-day sports event and the largest gathering for Alpine park rangers and managers, whose day-to-day work is dedicated to conserving and protecting Alpine biodiversity. Protected areas form teams and compete in four sports categories: mountaineering ski, giant slalom, shooting and cross-country. In 2018 a record number of 50 teams from Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia and even Slovakia took part in the Danilo Re Memorial event.
Moreover, the Danilo Re Memorial is an opportunity for those working in Alpine Protected Areas to get acquainted with each other. It symbolizes the friendship, efforts and shared objectives of all communities accommodating Alpine Protected Areas. It is more than just a sporting event, as the memorial presents itself as an opportunity to promote the Alpine territory on an international level and to highlight tourism, sports and hospitality in the protected areas.
The Danilo Re Memorial consists of:
Danilo Re was a ranger and botanic expert which died from an accident in 1995 while on the job. A sports competition in memory of his legacy was first held in 1996 in the Piedmont region for park rangers. It was later opened to national and international participation and integrated a theme-based seminar.
For more information, please see the official website:
ALPARC is the lead partner of two innovative Alpine Space projects: ALPBIONET2030 and YOUrALPS. These two projects have been running since 2016. The projects outputs and results are now ready to be presented and discussed during the projects’ final events from October 8th to 11th in Chamonix and Chambéry (FR).
ALPBIONET2030: Protecting habitats and species by enhancing ecological connectivity is the main focus of this project. In this context, transnational cooperation is the key to harmonising the interventions required for nature protection. Moreover, it will develop over time the proper planning and tools needed to ensure effective and efficient ecological connectivity for biodiversity conservation.
The ALPBIONET Final Conference will be a unique opportunity to get to know the project results and approaches and to further discuss their implementation in day-to-day work for Alpine biodiversity and the protected areas.
The project’s website can be found here.
Registrations are still open and are available here.
YOUrALPS: Educating young people to sustainable development in their Alpine territories is a prerequisite for a lively future in the mountains. On the scientific basis of Mountain-oriented Education, the partners of the project have developed a lot of activities to adopt innovative approaches in school to favour young people’s understanding of their changing environment and to re-connect them to the natural and cultural heritage of the Alps.
The YOUrALPS Final Conference will be the perfect occasion to learn more about the innovative pedagogical approaches that have been developed in the last three years and to exchange with teachers, students and educators from different educational backgrounds.
The project’s website is available here.
Registrations are closed, but if you wish to take part to the conference please contact us by email: info@alparc.org
A peatland is a particular type of wetland that can be found in naturally intact areas and is generally known for storing greenhouse gasses (GHGs). In the scientific language it is a GHGs ‘sink’. In fact, worldwide peatlands store more carbon than all other vegetation types combined. However, due to climate change and other external conditions, a peatland might turn into a ‘source’ of GHGs, releasing CO2 and methane in the atmosphere.
This is what happened to the Monte Bondone’s peatland (Italy, 1563m above sea level) due to temperature increases. This ecosystem was studied for three years by Italian and Irish researchers that discovered that the wetland released a considerable amount of CO2 in the atmosphere (J.W.M. Pullens et al., 2016)1 . This finding is in contrast with what has been observed to date in most of European peatlands. The cause? Mostly the shortening of the snow period, a rise in temperatures and a decrease in precipitation.
Taking action
Peatlands are key habitats contributing to climate change mitigation. However, some of them are threatened by human exploitation and climate change. For these reasons, different states in Europe are taking action in order to enhance peatlands’ ‘sink’ function and to avoid them turning into CO2 ‘sources’. EUROPARC Federation insists that restoring peatlands is a powerful means to fight against climate change and pollution being that peatlands are “the most efficient terrestrial carbon-sink in the world”.
In the Alps
The LIFE project “Tourbières du Jura” aims at restoring 60 peatlands distributed in 16 Natura 2000 sites in the Doubs and Jura departments. Different restoring interventions that have been carried out are giving positive results that will ultimately benefit a surface of more than 600 hectares. These results will be presented on Thursday 14th November 2019 during a conference dedicated to Alpine wetlands in Annecy (FR).
The regional government of the Bavarian Alps is carrying out operations (singe 1998) for the restoration of endangered peatlands by means of increasing the amount of water and removing young trees and bushes.
And elsewhere
Together with nine partners from Poland, Germany and the Baltic states the LIFE Climate Mitigation project “Peat Restore” aims at rewetting degraded peatlands for an area of 5,300 hectares to restore their natural function as carbon sinks.
The managing organizations of the protected areas of the North of England are collectively investing an unprecedented amount of money and energies for the restoration of damaged peatlands during the conservation works season 2019-2021.
Sources
The article from EUROPARC:
https://www.europarc.org/news/2019/07/restoring-peatlands/
The measures taken in the Bavarian Alps:
https://www.cipra.org/en/good-practice/peatland-restoration-in-the-region-of-the-alps-in-bavaria
The LIFE project “Tourbières du Jura”:
http://www.life-tourbieres-jura.fr/
Conference on Alpine wetlands – 14 November 2019 in Annecy (FR):
“Zones humides de montagne, « Amortisseurs » et 1eres victimes des changements globaux ?”
The LIFE project “Peat Restore”:
https://life-peat-restore.eu/en/
The commitment of English protected areas’ managing organization to preserve peatlands:
https://www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk/the-latest/recent-news/moorlife-2020/the-conservation-works-season-of-20192021-is-set-to-be-the-biggest-yet-for-peatland-restoration
[1]. J.W.M. Pullens et al., 2016, Carbon fluxes of an Alpine peatland in Northern Italy, in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, ELSEVIER.