Dear friends of the Alpine protected areas,

The network of Alpine protected areas is a success story of long years about the implementation of the Alpine Convention, which began as early as 1995 on French initiative, developed further in the following years and joined the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention in 2006 as the Task Force Protected Areas. A new stage began on 1st January 2014 with the formal independence and creation of the ALPARC association.

It has been the goal throughout all those years to interconnect the protected areas in the Alps and to strengthen the biodiversity and the sustainable development of our unique area of the Alps as a joint responsibility.

For the Alpine Convention this means that with ALPARC we can count on a strong partner, with whom we have many things in common. We also laid the foundation for the future by signing a Memorandum of cooperation. Our first task this year is to define concrete contents and joint projects, and to support one another as well as possible. ALPARC’s programme for the next two years contains a series of important ideas and plans, such as the continuation of the important work to further the development of the network, the youth work and the joint public relations work, just to name a few.

The protected areas are jewels of the Alps! Invaluable jewels! The protection of these areas and their valorisation must therefore continue to feature as a priority in implementing the Alpine Convention in the future.

I therefore look forward to the cooperation between the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention and ALPARC with a view to achieving our joint goals.

Yours,

Markus Reiterer