Le Réseau Alpin des Espaces Protégés
Stop – no way through! A giant wall blocks the way of pedestrians in Zurich/CH, Vienna/A, Munich/D, Ljubljana/SI, Milan/I and Lyon/F. For animals, it’s the same every day: streets and settlements increasingly fragment their migration routes.
Against the background of the 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biodiversity, being held in Nagoya, Japan in the second half of October, the ‘Ecological Continuum Initiative’ demonstrated with ‘The Wall’ on 20 October how important interlinked habitats are for the survival of many plant and animal species.
Take a look at some media reports from the different countries at this link: www.alpine-ecological-network.org
Source: press release by Cipra International, in the frame of the Ecological Continuum, gathering CIPRA, ALPARC, WWF and ISCAR
A new report “Implementing a Pan-Alpine Ecological Network - A Compilation of Major Approaches, Tools and Activities” on the alpine activities on ecological connectivity over the past years has been published in the series “BfN Skripten” of the German Federal Agency of Nature Protection.
During the last few years various documents, publications and reports which reflect approaches, tools and activities that support the implementation of an ecological network across the Alps have been published. Some of this information had not been made available for a wide public until now. Others exist only as comprehensive independent publications. Therefore these activities and results have now been compiled and summarised by the Ecological Continuum Initiative in the report “Implementing a Pan-Alpine Ecological Network - A Compilation of Major Approaches, Tools and Activities”.
This new report is available in English language. It is available for download here . You can order your free copy writing to kerstin.lehmann@bfn.de
The second international meeting of the pilot regions which proceeded in Dobbiaco/Toblach on April 22, 2010 bore its fruits. Indeed, the pilot regions adopted a common tool, entitled JECAMI (Joint Ecological Continuum Analysing and Mapping Initiative-Web services).
This instrument is proposed by the Swiss National Park in collaboration with the Arinas company;
The benefits of this initiative are numerous, indeed, it will make it possible the Pilot regions to apply a strategy harmonized in order to analyze the situation of ecological connectivity.
The pilot regions will be able to identify the ideal and priority surface to establish future measures of connectivity, then to make use of it like support of communication on Internet for the various users, and authorities.
This easily accessible tool will bring a visibility of connectivity. It will be possible to visualize at the same time the habitats of the species and the results of connectivity.
Econnect awaited an effective tool to incorporate and to combine the space results of the project and a facilitated access of all the stakeholders concerned, it’s done!
Ruedi Haller from the Swiss National Park presents the cartographic tool JECAMI
http://www.alparc.org/the-alparc-network/a-spatial-network/project-econnect
The Ecological Continuum Initiative has published a new series of fact sheets for local stakeholders in German, French and Italian language that are now available online.
The fact sheets are not only informative brochures; their main objective is to put the ideas into action. This is why their target group are the stakeholders, who directly implement ecological networks (e.g. from the ECONNECT pilot regions).
The series of these ten fact sheets covers the most important fields of work, where connectivity measures should be implemented: agriculture, forestry, water management, hunting and fishing, spatial planning, transports, nature protection, tourism, municipalities, and other important players in the establishment of ecological networks.
Each fact sheet will explain the importance from its perspective, regarding ecological connectivity and list concrete measures that stakeholders will be encouraged to implement. Furthermore, good-practice examples from the Alps will be presented in each fact sheet and will show that connectivity measures do work. These good examples will motivate the stakeholders to imitate them.
The printable pdf version of the fact sheets on nature protection, agriculture, transports, landscape planning, water management and forestry are already available for download at: www.alpine-ecological-network.org.
Established in 2008, the Nagelfluhkette Nature Park brings together communities in the southern Allgäu and the Vorderer Bregenzerwald. It is the first nature park to span the border between Germany and Austria. The communities contained in the protected area are all located in the renowned Nagelfluhkette range. The massif is mainly composed of Nagelfluh, a conglomerate made from innumerable riverbed pebbles of varying sizes which have been compacted to form the rock. The most famous peak is the Hochgrat (1,834 m) which rears up more than 1,000 m above the surrounding valleys. The Nagelfluhkette Nature Park is home to many valuable species, including capercaillie, black grouse, golden eagles, white-backed woodpeckers and mountain apollos.
Because of the area's geological diversity, the deep soil layers can be both chalky and sandy. Consequently, the plant life is incredibly rich and varied. As well as Alchemilla cleistophylla (Allgäu lady's mantle), a plant endemic to the protected area, plant-lovers will find purple gentian, wood pinks and noble silver firs.
The Nagelfluhkette is an area of established, mature farmland which is surprisingly well preserved given its location on the edge of the northern Alps. This reflects the importance of agriculture, with around 400 farmers, many of whom use Alpine farming practices which have shaped the landscape. There is an unusually high proportion of grazing meadows on both sides of the border.
Alongside agriculture and forestry, tourism has been a mainstay of the area covered by the natural park for the last century. The 14 communities within the protected area have an impressive 20,000 beds on offer in hotels, guesthouses and holiday homes in order to cater for around 2.5 million overnight stays each year.
The new management body has a lot on its plate. The currently priorities are developing sustainable tourism products (top quality walking paths and networks of paths); setting up environmental education activities (programme of walks and field trips, information points); promoting sales of regional products (partnership scheme), and providing practical support for sustainable regional development. The management body is based in Oberstaufen, Germany, and is responsible for the whole nature park, including the parts in Austria. The management board and committees all contain representatives from both sides of the border which is beneficial for joint development projects.
Rolf Eberhard, director
Contact details:
Naturpark Nagelfluhkette e.V.
Schloßstraße 8
D-87534 Oberstaufen
Tel. 0049 8386 9300 -328 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 0049 8386 9300 -328 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax. 0049 8386 9300 -339
info@naturpark-nagelfluhkette.eu
|
Name of the protected area |
Naturpark Nagelfluhkette (nature park) |
|
Managing organisation (if different) |
Naturpark Nagelfluhkette e.V. |
|
Country |
Germany / Austria |
|
Area (ha) |
40100 |
|
Year of creation |
German part on the 1st of january 2008, Austrian part on the 27th of may 2008 |
|
UICN category |
none |
|
Legal basis |
In Germany: Natural park (reconnu) |
|
Included regions |
Germany: Allgäu, in the state of Bavaria |
|
Number of municipalities |
14 |
|
Highest point (m) |
465 |
|
Lowest point (m) |
2050 |
|
Population |
around 13 000 residents |
|
Forest surface |
around 20900 ha |
|
Glacier surface |
0 |
|
Pasture surface |
around 8140 ha |
|
Prevailing landscape types |
Mixed mountain forest, subalpine spruce forest, alpine pastures, high and low marshes, forest gorges, natural ground running water |
|
Emblematic fauna |
Western Capercaillie, Black Grouse, Hazel Grouse, Golden Eagle, Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker, Apollo (butterfly), Red Deer, Chamois |
|
Emblematic flora |
Alchemilla, Dianthus sylvestris, Gentiana, Silver Fir |
|
Major touristic attractions |
Mountain chain Nagelfluhkette, lake Alpsee, cave Sturmannshöhle, ecomuseums Frauenmuseum and Juppenwerkstatt |
|
Information center(s) (quanitity, name, topics) |
From the end of next year, information center Lake house (AlpSeeHaus) will be opened in Immenstadt, other information points are in construction on the top stations of the cable cars. |
|
Website |
|
|
Number of employees |
1 |
|
Access |
Nearest train stations : Bregenz, Oberstaufen, Immenstadt, Blaichach ou Fischen, and bus |
The Alps and the Carpathians shelter a large variety of large wild animals such as deer, lynx, wolf or bear – species that nowadays strongly depend on humans for the conservation of their natural habitat.
The corridor between the Alps and the Carpathians is a traditional migration route for wildlife. This corridor does not only connect the Eastern border of the Alps with the Little Carpathians in Slovakia but also crosses a highly dynamic European region located between the cities of Bratislava, Sopron and Vienna.
In the frame of this transboundary project financed by European funds, several actors collaborate with the aim of the definition and exemplary realisation of concrete activities to improve ecological connectivity. These actors come from nature protection and landscape planning and cooperate with partners from transport, agri- and silviculture, hunting or tourism and also with the concerned communes.
After an intensive preparation phase the project was started mid February 2010. Several partners from Austria and Slovakia are involved in the project.
The Alps-Carpathians corridor supports the aims of the Alpine Convention and constitutes, besides the Danube and the Green Belt along the former “iron curtain”, a major migration route of European importance.
Link to the official project homepage:
http://www.alpenkarpatenkorridor.at/
Further information about the project:
In response to global warming, the Hohe Tauern National Park in Austria has decided to lead by example. Working together with political decision-makers, the Park's Mittersill visitor centre (Salzburg) is expanding its environmental education programme. The National Park Climate Change School project is designed to teach children and young people how to respect the natural world.
Building on the environmental education formula of experience + knowledge = informed action, young people are shown a wheel of time that indicates how the climate has changed over the last few thousand of years and its impact on the Pasterze glacier. The commentary also refers to the large block of ice housed in the visitor centre. Schoolchildren who visit the National Park are taught about a wide range of climate issues in the purpose-built Science Centre . The Science Centre has its own weather station which can be used to compare meteorological date and thereby demonstrate the realities of global warming. With the aid of a thermometer, pupils observe the difference in temperature gains when sun shines into a clean or CO2-rich atmosphere.
Many schoolteachers who have brought their students to Hohe Tauern National Park confirm that this educational format is very effective. Around 25,000 schoolchildren from Austria, Germany and Switzerland have taken part in the National Park's environmental education programme. Hopefully, given the scale of the audience, future generations will have a more sustainable view of the natural world.
Source: summary of a Hohe Tauern National Park press release
Succès pour la première journée de randonnée pour personnes handicapées au Parc régional Chasseral / Suisse
Se retrouver en pleine nature, loin du goudron, pour des personnes handicapées est désormais chose possible. La preuve au Parc régional Chasseral / Suisse où la première journée de randonnée pour les personnes à mobilité réduite a été un vrai succès. Grâce à des chaises roulantes tout terrain, les joëlettes, 15 personnes handicapées et une vingtaine d’accompagnants ont partagé une promenade, sur des sentiers parfois escarpés, dans la joie et la bonne humeur.
La Joëlette est un fauteuil tout terrain mono-roue qui permet la pratique de la randonnée à toute personne à mobilité réduite, enfant ou adulte même très lourdement dépendant avec l’aide de deux pilotes. Elle ouvre pour des personnes à mobilité réduite un horizon complètement inaccessible auparavant. Grâce à son système de frein et d'excellents amortisseurs, cet engin permet d'emprunter des sentiers escarpés et de découvrir des paysages nouveaux dont les amoureux de la nature ne sauront se passer. Les familles ont ainsi la possibilité de partir ensemble en randonnée. L'utilisation de la Joëlette est très simple. Elle se démonte et se plie pour faciliter le transport.
L’aventure de la première journée de randonnée pour personnes handicapées est née de la collaboration entre GSAB Aventures, spécialiste du sport adapté, le Parc régional Chasseral et 9 institutions des cantons du Jura, Berne, Neuchâtel et Vaud.
Forts de ce succès, le prestataire et le parc régional prévoient de développer ensemble un nouvel événement de sport adapté lors de la journée européenne des Parcs en mai 2010.
In order to improve the preservation of large carnivores in the Alps and the Carpathians, the international colloquium "Large carnivores: management, research and public relation strategies of the protected areas" was organised in the Nizke Tatry National Park in Slovakia from 2nd - 4th July 2009.
More than 70 specialists of protected areas, universities, NGOs and ministries in the Alps and the Carpathians met in Liptovsky Jan / Slovakia to broach the complex and often taboo issue of the symbolic species of the mountains: the bear, the wolf and the lynx.
The general presentations of the current situation in both massifs were followed by other lectures, in which participants communicated the results of their research activities, particularly in the field of species’ monitoring, migration and health problems. The main part of the meeting was dedicated to exchanges on the subject of the management of these species, especially in regard to management plans, measures of compensation and conflict management between human activities and these animals. The last session of presentations principally treated the importance of communication activities, environmental education and public relations.
The significance of a very close cooperation between both massifs in this subject was raised during the discussions. To emphasize this cooperation it has been decided to create a common working group "Large carnivores" between ALPARC and CNPA. This group ought to meet soon, after the nomination of a working group leader on the part of the Carpathians.
At the end of this meeting, a brochure about large carnivores in protected areas of the Alps and the Carpathians was published.
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In the course of the collaboration between ALPARC and REEMA (Alpine Mountain Environment Education Network, which covers the French Alps), we realised that we needed a better understanding of the practices and programmes associated with education about the mountain environment in other Alpine protected areas.
In 2008, we began the first review of all such programmes, focussing primarily on innovation. We identified around 40-odd heads of unit responsible for this area to whom we sent a short, 10-point questionnaire. We have received around 20 responses so far from five Alpine countries.
The compendium is made up of summary factsheets: currently all the documents are available in French and English and some are also available in the relevant national language. Each factsheet includes a contact name and website.
For example, you can learn what a park school is, or find out about mixed-age walks, junior rangers, climate education or the game "following the tracks of the wolf". The compendium is available online at www.alparc.org (under Our actions, Environmental education and awareness-raising ).
Of course, the aim is to promote discussion of different experiences within the network. So this is just the beginning: the members of REEMA have already found the results useful and work will continue in 2009 so as to keep on adding to the compendium.
In 2010 we plan to hold the first meeting of environmental education officers.
We would be delighted to hear about your experiences. Contact Marie Stoeckel for more information or to request a copy of the 10-point questionnaire (available in all four Alpine languages).
2008 was a very important year for ecological networks in the Alps. Here is a brief overview of everything that has been done :
After 17 months of intensive work during the pre-project phase, the four partners (CIPRA, ISCAR, the WWF and ALPARC) have presented the results that will form the foundations for moving ahead with the practical work on ecological networks in the Alps.
The methodology for establishing ecological networks was out together by a range of scientific experts and has now been finalised and published. The methodology is available at www.alpine-ecological-network.org . The catalogue of measures will also be available soon.
The pilot areas in Austria and Switzerland have already held initial meetings with the key local contributors and activities have now begun in the regions. Meetings with the stakeholders in Germany are due to be held in the near future. In France, the Isère département has begun the operational phase of its large-scale project to recreate biological corridors in the Grésivaudan valley, which includes installing special "animals crossing "warning signs at key points on the road network, alterations to water plants, major awareness-raising campaigns, and more.
The Alpine Space programme — a European Territorial Cooperation programme — has approved a project proposal with a budget of over EUR 3 million on this subject. The official launch of the ECONNECT project was held in Vienna in early November 2008 (see article ).
The German presidency of the ecological network platform of the Alpine Convention has commissioned consultants to devise selection criteria to identify potential pilot Alpine sites for the creation of ecological network projects. In January 2009, France will take over the presidency of the platform for two years (to end-2010).
As you can see, 2008 was a very fruitful year for ecological networks. Not only have we been able to establish a common approach and vision for the Alps, we have also put the first few pieces of the Alpine ecological network in place. We hope that 2009 will be equally productive, so that we can see even more of the bigger picture emerge.