Le Réseau Alpin des Espaces Protégés
The Ecological Continuum Initiative has developed a very unusual communication tool: a large wall that can easily be set up in a public space or a pedestrian zone to restrict access. The barrier illustrates the difficulties that roads and conurbations create for wildlife by cutting off their migratory routes.
The wall contains animal-shaped blank sections and displays information on how natural habitats are being linked up in networks. In October 2010, as part of the International Year of Biodiversity, six walls were erected at the same time in six major Alpine towns and attracted a lot of media attention.
Are you planning an event to focus attention on the fragmentation of natural habitats? If so, why not make use of one of the six walls, free of charge, during the event? Information brochures suitable for handing out to passers-by are also available.
For more information and to obtain a paper copy of the information brochures, contact Mateja Pirc .
The project “Equilibri Naturali” is designed to bring children closer to nature.It focuses in particular on addressing current social issues such as obesity, short attention spans and dependency on television and computer games by promoting outdoor experiences through creative activities and a more relaxed pace of life.
In addition to the opportunity to teach children about sustainability, the outdoor activities help to create a sense of "belonging" to an area. The activities allow children to rediscover the value of interacting with others (playing games, shared outdoor adventures) whilst also improving the way that they learn.
The Natural Balance programme was developed by the Monti Sibillini National Park in Italy and has been implemented by AIDAP (Italian Association of protected area directors and staff). Many Italian protected areas have signed up to the project, including the Belluno Dolomites National Park, which is very actively involved.
Details of the Natural Balance programme and events are available online at the Italian protected areas website (www.parks.it ).
For further information:
The decision was taken by the region of Geneva and the local Swiss and French municipalities: from April 2011, the road between Mategnin (Meyrin / GE, Switzerland) and France will be removed through populations of amphibians!
The Nature reserves "Les marais des Crêts " and "Les marais des Fontaines", where you can find many species pertaining to this class, of which 70% are on the IUCN Red List of threatened species , in an area of 15 hectares, will again reconnected for the development of flora and fauna. The permanent dismantling of a road happens for the first time in Switzerland. It allows the creation of a large nature reserve, which contributes to the reconstruction of an ecological network.
More information on: http://www.espacemategnin.ch/ and http://www.pronatura.ch
The Ecrins National Park created, with the initiative of the Centre of Alpine Orality (General Council of Hautes-Alpes ), an archive of documentaries and sound creations, recorded mainly in the alpine massif. These archives, a contribution to memories of the territory, are available on the webpage “Pierres qui roulent ”.
This webpage offers you to listen to sound creations, documentaries, stories and sound effects of the alpine region. All recordings are produced giving a voice to those who live the mountainous life every day.
Further infomation (in french) at:
Based on interviews with 21 alpine protected areas, the report “Renewable energies in Alpine protected areas” shows the conflicts between the protection and the use regarding the production of renewable energies as well as possible strategies. The study has been elaborated by the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences (SAS) with the support of the Alpine Network of Protected Areas (ALPARC) and has been funded by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN).
In the parks, which have been analysed, the majority of conflicts is caused by wind and water power. Regarding the use of water power, the more severe legislation will reduce the potential for conflicts in particular what concerns residual flow, hydro-peaking and river dynamics. Furthermore, the increasing demands lead to new conflicts. Wind turbines generally encounter resistance from landscape conservation organisations. The potential conflict of photovoltaic and biomass is currently lower; however, it will probably grow with the increasing demand for renewable energies.
There is no remedy that applies to all parks, it’s depending on the potential of conflicts and the need for action varies. Thus, only some of the parks would prefer stricter rules and the question about energy targets or concepts are judged differently. Regardless of the path that a park chooses to follow, it will be unavoidable to deal with the topic.
The report, available in a trilingual uncutted version and a concise version in German, French or Italian, can be downloaded at:
The subject is of great topical interest: how can we assure a larger effectiveness of the alpine protected areas’ management measures? How can we monitor the effectiveness during the time?
An increasing number of protection authorities as ministries and local communities request to protected areas managers a veritable evaluation, in terms of effectiveness, of their management measures. Some large organisations, such as IUCN and the Council of Europe (European Diploma of Protected Areas ), dealt with this topic at the level of protected areas.
This project gets in the framework of the meetings and reflections of the working group of the Alpine Network of Protected Areas (ALPARC) concerning the topic of management measures evaluation by comparing their effectiveness at international level. Thanks to the support of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) and the collaboration with the Swiss Parks Network , the Alpine Network of protected Areas could develop a first version of a catalogue of indicators addressed to protected areas managers. This catalogue (CIME_1), with a first selection of 25 recommended indicators, aims for being a simple and functional application tool.
Each one of the 25 recommended indicators is described in a factsheet where amongst other things are specified:
The suggested approach, which relies on methodologies standardised at international level, has been developed within exchanges and needs expressed by managers themselves during different meetings, in order to create an easy, pertinent and effective tool! In addition, a steering group, constituted by representatives of FOEN, Swiss Parks Network, Swiss Academy of Sciences , Entlebuch Biosphere Reserve and ALPARC, permitted the progress and the summary of scripts pursuant to the workshops.
CIME_1, available in English and in the 4 alpine languages, has to be tested so that it is possible to proceed on its evaluation and improvement.
Are you a manager of an alpine protected area?
Don’t hesitate to use it in your ordinary practices, as both evaluation tool and log.
Send us your opinion and remarks! They would be very useful to refine the catalogue!
In our newsletter « Nr 40 – special edition: The future of ALPARC », we have launched a call for testimonials to gather your experiences, messages of support, arguments, memories, anecdotes… showing what the Alpine Network of Protected Areas can provide for the staff of national parks and nature reserves in the Alps, especially with regard to their daily work. We would like to thank all the numerous persons which have sent their testimonials!
We appeal to you: tell us of your experience with ALPARC, and what the network (its meetings, its instruments and its publications…) has given you.
There are two ways to do this:
- Call one of staff member of the Alparc team on +33 (0)4 79 26 55 00 to leave a spoken account (in all languages* except Slovene)
- Send your written account (in all languages*) by email to info(at)alparc.org : a few words can be enough!
MERCI !
*Alparc working languages = French, German, Italian, Slovene, English
Under the umbrella of the ECONNECT project , during three years, 16 international partners worked towards extending and protecting the Alpine ecological network. The results of their work were presented in Berchtesgaden, Germany, from 26th to 28th September 2011.
Ecological connectivity, namely the way how habitats are physically connected and the level of ease for movement of the species, is a theme of real topical interest, since it is fundamental for an effective conservation of biodiversity: many species and most of ecological functions, in fact, require much larger areas than those available within park boundaries.
Within the ECONNECT project , since 2009 ALPARC and 15 other partners analysed the issue of ecological connectivity in the Alps both from functional (presence of barriers such as motorways and dams) and legal (differences and contradictions among different legislative systems which could limit the creation of an ecological network) points of view.
A solid methodology to identify the key corridors and physical barriers, even “invisible”, which could threaten the connectivity, has been developed. It has also been created a useful mapping tool to visualise barriers and corridors, which can illustrate the concept of ecological connectivity for policy makers and planners. In addition, in seven pilot regions solutions for enhancing connectivity were carried out in field.
The results of this experience, maturated in three years of work, were presented at the Final Conference of ECONNECT, which took place from 26th to 28th September in Berchtesgaden (D). The conference had great success from the point of view of both participation and possible future developments.
Indeed, it was the occasion to suggest innovative ways of protecting our Alpine natural heritage and provided a forum for discussing ways to place ecological connectivity firmly on the European political agenda, thanks also to the introduction of recommendation policies for politic decision-makers about how to convert degraded and fragmented alpine ecosystems into a healthy ecological network.
During an international workshop held in the Chartreuse Regional Park (France) from 13-15 October 2011, more than 30 experts from science and parks management across Europe discussed the role of mountain protected areas in regional development.
The discussion was based on the input of selected experts from Germany, Switzerland, Norway and Austria who have a well recognized reputation in the area of protected areas. According to the experts´statements possible economic issues of protected areas are mainly linked to added values generated by park tourism, as proved by a large range of scientific studies. In future, research has to investigate more than so far on further economic opportunities generated by parks (ecosystem and cultural services etc.), on the involvement of regional stakeholders (perception, acceptance, multi-level governance etc.) and on regional change management (adaptive measures, scenarios in the light of climate change, demographic change etc.).
The workshop was jointly organised by ISCAR (International Scientific Committee on Alpine Research), ALPARC (Network for Alpine Protected Areas) coordinated by the Task Force Protected areas of the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention and NeReGro (Network Regional Development and Protected Areas). Major results will be published 2012in eco.mont - Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research and Management.
More information: http://www.iscar-alpineresearch.org/workshop2011/
The triple crisis - ecologically, economically and socially - running through our society, causes concrete utopias, which overtake dreams and speeches to anchor in the action. The field trip «eco-responsible constructions» organised by Alparc and CIPRA from 2 to 4 November to the alpine region on the shore of the Bodensee, has majestically pointed out the way to go.
The priority of the visited projects was to recover the way of “territorial cohesion” between human being and its environment – natural, social and cultural.
The learned lesson is motivating: To initiate the citizen to become (again) local players in their milieu, to concentrate on local projects with the aim to upgrade local resources and know-how, to combine sobriety and effectiveness for a growing autonomy in the field of renewable energies, water, waste, but also agriculture and nutrition.
Visits, meetings and exchange have allowed us to feel, with our fingertips, the key to an eco-responsible future in the field of building and construction industry, which uses the major part of our resources.
To generalise a holistic approach throughout the creation of interdisciplinary connections between architecture and spatial planning.
To activate all local players for participating in projects; those who place the orders (representative, official and private contractors), those who design (architects, urban planners, landscape planners, employees in planning offices, consulting engineers) and those who realise (companies, craftsmen).
To benefit from the collective intelligence: to mix the consciousness of the local experts’ know-how with the consciousness of experts and researchers, to connect knowledge and competence, to share experiences (positive and negative ones) and to impart them for advancing together in a creative empathy.
To listen to a project description in two voices, one of an architect from Vorarlberg and the other from his building owner, about their commun realisation, shows that it is possible to combine mutual ambition and individual modesty.
The way to a desirable future demands redefining the society’s values, detecting a new sense and to produce new relationships.
The new technologies require to become known and to be dominated, but the future goes on by the human beings, and not by the technics!
dominique gauzin-müller
Please find at the following links:
also the travel booklet
and a photo selection
In the beginning of october 2011, the first general meeting of the newly founded association “Nationalpark Austria ” took place in the Austrian Thayatal National Park . This umbrella organisation of the Austrian national parks has set its priority in the development of the cooperation in-between the national parks.
This objective, next to other, will be achieved through the dynamic development of the national parks in Austria and the implementation of the “Austrian National park strategy ”, which was realised in collaboration with the ministry of life .
Erich Mayrhofer, the director of the Kalkalpen National Park , became the president. His representative is Peter Rupitsch, from the National Park in Kärnten .
For further information, please read the press release.
The network belongs to its members; do you work for or within a protected Alpine area?
Alparc is yours!
During this period of transition and evolution, it is up to you to (re)appropriate this network able to connect parks, ideas and enthusiastic and captivating people.
We invite as many of you as can to come to the next General Assembly on 4th September 2012 at Val Poschiavo (CH) to take part actively in the creation of the Alparc association.
In order to support Alparc in its process of evolution, present the value of this network and convince political policy-makers and new financial backers to support the protected Alpine areas, we are launching an appeal for testimonials!
A page on the ALPARC website presents the proposals of the network’s instigators: experiences, messages of support, arguments, memories, anecdotes… show what the Alpine Network of Protected Areas can provide for the staff of national parks and nature reserves in the Alps, especially with regard to their daily work: see here for the first reports .
We appeal to you: tell us of your experience with Alparc, and what the network (its meetings, its instruments and its publications…) have given you.
There are two ways to do this:
THANK YOU!
* *Alparc working languages = French, German, Italian, Slovene, English
What does ALPARC mean to you? What does international cooperation between protected Alpine areas bring you? These are the questions we have already asked some of you.
Apart from being perceived as a means to share experience and methods, a tool for putting together and guiding shared projects, ALPARC is also seen as a network that leads to greater openness and reciprocal enrichment… and it’s also a source of ideas, of renewal and a special approach!
ALPARC is… “putting together and implementing an interesting project together, but [also] meeting colleagues from other parks, sharing experiences, making discoveries, visiting other park offices […]; we broaden our knowledge base, which benefits our daily activities, which makes it two or three times as interesting!” PS
“For me, what’s important is having contacts and exchanges with other managers of protected areas. Before Alparc, our contacts, for example, were largely limited to our own country, and 20 years ago we had few contacts even with our neighbour, the Italian national park of the Stelvio, which seems unbelievable today.” HH
ALPARC is… “the actual existence of a collective intelligence, with the pleasure of being to think all together”. CD
“ALPARC also often sets up initiatives to take steps or implement projects that parks could never realise individually. The forces and means are shared. […] The shared projects that can only be done by a group of parks makes it possible not to have to reinvent the wheel.” HH
“Together with other partners, Alparc in this regard [ecological networks laid the first decisive stone to assure a modern protection of nature in the Alps.” HH
ALPARC is a matter of meeting: “which gives us new ideas and needed energy, not to do the same, but to innovate, to process new concepts and reinvent our own projects!” CD
ALPARC offers…”exchanges and cultural references enabling us to do our work better” GM
ALPARC offers… “a broader vision of what protecting nature means […]; for me, it’s an everyday thing now to work with other Alpine parks [and] I feel myself truly Alpine.” GM
ALPARC offers… “A broadness of approach that is beneficial and a real exchange of information. In a word, I would say that ALPARC is a trigger.” GM
Within the ALPARC network, “the protected areas work and rally together for the Alps!” HH
Extracts of testimonials from:
- CD: Claude Dautrey, Director of the Reception & Communication service, National Park Ecrins, France
- HH: Heinrich Haller, Director of the Swiss National Parc.
- GM: Guido Meeus, Environmental education service, National Park Vanoise, France
- PS: Pascal Saulay, Head of “Multimedia” service, National Park Ecrins, France
whom we wish to thank most warmly! Their full testimonials can be seen by clicking on the link.