La Rete delle Aree Protette Alpine
The data controller responsible for your personal information under the European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), enforced on May 25, 2018, is:
ALPARC 256, Rue de la République - 73000 Chambéry, France
Tel.: +33 (0) 4 79 26 55 00 - Email: info@alparc.org
ALPARC, The Alpine Network of Protected Areas, is an association under the French law 1901. Its missions are to coordinate and carry out actions for and with the protected areas in the Alpine region as a contribution to the Alpine Convention under the themes of Biodiversity, Education for sustainable development in the Alps, and Regional Development.
ALPARC respects your right to privacy and personal data. ALPARC does everything in its power to guarantee your security online when collecting your personal information. Any questions regarding its privacy notice or data collection process can be addressed to ALPARC’s Data Collection Officer at the email address or telephone number indicated above.
Personal data is any information that can be used directly or indirectly to identify a person. The only personal information that ALPARC collects are email addresses and first and last names. ALPARC collects this data to inform its public on news concerning the alpine protected areas in the Alpine region, general environmental policy and other news regarding nature conservation and protection through its newsletter and emailings.
ALPARC collects the minimum amount of data necessary. This includes email addresses and names for ALPARC’s purposes only. Personal data is never transferred to third parties or used for commercial reasons. Your personal information stays confidential. Data transfers for internal communications will only be done with your permission. Everyone with access to your personal information at ALPARC is legally obliged to protect your data so that it stays confidential.
Personal information is collected for the following reason: External communications including newsletters and emailings
ALPARC keeps your personal information only for the amount of time it sees necessary to carry out its external communication activities or until you wish to be removed from its database.
ALPARC promises to protect any personal information it receives and to keep it confidential. It has adopted the appropriate technical and organizational measures to assure that your data is not modified, lost or used without permission.
Under the EU General Data Protect Regulation law, you have the right to revoke consent to the use and collection of your personal information at any moment. In other words, you have the right to opt out of ALPARC’s external communications emailing list. This can be done by clicking on the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of every newsletter and mailing. You can also write to info@alparc.org or call at +33 (0) 4 79 26 55 00 to unsubscribe. Once you unsubscribe, you will no longer receive external communication emailings from ALPARC and your personal information will be erased. You can ask ALPARC to receive a portable copy of the data collected in a common format.
Cookies are used only to assure the functioning of the ALPARC website. Cookies collected while consulting the Alparc website are never sold to third parties or consulted by the ALPARC team.
Climate change, biodiversity loss and lack of opportunities are some of the problems that are increasingly impacting the Alpine region. In this context, youth tend to lose their relationship with the environment and abandon the mountains. Moreover, the loss of one’s Alpine identity is a potential consequence of this on a medium-term basis. This is a major threat to the future of the Alps since young people have a crucial role to play as future citizens and decision-makers in Alpine businesses, politics and sciences.
On this basis, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the Alps aims at instilling in young generations the awareness and knowledge of the cultural and natural heritage of the Alps in order to enhance existing opportunities for them and to create new ones. ESD in the Alps favors the development of competencies and attributes factors such as environmental awareness and nature-connectedness as key prerequisites to sustainable lifestyles in the mountains. ESD’s ultimate goal is to provide young people with the means not only to understand and face the current challenges of their territory, but also to anticipate future problems that they may face in the region.
“If education alone cannot solve current and future challenges, it can at least contribute to a new development model in a humanistic and holistic sense that enables all people to realize their potential for a sustainable future and a life of dignity” (UNESCO 2015)
ALPARC believes that ESD is a viable way to reconnect youth with the mountains and to foster new opportunities for a lively and sustainable future in the Alps.
How?
ESD in the Alps relies on innovative pedagogical approaches in collaboration with protected areas, to help students develop the skills needed to understand our fast-paced and ever-changing world and to act accordingly.
In this perspective, ALPARC also promotes an educational model based on ESD principles that is adapted to the specificities of the mountain environment. This model promotes initiatives that encourage youth to explore their natural environment. The Alps, with their exceptional biodiversity and cultural heritage, represent the perfect laboratory to develop and enhance traditional activities such as agriculture in a sustainable way by combining them with new technology and innovation.
Young people need to develop new skills and competencies that bring about innovation and development in their territories. The following are some of the elements on which ESD in the Alps insists on in order to prepare students for the future:
• outdoor education
• learning by doing
• interdisciplinary methods
• cooperation between formal and non-formal educators
• the use of new technologies
• learner centered approach
Projects :
The Alps are not only a natural environment but are also home to more than 14 million people and numerous visitors each year from around the world. In order to provide pleasant and safe livelihoods and recreational spaces, adequate regional development measures must be implemented to create and maintain a high quality of life.
Regional (rural) development and quality of life is not restricted only to economic characteristics. It takes into consideration a wide range of factors such as aesthetically pleasing natural and cultural values of landscapes, the degree to which a natural environment is healthy and intact, the cultural identity and authenticity of an area, biodiversity richness and evenness, pollution levels and the distance between rural and urban areas.
Generally, it is the responsibility of the public authorities to provide the overall framework, infrastructure and services needed for this development. Nonetheless, protected areas can play a pivotal role on local and regional levels to ensure that regional development respects biodiversity and other aspects of sustainable development, including the factors mentioned above.
Tourism is one of the most noticeable ways of generating economic activities in and around protected areas. In addition to this, protected areas can bring about other advantages to rural areas by triggering new dynamics that inspire people to grow innovative initiatives. They can also help promote regional products, create green jobs, foster social inclusion and provide ecosystem services that go beyond boundaries.
Protected areas can thus help develop new models of sustainable regional development that consider ecological, economic, social and cultural aspects of a territory and its people. They can be lighthouses and experimental laboratories for new approaches to developing rural areas – and ALPARC supports protected areas in fulfilling this important role.
Projects:
Ecological connectivity
The Alps are a relatively young mountain range characterized by its variety of natural spaces, climates, geographies and ecosystems. It is home to a rich biodiversity which depends on the Alpine habitats, such as woodlands, prairies and watercourses, for survival. However, animals face many obstacles due to human activities like road infrastructures or intensely used agricultural land. Humanmade infrastructure fragments landscapes and destroys habitats, making the resources on which animals depend inaccessible. Additionally, populations become isolated as migration patterns are disrupted. Climate change is exacerbating this situation, putting many Alpine species at risk of extinction.
Alpine Protected Areas play a vital role in biodiversity protection. They are often the last refuge for many plants and animal species. Connecting protected areas preserves biodiversity on the long term by allowing for undisturbed natural processes to take place.
Ecological connectivity is needed on land, under water and in the air to safeguard biodiversity for future generations. It is the cornerstone for nature conservation and presents itself as a potential answer to biodiversity loss since isolating populations in protected areas is no longer a viable solution.
Alpine countries contribute to global nature conservation
The Convention on Biological Diversity commits the Alpine countries to protecting biodiversity. Since mountains regions are hotspots for biodiversity, ecological networks in the Alpine region help fulfill this global commitment.
Activities aimed at protecting biodiversity and ensuring that ecosystems are functioning smoothly are found in Article 12 of the Nature Protection Protocol of the Alpine Convention:
“Ecological Network: The contracting parties shall pursue the measures appropriate for creating a national and cross-border network of protected areas, biotopes and other environmental assets protected or acknowledged as worthy of protection”
This article laid the groundwork for ALPARC’s activity since 2003, which focused on creating spatial links between protected areas.
Since then, ALPARC has implemented several activities, coordinated project publications and conferences on the topic.
Projects:
ALPARC's main goal is to promote and support the exchange of experiences and know-how between managers of the Alpine Protected Areas on a variety of shared topics.
The opportunity to exchange experiences and know-how with the managers of protected areas about all shared topics and working themes.
You can be involved in projects financed by the European Union or other financers and engage in a joint effort for the good of all the protected areas.
To develop shared projects with other protected areas; projects that one park would not be able to carry out alone.
Access to a concrete infrastructure with associated departments: mediation, data, development of management tools, logistic and linguistic assistance.
Take part in the conferences and workshops organized by ALPARC throughout the Alps with no registration fee.
Raise the profile of your own activities and innovative experiences with regard to the management of protected areas in the different fields of nature protection. ALPARC enjoys promoting the activities of its members through different channels: newsletter, press releases, social networks, etc.
among the managers of the protected areas
ALPARC, the Alpine Network of Protected Areas, was founded in 1995 to support the implementation of the Alpine Convention, in particular the Protocol on "Nature protection and landscape conservation.” ALPARC's activities cover a large geographical area, ranging from the French to the Slovenian Alps.
The association’s main goal is to promote the exchange of expertise, techniques and methods among the managers of all the large protected areas in the Alps such as national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves, biosphere reserves, tranquility zones, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, geological reserves and sites granted a special protection status. This exchange allows for parks to take part in and carry out projects that they may not have been able to do on their own. Through international cooperation, ALPARC serves as an intermediary between institutions, local actors and Alpine communities within the region in implementing the Alpine Convention.
ALPARC carries out its actions under three main topics: Biodiversity and Ecological Connectivity, Regional Development and Quality of Life, and Education for Sustainable Development in the Alps. These three topics allow for ALPARC to take a regional approach to global issues such as climate change, nature conservation and sustainable development. Moreover, ALPARC aims to raise awareness among the general public and in particular, Alpine youth on environmental challenges.
ALPARC achieves its objectives by:
The Alpine Convention, signed in 1991 and implemented in 1995, is an international treaty for the long-term protection of the Alpine region and its ecosystems. It commits the contracting parties to working on common mountain problems such as sustainable development, climate change and biodiversity loss. The treaty transcends borders and recognizes the specificities of the Alpine region such as its biodiversity, landscapes, and diverse culture and heritage.
The Alpine Convention was ratified by the European Union and the 8 Alpine Countries – Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Liechtenstein and Monaco.
The Alpine Conference is the decision-making body of the Alpine Convention. It is made up of the ministers of the Contracting Parties. The Conference meets twice a year in the current Member State holding the presidency of the Alpine Convention. The presidency lasts for two years. At the moment, Slovenia holds the presidency of the Convention. It will pass on to Italy in January 2025.
The Permanent Committee is the executive body of the Alpine Conference that ensures all decisions, principles and objectives are upheld and put into action. The Permanent Committee meets twice a year.
The Permanent Secretariat, established in 2003, provides support to the decision-making bodies of the Convention. Furthermore, it facilitates the exchange of expertise and knowledge in the Alpine region and oversees the Convention’s public relations. The Permanent Secretariat’s main office operates outside of Innsbruck, Austria whereas its branch office is in Bolzano/Bozen, Italy.
ALPARC’s activities are firmly rooted in the Alpine Convention and it protocols. Specifically, one of the ALPARC’s aims is the implementation of Article 12 of the protocol “Nature protection and landscape conservation”.
Article 12: “The contracting parties take adequate measures to establish a network of existing national and transboundary protected areas, of biotopes and other protected elements or those to be protected. They commit themselves to harmonize the objectives and applicable measures in transboundary protected areas.”
The main goal of Article 12 is to strengthen environmental protection with an emphasis on species, biotopes and landscapes. This requires a harmonization of conservation efforts within the entire Alpine region.
ALPARC contributes to this protocol by working closely with the Convention’s Permanent Secretariat on several topics in particular: biodiversity conservation and ecological connectivity, soil protection, climate change and environmental education. Concretely, ALPARC acts as an intermediary between protected areas and actors in the Alpine region to assist in the implementation of the Convention.
As an official observer of the Alpine Convention, ALPARC has consultative voice in the Alpine Convention. On February 28th, 2013, the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention and the President of the ALPARC signed a Memorandum of Cooperation which provides a sustainable basis for cooperation between signatories.
Moreover, from 2007 to April 2019, ALPARC participated closely in the work of the “Ecological Network” Platform of the Alpine Convention and contributed to the activity coordination of this Platform during this period. The main aim of the Platform was to create an Alpine cross-boundary spatial network of protected areas and to connect elements with the support of experts, policy-makers and other relevant groups. Through the Platform, Alpine countries shared, compared and revised crucial information on measures and methodologies.
Since April 2019, ALPARC contributes to the Biodiversity Board of the Alpine Convention and is part of the Alpine Convention’s Soil Protection Working Group.
Today, on 22nd May we celebrate the International Day for Biological Diversity. Read our statement on this important occasion:
Biodiversity – Alpine Convention – Protected Areas – Alps
Linking nature – Biodiversity needs connectivity
In order to preserve its extraordinary biodiversity the Alps need, even more than other regions, ecological connectivity because of their specific topography and high degree of fragmentation in the main alpine valleys.
Protected areas play a key role in protecting alpine biodiversity and ecological processes, less so if they are isolated between intensively used spaces. Often they do have “de facto” an important role of consultation or mediation for their periphery area.
Giving more weight to this role and to promote the exchange between local stakeholders and experts of the protected areas can only be beneficiary for both: good local governance of ecological processes and for biodiversity itself.
We recognize the important role of the protected areas within the process of the establishment of ecological continuums in the Alps by linking the protected areas through adequate measures and by a stronger involvement of local populations.
Markus Reiterer, Secretary General of the Alpine Convention;
Univ. Prof. Dr. med. Vet. Chris Walzer (Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, Vienna), lead partner of EU Alpine Space projects about ecological connectivity;
Guido Plassmann (Director ALPARC, Network of alpine protected areas), coordinating the international cooperation between alpine protected areas
Terza edizione “Fiera della Sostenibilità nella Natura Alpina” à Valle Camonica - Giugno 2014
Dear Partners and friends of ALPARC,
Next year ALPARC will commemorate its 20th years. In the beginning of 2015, the ALPARC General Assembly and the Memorial Danilo Re, organised in the Hohe Tauern National Park will be the first occasion of this anniversary year to meet between protected areas managers. I would like to ask you already today to reserve the dates:
Memorial Danilo Re: 22 – 25/01/2015 - General Assembly ALPARC: 23/01/2015
New communication tools for the next years are going to be developed and the very first will be a new homepage which will be operational from the 1st of June 2014.
Public communication and events for the staff of protected areas will be organised all the long of the year 2015 aiming as well to strengthen the cooperation of protected areas with the Alpine Convention.
We will inform you about all these activities which will be prepared during the next months together with the partners of ALPARC. I wish you a very successful summer season for your protected areas and hope to see you soon in the one or the other of the upcoming events of ALPARC.
Best regards,
Martin Šolar
Secretary General
