La Rete delle Aree Protette Alpine
The GaYA project aims to increase the quality of democratic processes in the Alpine space by enhancing the inclusion of young people. The first stage of the project focused on an analysis of the situation of participatory democracy and youth participation in the Alpine regions and municipalities. With the support of all the partners, the Institute of Federalism at EURAC carried out a comparative study, including a questionnaire addressed to the Alpine regions (42 out of 48 regions answered) and interviews with 31 cities, towns and rural municipalities.
A report with the results of this analysis will be presented in a conclusive workshop of the first stage in Bolzano (Italy) on 29th June. During the workshop it will be possible to discuss youth participation, its challenges and good practices in different policy fields with practitioners from different horizons. Please find the programme and the GaYA poster below.
If you are interested in participating in the conference, please contact EURAC at gaya@eurac.edu before June 20.
Following the conference, the comparative report will be published and will be available in all Alpine languages by Autumn 2017.
Please, note that we are still searching for official observers who would like to follow more closely the work on the project, notably the upcoming pilot stage. If you are interested, please feel free to contact us at: info@alparc.org
Comunità Montana di Valle Camonica and Parco dell’Adamello, together with the protected areas of the “Rete Natura di Valle Camonica” (“Nature Network of Valle Camonica”) and in collaboration with the Cultural District of Valle Camonica are organizing the 6th edition of “Fiera della Sostenibilità della Natura Alpina” (“Exhibition of Sustainability of the Alpine Nature”).
The event will take place in different locations in Valle Camonica during the month of June 2017.
In line with the previous editions of the exhibition, sustainability is going to be the keyword of the events that will explore the concept and its three components: environment, society, economy.
The 6th edition of the Exhibition will be focused on two main specific topics:
The Exhibition is about culture, celebration, games, sports, hobbies. All these elements are crucial to promote in our societies values such as friendship, cooperation, solidarity and achieve a sustainable future.
For further information about the programme visit the website of the exhibition here (it).
Wolf populations have been thriving in central Europe since the 1970s due to protection laws and hunting regulations. As result of this protection, the wolf started to settle down again (2016) in Austria for the first time in more than 120 years. However, it is not always easy for inhabitants to live with this large carnivore. Alpine landscape users, such as those involved in tourism, animal husbandry, agriculture, forestry and hunting were fearful and uncertain about the wolf’s return, especially due to incidents of sheep killings near the Sölktäler Nature Park (AT) in 2015. Overall, the presence of the wolf in Alps can have significant economic and social impacts for Alpine populations who depend on the landscape for their livelihoods.
From May 17th- 18th, 2017, the international conference ‘The Wolf in Alpine Landscape’ was held in Sölktäler Nature Park, Austria. The goal of this conference was to bring together experts from the Alps and Carpathians to give clear and objective information on the wolf and to discuss the challenges that came with its return for Alpine landscape users. Open-discussion sessions were a key part of this conference in order address the apprehensions expressed by Alpine populations. The international conference, which had over 100 participants, created space for an objective process of problem solving to take form and debuted with the exhibition ‘The Comeback of the Wolf’. Some key events from the two-day conference included:
Overall, constructive debates where held on a variety of topics such as the possibility of relaxing wolf protection statuses and the need for action from the political realm to maintain the cultivation of the Alps to prevent severe consequences on Alpine culture, food production quality, biodiversity, tradition and landscape. Moreover, there is a need for all populations, including urban, to become aware of the return of the wolf and to take responsibility for the potential monetary and psychological impacts that it can have on Alpine landscape users.
The event was co-organized by ALPARC and the Sölktäler Nature Park.
The complete report of the international conference can be downloaded below.
On the occasion of the Day of the Alpine Convention, we invite you to the opening of photography exhibition "Obiettivo fauna nel parco naturale delle Prealpi Giulie" on Friday, May 26th 2017 at 18h at the Slovene Alpine Museum in Mojstrana (SI). The exhibition will present the work of Paolo Da Pozzo and Gabriele Bano.
From 19-21 May 2017 Interpret Europe network will meet for their Spring Event 'Crossing Borders' in Prague to discuss how we can work more closely together, and how we can improve our skills in giving a deeper meaning to heritage all across Europe.
You can find introductions to all workshops and presentations at Parallel sessions on their website. You can also find there the event programme including information on our keynote speakers and study visits, the event venue and our Market of Ideas.
Visit their Spring Event pages and if you need more information, or contact springevent@interpret-europe.net.
The Wolf in the alpine cultural landscape – chances and challenges
The presence of the wolf in Alps over the past twenty years is a reality which had important effects in ecological and socio-economic contexts.
Since the first sightings of the wolf in the early 90s, the Piedmont Region has developed a monitoring and research program on the wolf natural re-colonization of the Alps to collect the technical data necessary for the management of this situation and its impact on economic activities.
The International Conference will take place on the 16th-18th of May in Sölk, Sölktäler Nature Park (Styria, Austria) and will be structured as it follows:
For more information about : the programme, registrations or pratical information, please click on this link.
The event is co-organised by SÖLKTÄLER NATURE PARK and ALPARC.
The report of the fourth AlpWeek, held in October 2016 in Grassau (D), has been published. The focus of the AlpWeek was on demography, culture and quality of life.
Furthermore, in the frame of the event a video titled “What about cooperation in the Alps?” has been made. Via several interviews with key actors involved in the Alps-wide cooperation, the video presents how the Alpine cooperation works, and identifies the actors involved as well as the challenges and opportunities. The video is available in English and in all Alpine languages on the AlpWeek Youtube channel.
ALPARC had a strong presence through its actions: in the frame of the Alpine Convention’s work group for ecological connectivity, two new pilot regions were nominated, Achental (D) and Mont-Blanc Ecoregion (FR), a workshop dedicated to the pilot regions: “Development of a short- to mid-term strategy for the pilot regions”, was organised, and a cooperation memorandum was signed between ALPARC, DANUBEPARKS (Danube network of protected areas) and CNPA (network of protected areas of the Carpathians).
To better promote the project and ecological connectivity, three videos have been made; they’re available on our YouTube channel.
To read the complete report of the AlpWeek 2016, click here.
Verba Alpina is an international project, directed by the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, which aims to assemble dialectal words from official Alpine languages (French, Italian, German, Slovene and Romansh), specific to the Alpine regions regardless of political borders. It was launched in October 2014 and it lasts until the end of September 2017, with the possibility of continuation.
The vocabulary concerned touches mostly natural and cultural heritage, traditional craftsman techniques and ways of life; anyone can register and contribute words from their dialect. The main output of the project is an online platform, complete with database, interactive cartography, scientific articles and methodology. In this way, the data from existing linguistic atlases can be made easily available to the public in an improved, coherent and multidimensional form.
The project is supported by numerous partners, and is mostly intended for the scientific public, but is also easily understandable by the general public thanks to the interactive map.
You can find out more about the project here.
On July 11th 2017, several groups of young people will gather in different places all over the Alps and the Carpathians to share a collective experience in the mountains
Back to Nature in the Mountains
When was the last time you watched the stars in an unpolluted sky, lying on the grass of a mountain valley or summit, with the sound of the wind blowing through the trees and of a river flowing?
A lot of young people may have no answer to this question, because they have never had such an experience. Nowadays, young people are overwhelmed by the need for technologies in a fast-paced society and they hardly ever have the chance to live an authentic experience in a natural environment. Their relationship with nature and the mountains, which is important for their personal growth and fulfilment, is being weakened. The mountains need young people to be preserved as much as young people need the mountains to rebuild or strengthen that connection with nature.
The international project Youth at the Top aims at improving the connection between young people and nature by bringing them to the mountains to spend a day together and sleep there overnight. For this reason, Youth at the Top is a unique opportunity for young people to experience close contact with the mountain environment, rediscover the power of being a group and the values of active citizenship and solidarity on a common annual date. Youth at the Top is a collective activity with a strong symbolic and imaginative approach.
Youth at the Top 2017
The 3rd edition of Youth at the Top will be held on Tuesday 11th July 2017 – Wednesday 12th July 2017. We have received registration forms for more than 50 events that will take place simultaneously in different locations. These local events will be set up by protected areas, youth workers, associations, refuges, communities and other mountain actors with the participation of local professionals.
Transnational, cross-border and unifying
The events planned will take place in 6 countries in the Alps (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland) and 3 countries in the Carpathians (Poland, Romania, Slovakia) in a common framework that still leaves plenty of room for local partners to develop their own initiative and creativity. The simultaneity of the events and the common framework will help to create in the young participants not only a sense of belonging to the mountains, but also a sense of being part of a large community with no borders.
Innovation: The Alps in my backpack
As we are constantly looking for innovation this year all the partners involved in the initiative will receive the “The Alps in my backpack” teaching tool. The tool has been designed and developed by the ALPARC Educational Working group on “Mountain-Oriented Education”. For the educators it will be a powerful tool to further promote the international approach of the initiative, foster the sense of community and raise awareness of the natural and cultural Alpine heritage.
Continuity with Youth at the Top 2016
In 2016 many young people experienced authentic contact with nature by taking part in the 2nd edition of “Youth at the Top”. For the occasion protected areas, associations, mountain actors and other organizations set up more than 40 events in 8 different countries in the Alps and the Carpathians. Their effort in the field of education and in engaging young generations was rewarded with the participation of more than 500 young people who enjoyed different activities in the mountains such as fauna & flora observation, rock painting, land art, writing, wood carving, light painting, storytelling, treasure hunting, stargazing, climbing, solidarity actions and meetings with mountain players.
Young participants from Youth at the Top 2016 are the best testimonials to prove that striking up or renewing the relationship of youngsters with nature is not just necessary and possible, but it is also great fun!
For this reason, we invite you to check out the video of YAT 2016 to have a taste of what the previous edition was for them!
Have a look at the postcards collection to have an overview of their impressions.
YOUTH AT THE TOP is a project led by ALPARC, in partnership with Educ’Alpes for France. For this activity ALPARC has the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and the Principality of Monaco.
It’s a full-time job for the 12 project partners of the Interreg Alpine Space Project YOUrALPS – Educating youth for the Alps: (re)connecting Youth and Mountain heritage for an inspiring future in the Alps. (2016- 2019).
Since the official launch of the project, which took place during the Kick-off Meeting (January 2017 – Chambéry, France), each work package leader and project partner has been fully involved in structuring project activities to foster and strengthen the Alpine mountain-oriented education sector via concrete international cooperation.
On the one hand the project consortium is laying the foundation for structuring an international network of formal and non-formal education actors under the coordination of the French Network Educ’Alpes. A joint database and web-platform will be the central tool supporting exchanges between stakeholders. The first version of the web-platform will be available by the end of the year.
On the other hand the Innsbruck University Department of Geography is leading the research to gather innovative practices in Mountain-Oriented Education in order to provide an overview of the status quo of existing Mountain-Oriented Education practices in the Alpine countries. A first report of the “Good practices” has been concluded by the VNO and is available on the YOUrALPS website. In this frame, to identify success factors as well as challenges of “Mountain-Oriented Education”, an Alpine-wide survey addressed to young people has been circulated. We invite all of you to invite young Alpine inhabitants to take part in the survey.
Moreover, 12 YOUrALPS’ pilot sites from all the Alpine countries have been selected. The pilot sites, a tandem of a school with a protected area, will work jointly during the 2017- 2018 school year in order to provide young people with opportunities to develop their awareness of and sensitivity to the Alpine natural and cultural heritage.
The project consortium will meet in Ljubljana (12- 13 June 2017) for the Project Steering Group Meeting. A “Summer School” addressed to educators & teachers will take place in Slovenia from 28th to 31st August 2017 and will be hosted by the project partner BC Naclo High school.
ALPARC is project leader for YOUrALPS. The Network is responsible for technical and financial management and coordination of project partners’ activities. ALPARC is also responsible for the project communication activities. YOUrALPS lasts from November 2016 to October 2019 and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Alpine Space programme (Total budget: 2.001.017, 40 € - ERDF grant: 1.615.864, 77 EUR).
YOUrALPS partners:
• For further information about the project, please visit the YOUrALPS web site.
ALPARC contact:
Letizia Arneodo Letizia.arneodo@alparc.org
Veronika Widmann veronika.widmann@alparc.org
• For further information about the survey please contact:
Attn: Maximilian Riede Maximilian.Riede@uibk.ac.at Universität Innsbruck - Institut für Geographie
The WeWild project (2016-2018) got well under way with the first workshop which was organised in Vorarlberg in March 2017. 16 stakeholders from six Alpine countries attended the two-day event, thereby underlining the interest in a common, Alpine-wide communication strategy regarding the behaviour of snow sports participants.
The fruitful workshop discussions helped the working group to identify the major needs regarding such a joint strategy and to reveal potential risks. It also allowed for the collection of ideas for objectives, actions and tools. Valuable input came from the stakeholder presentations on information campaigns and from Nils Westerfeld’s presentation on factors influencing eco-friendly behaviour from outdoor sports participants.
By now and based on these workshop results, ALPARC has started working on a joint communication strategy that will also frame the creation of joint communication tools. ALPARC will launch a joint Alps-wide initiative that will bring together protected areas as well as other key players and interested partners. The initiative’s mission is to educate and raise awareness of outdoor recreationists in the Alps using international cooperation, exchange and communication. Based on a positive, non-regulatory attitude, its aim is to gain momentum, increase visibility of existing campaigns and contribute to eco-friendly behaviour in snow and outdoor sports. The initiative will have its own identity and will be promoted via a website and a video clip which will be released in 2018. Our members, protected areas and other partners will be given the opportunity to join the initiative by signing a common mission statement.
The upcoming milestones in 2017 are the finalisation of the communication strategy, the creation of the graphical identity, video and website as well as the second WeWild workshop to be held in November 2017 in Aree Protette dell’Ossola (IT).
Interested protected areas and other organisations are openly invited to join our initiative and contribute to its development. For any inquiry, please contact Maša Klemenčič or Dominik Cremer-Schulte at the ALPARC office.
The beginning of the year was composed of numerous meetings for the ALPBIONET2030 project partners: a partners’ meeting in the Kalkalpen National Park, one of the project working regions, bi- or plurilateral meetings to coordinate the work of the individual Work Packages and an experts’ workshop to define the guideline to re-design the connectivity-mapping-tool JECAMI.
Mapping the results of the project was the central issue of many discussions during this time. The partners now agreed on a methodology and defined the adapted indicators to analyse, identify and map the Strategic Alpine Connectivity Areas (SACA), one of the key objectives of the project.
First data collection, analysis and mapping activities were also carried out concerning the wildlife management approaches of the different Alpine countries and regions.
Finally, a first round of surveys was launched in order to identify the main human-wildlife conflicts also linked to connectivity issues amongst different Alpine stakeholders. A further survey targeting a younger public of students is currently being developed.
The project homepage is now online and offers an interesting overview of the project activities and the advancement of the work: http://www.alpine-space.eu/projects/alpbionet2030/en/home. In addition to the project factsheet (in all Alpine languages) and a poster, a project flyer summarising the main project information will be available soon.
