La Rete delle Aree Protette Alpine
You will find below the presentations and documents from the ALPARC conference "Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Drones) in Protected Areas: Opportunities and Threats" that was held on March 27th and 28th, 2018 in Dobbiaco, Italy.
The complete conference program is available here
The European Parks Academy (EPA) is a new international training format that addresses the increasing capacity needs for planning and effectively managing protected areas.
The unique cooperation between IUCN´s World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), the research institution E.C.O. and the Alpen-Adria University Klagenfurt resulted in well-designed and targeted training modules hold by renown experts.
After a successful first round of the academy in 2017 (IUCN News), this year´s event will focus again on three highly relevant topics: „Branding & Communication“, „Ecological Monitoring“ and „Management of World Heritage Sites”. The summer academy takes place from 16th to 28th July 2018 in Klagenfurt/Austria.
Find the program flyer here.
Further information and registration: https://e-c-o.at/epa.html
Contact:
Andrej Sovinc, IUCN´s WCPA: wcpa.sovinc@gmail.com
Alexandra Joseph, E.C.O. Institute of Ecology: epa@e-c-o.at
The Forum Alpinum 2018" Alpine Water – common good or source of conflicts? " will take place from the 4th to the 6th June 2018, in Breitenwang (Austria).
The 13th Forum Alpinum will focus on water use.
Changing environmental and climatic conditions as well as growing demand likely lead to conflicts in water use and water management in the Alps. The ForumAlpinum will identify hot spots of water use and management in the Alps, will analyze target conflicts, assess their relevance in a regional, national or international context, and discuss possible solutions.
More information at: http://2018.forumalpinum.org/
The event Youth At the Top 2017 will take place on 12th - 13th of July 2018 all over the Alps & the Carpathians.
Further information and the registration form will be available soon at: http://youth-at-the-top.org
In his welcoming speech to the rangers and protected area technical staff during this year’s Danilo Re ranger seminar, the new ALPARC president Peter Oggier put it frankly and philosophically: “You matter. You actually save a little bit of our planet, every day.” Indeed, the Danilo Re event places the rangers’ and field officers’ daily work at the centre of interest. This year’s exchange topic on the handling of booming nature sports emphasized their role as mediators between Nature and Humans, at the crossroads between experiencing nature and nature conservation.
Around 80 participants followed the presentations of rangers and technical staff from a variety of Alpine protected areas (six protected areas from six countries). All experts agreed that nature-sport conflicts are growing everywhere in the Alps. Thus, concepts, information campaigns, mediation processes and sometimes penalties are needed in order to cope with them. An exception is the Swiss National Park, where the strict protection is rather well-respected by inhabitants and visitors. The official list of severe fines made many participants chuckle.
Many examples of good practice exist regarding information and on-site action to raise awareness about the vulnerability of wildlife to snow sports. In the Gesäuse National park, rangers’ making the first tracks in fresh snow is a unique example of an inventive tool to change the behavior of ski tourers. Another focus of action is conflicts in climbing sites, but raising climbers’ awareness of their impact is often challenging. Examples of good practice in nature sports management in protected areas all grounded in the same success factors: due to a frequent lack of legislation, they have to be based on voluntary action by nature sports participants; information and early inclusion of the target groups in a participatory process are crucial. It is important to convey the desire to protect nature.
Here, two main attributes can help that are often prerequisites to become an Alpine ranger: being passionate about nature, and being an excellent mediator/communicator. The focus of the second part of the ranger seminar thus lay on the exchange on the future role and job of Alpine rangers. In six small groups, the participants had the opportunity to exchange on their professional education, practical experiences and ideas about the future of their job. Rangers today have a multi-faceted job that varies a lot across the Alps. However, everywhere they remain the principle ambassadors of protected areas as regards visitors and often the only visible representative of protected area managements. This makes them important for the future of the protected areas of the Alps.
The ALPARC operational unit used this occasion to present its work on awareness-raising about disturbance to wildlife in winter. Since 2016 ALPARC has collectively developed the international cooperation initiative “Be Part of the Mountain” involving many protected areas. A teaser introducing the initiative was shown for the first time.
In Destination Parks, the ALPARC network will collectively promote and develop sustainable, nature- and experienced-based tourism in protected areas of the Alps.
Together with protected areas and tourism organisations ALPARC will
The kick-off meeting of the project Destination Parks will take place the 21th of Febraury 2018 at the headquarters of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (OFEV), Papiermühlestrasse 172, 3063 Ittigen, Bern (CH)
For further information about Destination Parks please download the flyer below or contact Dominik Cremer- Schulte at: dominik.cremer-schulte@alparc.org
Destination Parks is supported by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (OFEV). It runs from November 2017 to December 2018.
The new issue of the open-access journal eco.mont– Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research and Management (January 2018) reflects on many aspects of protected areas like tourism, economic development and biodiversity and presents a review on private protected areas in Latin America.
Take a look at the journal here.
One article shows that meadows have very positive psycho-physiological effects, such as stress reduction, regardless of whether the meadows are managed or unmanaged. A study carried out in the Tatra National Park (Czech Republic and Poland) introduces the reader to profiles of visitors in two of the most heavily-used leisure destinations accessible by cable car.
Another study investigates whether the willingness of visitors to engage in physically challenging recreational and sports activities can be used as a visitor-segmentation criterion. A study carried out in the Hruby Jesenik Mountains (Czech Republic) presents a growth simulation model for future changes in forest ecosystems.
Three further articles deal with aspects of biodiversity in three very different biogeographic regions in Asia – the Himalayas, the Altiparmak Mountains and the Taurus Mountains. Another article takes the reader to Latin America and provides an overview on private protected areas in mountain regions and their role in conservation practices.
The open-access journal eco.mont 10-1 journal is available at : http://www.austriaca.at/eco.mont-10-1
The book “Erinnerungen an Pioniere des Schweizerischen Nationalparks - Memories of Pioneers of the Swiss National Park" is a contribution to the history of the Swiss National Park, in particular the research sector.
Published in autumn 2017, it presents a collection of memories of the first researchers of the Park. These people, considered as pioneers, shaped the research of the National Park; their research still constitutes the basis for further research and project development.
The book has been developed with an oral history approach. It describes the basic living conditions of the researcher throughout the years of the 20th century; it gives insights into the motivation behind the intensive study of nature, and above all shows that behind the research results there are always humans, with their particular personalities, their likes and dislikes.
The book has been published in German only.
For further information click here
Authors: Prof. Dr. Bruno Baur, Dr. Jürg Rohner, Dr. Thomas Scheurer
Publisher: Buchhandlung und Haupt Verlag AG
Edition / Volume: 107
Pages: 163
Language: German
The winners of the 12th international competition “Fotografare il parco” have been announced. This contest was organized by the Stelvio National Park (IT), the Gran Paradiso National Park (IT), Abruzzo, Latinum and Molise National Park (IT) and by the French Vanoise National Park in collaboration with Swarovski Optik Italia.
Once again, the contest registered the great participation of many amateurs as well as professional photographers. More than 350 participants sent about 3,000 pictures from Italy, France and other European countries.
Congratulation to all who took part!
The award ceremony of the twelfth edition will take place on Saturday 24th February at 11 am at Belvedere – Palazzo Lombardia, Piazza Città di Lombardia, Milan.
You can see the list of the winners, the photos and the prizes at: http://www.fotografareilparco.it/en
The ALPARC General Assembly was held in the Haus der Berge at the Berchtesgaden National Park in Bavaria on 26th January 2018 in the presence of the Ambassador and General Secretary of the Alpine Convention, Markus Reiterer, the German Focal Point Person of the Alpine Convention, Silvia Reppe and the representative of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, Simone Remund. The Director of the Liechtenstein Office of Environment, Helmut Kindle, was also present as a member of ALPARC. The members of all the protected areas and of every category were well represented and this enabled the Assembly to validate the reports of the president, the treasurer and the director and to vote the new ALPARC 2018-2019 work programme as well as the budget for 2018
Other important issues debated at the General Assembly concerned the current European programmes. ALPARC is leader of 2 of the 3 current projects: ALPBIONET2030 (ecological network and wildlife management) and YourAlps – (the setting up of a teaching module for schools on the issues facing the Alps and mountains) and partner of GaYA (youth and governance), and the diversification of ALPARC’s actions. The role of ALPARC within the Alpine Convention and the Alpine Macro-regional Strategy was redefined and the complimentarity of the two approaches in some cases, as for example the ecological network, was emphasised.
The members also decided to update the ALPARC communication strategy, to reinforce the cooperation platform in the German Allgäu (Immenstadt) and to explore the possibility of a second regional platform in the south west part of the Alps (a cross-border region between Austria, Italy and Slovenia) in order to be even closer to the territory and the projects being carried out by ALPARC together with its protected area partners.
A big thank you to the Berchtesgaden National Park for holding a very constructive General Assembly whose decisions clearly show that ALPARC is open to new developments and to the reinforcement of shared cooperation for the Alps.
How to rethink tourism as a holistic offer based on local resources? Which strategies combine tourism, agriculture, crafts, education and culture? How to involve guests, locals and temporary residents in a common vision for the destination? The community network "Alliance in the Alps" and CIPRA International will address these questions at the Annual Conference on 25 and 26 May 2017 in Bled, Slovenia.
One of the central challenges for developing relevant options for long-term sustainble tourism will involve the young generation and their visions about the future of a liveable alpine space. In a workshop on the YOUrALPS Alpine School Model, ALPARC and the University of Ljubljana will try to involve youth in the search for suitable approaches. Thus, light will be shed on the several options of reconciliating nature and ecosystem services as source of economic income and their function as a sound environment for preserving natural and cultural heritage.
