The First European Nature Park Opened on Thursday 6th June 2013, in Tende (Alpes Maritimes), France
It unites the Mercantour National Park (F) and the Alpi Marittime National Park (I) by means of the European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC).
This park is the end product of 30 years of trans-border collaboration, 26 years of twinning, several simultaneous European programmes and a project of common listing in the UNESCO World Heritage encouraged by its recent inscription on the indicative lists of the two countries.
Some key figures from Mercantour – Alpi Marittime:
• 1, 000, 000 visitors per year in the two parks
• The inventory of its biodiversity has made it possible to increase the number of species recorded from 3,500 to more than 8,000 since 2006
• 40, 000 cave drawings from the Bronze Age in the Vallée des Merveilles
• 25, 000 inhabitants
• 2, 425 km² surface area