Next year, ALPARC will already be celebrating 20 years of existence. Founded in 1995 by France and its Alpine regions, the Alpine Network of Protected Areas has become one of the most concrete and recognized tools of the Alpine Convention.
Since the setting up of the network in 1995 and with the participation of administrators of all types of alpine protected areas, ALPARC has set up hundreds of meetings , projects and concrete achievements ,not only in the field of biodiversity , notably that of the alpine ecological network, but also in that of regional development of the protected areas and communication .Several important European projects have been carried out with the involvement of the largest protected areas of the Alps, international research institutions, ministers and non-governmental organizations.
Today the network has become an association with an international vocation, having been first attached to the Ecrins National Park, then to the permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention. More than 40 structures administrating protected areas have become members, representing more than 100 protected areas among the most important of the alpine Arc. These members form the hard core of the network. Nevertheless, all alpine Arc protected areas are invited to take an active part in the joint activities within the ALPARC network and to become members of the association in order to work “Together for the Alps”.
In addition to carrying out projects on the important environmental themes, the 2014-2015 programme plans many opportunities for exchanges between administrators as well as concrete achievements in communication, such as the recently-produced Multivision DVD “For the Alps”, which will be shown at the universal exposition in Milan in 2015.
The programme of the work in progress is well under way and aims to strengthen cooperation with the permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention. The preparations for the next General Assembly in Austria (Hohe Tauern, 23rd January 2015)*, which will open the anniversary year 2015, have begun. New themes, which will be decisive for the protected areas in the years to come, are being tackled within the network. An example of these is the setting up process of an alpine macro region**, in which the parks and nature reserves of the Alps will have an important role to play not only in the safeguard of biodiversity , but also in proposing new models and ways of promoting economic development. We invite all the protected areas to join us during this anniversary year during one or several of the proposed events, in order to strengthen the role of each protected area in its own country and within the ALPARC network.
Guido Plassmann
Director of ALPARC
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(*in conjunction with the traditional Danilo Re Memorial, meeting and competition for field workers of the alpine protected areas , which will also celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2015)
(**a public enquiry has been set up into this issue and is still accessible until 15th October at the following link: http://www.alpine-region.eu/index.html)