This July we learned of the death, after a long illness, of one of ALPARC’s most committed partners, one who had been very active from the network’s beginnings.
Artur Kammerer, Director of the Nature Parks Office of Alto Adige (Italie), had been deeply committed to international cooperation from the very beginning of ALPARC and he made a huge contribution to the development of our network.

In September 1997, Artur joined the Steering Committee of the Alpine Network of Protected Areas and worked with us on an international level for very many years. His instigation of work on ecological connectivity at the ALPARC General Assembly in Berchtesgaden in 2003 was visionary and this subject has become one of ALPARC’s central themes. A large number of events were organised in the Alto Adige parks; Artur was often the instigator of such events and he was always present.

He personified international cooperation like few people in the Alpine network, expressed the need for it and was convinced that exchanges between the staffs of the protected areas were beneficial and even vital to the implementation of a real concept of protection of our common Alpine heritage.

In this same spirit he was also the main actor in the inclusion of the Dolomites in the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. His vision, his conscientiousness and his will to go forward together with his colleagues in the protected areas in all the Alpine countries were instrumental to progress toward the big ALPARC family.
But, above all, he was liked by everyone, both as a colleague and as a friend, because of his great motivation for the protection of life and his kindness and today his absence is cruelly felt in our network.

Artur was a very good friend and a visionary for modern protection of the Alpine Arc; he lived the slogan of ALPARC: “the protected areas: together for the Alps”

We wish his family and colleagues of Alto Adige much strength; he will remain in our hearts and in our collective memory.