Mreža zavarovanih območij v Alpah
The international conference of LabEx ITEM " Mountain regions, territories of innovation" will be held in the City Territory - Université de Grenoble-Alpes, Grenoble, France, from 11 to 13 January 2017.
The aim of this project is to conduct a social, economic and cultural analysis of innovation in Mountain Territories. A lot of issues will be debated, such as : What role in innovation at the local and regional levels (and their links)? Which meanings and visions of the mountain are at issue in the light of change? And what kind of territories emerge from these transitions?
More information and registration : http://labex-item.insight-outside.fr/colloque-innovation-montagne/index.php?langue=en&onglet=6&acces=&idUser=&emailUser=
The main aim of the project is to raise youth awareness on the entire Alpine natural and cultural heritage, by supporting youth environmental educational process via interconnected formal and non-formal education considering the Alps as natural, cultural, living and work space beyond borders.
The Lead Partner (LP), ALPARC - the Alpine Network of Protected Areas, launches a tender for management support for all tasks of financial management and smooth support for project administrative co-ordination.Participation is open to all legal persons who are established in a Member State of the European Union or in a country or territory of the regions covered and/or authorized by the specific instruments applicable to the programme under which the contract is financed.
Find the procurements, the terms of reference and all other relevant documents below.
Deadline for tender submissions is the 15th of January 2017.
Triglavski narodni park (SI) and Parco Naturale Prealpi Giulie (IT) in the Julian Alps are both founding members of ALPARC. Transboundary cooperation between the two parks dates back to 1996. In the following years common EU projects reinforced the partnership and in 2009, the transboundary Julian Alps Ecoregion, which also includes Slovenia’s Julian Alps MAB UNESCO Area, was officially awarded the EUROPARC Transboundary Certificate. In 2014, the transboundary cooperation was re-awarded; in the same year, the region has been declared Official Pilot Region for Ecological Connectivity of the Alpine Convention.
Recently, another milestone in transboundary cooperation has been achieved. On the 7th of Decembre, the protected area managements were officially awarded with the European Charter for sustainable tourism certificate in Brussels. This successful application makes the Julian Alps Ecoregion Europe’s first transboundary park holding this certificate. Both, the Triglav national park and the Prealpi Giulie nature park see the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas as an extraordinary opportunity to develop their region sustainably.
Further reading
EUROPARC website: http://www.europarc.org/julian-alps-transboundary-ecoregion/
With the aim to make a vast amount of data available to naturalists, tourists and other interested users online (e.g. trails, information on and observations of species), the Ecrins national park has developed open source tools since 2012. This makes them available to other protected areas. Why not also to you?
Biodiv’Ecrins is the most recent application. With this online portal, the national park has made accessible 500,000 observations of more than 4,000 species of the park’s flora and fauna, gathered since its creation in 1973. This atlas presents in a unique manner the region’s biodiversity. Rangers feed it with observations in real time via tablet. Behind the application stands the tool Geonature-Atlas, an open source application developed by the national park staff. Its open source character and its adaptability make it highly transferable. It is possible to feed the Atlas with any kind of database.
The approach grounds on the experience of the national park with Geotrek: Geotrek is a management and online valorisation tool of trail networks. It enables the users to manage a trail network comprehensively (signs, trail works) and valorize the touristic offer along itineraries and routes by the integration of local natural and cultural sites. Published under an open source licence, more than 40 protected areas and other organisations in France already use Geotrek. It is available in French, German, Italian and English and can easily be translated to other languages. For examples, see the web portals and smartphone applications of the Ecrins national park Rando Ecrins (hiking offer) and Grand Tour of the Ecrins (route tourism offer).
Please contact Camille Monchicourt if you are interested in these tools.
More about
Geonature-Atlas
the Geotrek user community
Other Geotrek sites to explore:
Maritimme Mercantour
PNR du Vercors
Parc national de la Vanoise
Parc national des Cévennes
Following an international seminar held in March 2016, the operational unit of ALPARC has been coordinating the drafting of a common strategy and awareness-raising tools to reduce impact on wildlife in the Alps.
The year 2016 has been marked by the launch of a working group within the ALPARC network covering the handling of mountain sports and outdoor activities in winter. On 3 and 4 March, an international seminar in the Massif des Bauges Natural Park brought together over 45 participants from different sectors and from throughout the Alps. They stressed the fundamental need to share methods and experiences and develop a common approach at an Alps-wide level.
A common communication strategy for large protected areas and beyond
A first step in this direction is the We respect Alpine Wildlife (WeWild) project coordinated by the operational unit of ALPARC. Over the next two years (2017-2018), this project aims to strengthen the links between the various initiatives at an Alpine level. Based on a collaborative approach with two workshops in 2017 and with a final conference in 2018, the project aims to develop a common communication strategy. It will provide the first tools for raising awareness, which will then be made available to a multitude of stakeholders in the Alps. Among these will be a website, which will also serve as a resource centre, and a “teaser” video clip drawing attention to the theme. WeWild will recruit members of the ALPARC working group – including several Alpine protected areas – as well as new players such as businesses in the “outdoor” sector.
Background information
Today, mountain sports and outdoor activities in winter are changing dramatically. Experts note an expansion of these activities in terms of time (throughout winter, all day) and space. Studies show that this shift has significant and detrimental effects on Alpine fauna, which is particularly vulnerable during the winter months. This problem requires a greater awareness among practitioners of these activities and among visitors to sensitive sites in order to enable a coexistence between man and wildlife.
The WeWild project has been selected as part of Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment's (BMUB) call for projects in 2016 with regard to special “environmental protection” postage stamps. Every two years, the Ministry supports projects proposed by environmental associations through the sale of a special postage stamp. As part of the German Presidency of the Alpine Convention 2015-2016, the 2016 edition of the stamp is called “The Alps – Diversity in Europe”.
In the frame of InnovAlps project and during this last year and a half, ALPARC has been committed in parks regional development in the Alps. During on-sites visits and workshops in three pilot regions, skills and experiences of local actors coming from parks, politics, tourism and local development were rallied and were able to exchange. InnovAlps has also presented a panel of initiatives of innovating local development, all characterized by novelty, risks-taking, valorization and cooperation between protected areas technical teams and other local actors. The project was closed by a final conference in the Regional Nature Park Pfyn-Finges (Switzerland) last September. In the final report, ALPARC has summarized project results and has formulated political recommendations for an improvement of the innovating capacity in the alpine parks territories.
On the basis of these results, ALPARC currently develop ideas or projects for a continuation in the “Regional development and life quality” focusing on, for instance, sustainable tourism or short circuits. In addition, ALPARC think about proceeding to work with an actor network of local development and enhance exchanges between alpine parks territories.
Acknowledgements
ALPARC is particularly thankful to the three pilot regions of InnovAlps project and their actors for their commitment, the interest they have shown in this project. ALPARC also thanks Austrian, Swiss, and French parks federations for their collaboration in this project. This project has been financed by Swiss federal office of the Environment.
More information
• www.alparc.org/innovalps
• Final report is available on request (in German). A synthesis will be available in the other Alpine languages beginning of 2017.
ALPARC proposes a 6-month internship at its office in Chambéry (France/Savoie)
Description of the Internship:
Required profile:
Please submit your application before 30th of April 2025 / 2 PM (CET) to the following address: info@alparc.org
Further details about the internship are available for download below (English and French)
ALPBIONET2030 project will enable ALPARC and the 14 other partners to refine the work already achieved on alpine ecological connectivity in these past years. The project objectives include the drawing up of strategic areas maps in and around the Alpine region (Strategic Alpine Connectivity Areas – SACA), the development of a strategy of wild fauna management in cooperation with various actors and a deepen work on mediation tools in order to answer to conflicts which could appear during the implementation of ecological network.
The project was officially launched at the occasion of the Kick off meeting in Vienna (Austria), the 1st and 2nd of last December. This event has gathered the project partners, numerous observers and different personality from alpine institutions. Thus, the General Secretary of the alpine Convention Mr. Markus Reiterer, the German focal point for alpine Convention, Mrs. Silvia Reppe, the President of the Ecological Network Platform of the alpine Convention, Mr. Thierry Boisseaux, among others, discussed about the importance of this project in an alpine and macro-regional context.
The recent publication « Alpine Nature 2030 – Creating [ecological] connectivity for generations to come » has marked the completion of an important preparation work, which pass now to a more operational phase, particularly through ALPBIONET2030 project. Protected areas from ALPARC network, which are present among partners, will play a key role in these activities, especially as pilot territories for the project results implementation.
For the second year between the 5th and 11th of December, the Alpine Convention organize the Reading mountains Festival. The festival is an occasion to celebrate the Alpine literature and to promote the cultural differences and similarities all along the Alps.
ALPARC supports the initiative "Reading Mountains" Festival by co- organizing an event in Chambéry - France. You are invited to take part in the event “Montagnes et Littérature” taking place from the 07th to the 11th December 2016 in Chambéry (FR)
The event is co-organised by Chambéry Municipality, the Chambéry Office Tourisme & Promotion, the Association Montanea & several other partners.
Download the detailed programme of the event “ Montagnes et Littérature” - Chambéry (FR)
We invite all of you to participate!
Visit The Alpine Convention Website
AlpBioNet 2030 Kick-off Meeting will take place the 1st and 2nd December 2016 in Vienna (Austria).
La 2ème réunion 2016 du Groupe de Suivi National du réseau ALPARC aura lieu dans le Parc naturel régional des Baronnies provençales le 30 Novembre 2016.
Tous les Directeurs et Directrices des Espaces Protégés Alpins Français membres du réseau sont conviés à la rencontre.
Pour plus d'information : info@alparc.org
The majority of the municipalities concerned voted this weekend against their participation in the new Adula National Park. Pro Natura regrets this negative vote and speaks of a wasted opportunity. However, the organisation is encouraged that broad support for the idea of sustainable development and respect for nature has been expressed and recognised.
The “Adula Park” option did not win a majority vote this weekend in the municipalities concerned. After sixteen years of work carried forward with discernment and tenacity, the “Adula Park” must be abandoned, at least in its present form. Pro Natura regrets this vote. “There was no majority in the communities involved. It’s a shame,” declares Silva Semadeni, president of Pro Natura. “But the public debates have, however, shown the emergence of a strong and active minority that wants a regional development that is sustainable and respectful of nature.” These voices will have to be heard in future development projects. Pro Natura hopes that the project for the “Adula Park” will serve as a model for other sustainable ideas to develop the region together – with nature and not against it.
Additional information:
Silva Semadeni, president of Pro Natura, tel: (+41) 079 385 53 57
Christian Bernasconi, Pro Natura Ticino, tel. (+41) 079 262 16 51
Jacqueline von Arx, Pro Natura Grisons, tel. (+41) 079 792 23 52
Nicolas Wüthrich, public information officer, (+41) 079 212 52 54, nicolas.wuthrich@pronatura.ch
This press release is also available in German, Italian and from www.pronatura.ch/medias.