The fifth General Assembly was held on January 27 2017 in Admont, traditionally within the context of the yearly Memorial Danilo Re (22nd edition) which took place in the Gesäuse National park (AT). The Memorial and General Assembly coincided with the 15th anniversary of the Gesäuse national park and with the start of the Alpine Convention presidency for Austria.

23 of the network’s members were present at the assembly, which validated the official reports of the president, treasurer and director for 2016. The members agreed that 2016 was a very successful year for Alparc, notably with the assignment of three Interreg Alpine Space projects. You can read the full 2016 activity report here in all Alpine languages.

The 2017 General Assembly elected as well a new Alparc board and council. Michael Vogel was designated Alparc interim president until July 2017 in order to prepare the mission of a new president. Therefore, and in recognition of his long-lasting efforts and merits for ALPARC, the General Assembly appointed him Honorary President of Alparc. ALPARC is particularly grateful to the outgoing board and council members for their efforts and work during their mandates. We warmly welcome the new members of the ALPARC board and council and look forward to a good and fruitful collaboration in the next four years. You find a list of the newly elected board and council below.

The General Assembly also agreed on a 4-year pilot project for a more decentralized management of the ALPARC activities, with a first support platform in the Nagelfluhkette nature park. This step should reinforce the links to smaller protected area management structures and use synergies with the Alliance in the Alps network of municipalities (AIDA).

The accomplishment of the 2016-2017 working programme is well advanced. In 2017, the activities of the Alparc coordination unit will focus on project implementation, especially on AlpBioNet2030 (lead partner, Interreg Alpine Space), YourAlps (lead partner, Interreg Alpine Space), GaYA (partner, Interreg Apine Space) and the projects GreenConnect, Youth at the Top and WeWild.

ALPARC Board (2017- 2021)

Interim-president                           Michael Vogel, Director Berchtesgaden National park (DE)

Vice president                               Christian Schwoehrer, Director ASTERS (FR)

Vice president                               Paolo Salsotto, President Regional park Alpi Marittime (IT)

Secretary General                         Peter Oggier, Director Pfyn-Finges Regional nature park (CH)

Treasurer                                       Peter Rupitsch, Director Hohe Tauern National park (Carinthia, AT)

ALPARC Council  (2017- 2021)

FRANCE (4 seats + 2 seats for the financing member regions)

-          Christian Schwoehrer (ASTERS)

-          Pierre Commenville (Les Ecrins, NP)

-          Gilberte Bremond (Les Baronnies provençales, PNR)

-          Eva Aliacar (Vanoise, NP)
 
-          Marc Joanny (Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur)

-          Geneviève Borodine – sous réserve - (Région Auvergne Rhône-Alpes)

ITALY (4 seats)

-          Andrea Bertrame (President, Prealpe Giulie, NatP)

-          Claudio La Ragione (Orobie Valtelinesi, NatP)

-          Maria Margareth Pallhuber (Naturparks Alto Adige)

-          Paolo Salsotto (President, Alpi Marittime, NatP)

AUSTRIA (3 seats)

-          Erich Mayrhofer (Kalkalpen, NP)

-          Peter Rupitsch (Hohe Tauern, NP)

-          Franz Handler (VNÖ – Federation of Austrian Nature Parks)

SWITZERLAND (2 seats)

-          Peter Oggier (Pfyn-Finges, NatP)

-          Christian Stauffer (Network Swiss Parks)

SLOVENIA (1 seat)

-          Andre Arih (Triglav, NP)

GERMANY (1 seat)

-          Michael Vogel (ad-interim, Berchtesgaden, NP)

Liechtenstein (1 seat)

-          Helmut Kindle (Ministry)

Monaco (1 seat)

-          Astrid Claudel-Rusin (Ministry)

ALPARC Staff

-          Dominik Cremer-Schulte