Since 2002, a consortium of four major alpine organisations (the Alpine Network of Protected Areas – ALPARC; the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps – CIPRA; the International Scientific Committee Alpine Research – ISCAR and the WWF European Alpine Programme – WWF) is jointly carrying out activities to further the conservation and sustainable use of alpine biodiversity. The consortium introduced a completely new approach to alpine nature conservation by looking at biodiversity from an Alps-wide (as opposed to national or regional) perspective.

Taking this approach a step further, a new initiative – the Ecological Continuum Initiative – financed by the Swiss MAVA Foundation for Nature was started in June 2007. Its aim is to create or restore the ecological connectivity between areas that are important for nature conservation.

The Ecological Continuum Initiative lays the foundations for the long-term implementation of a coherent ecological network in the Alps. The work of the partners is focussed on the following three targets:

• Initiating, promoting and mentoring activities: Their work andcommitment have led to the establishment of the Platform "Ecological Network" of the Alpine Convention and the ECONNECT project.
• Providing know-how: A harmonised methodology for the whole of the Alps, a catalogue of potential measures and a databank of publications and information on relevant projects as well as experts available to help representatives of protected areas, public authorities and environmental organisations in their implementation of activities.
• Awareness-building: The partners are working to convince decisionmakers of the importance of Alps-wide habitat connectivity and to persuade people to make their own contributions to ecological networking.