On the 2nd February 2011, the Launch Ceremony of the International Year of Forests took place in New York. The aim of this initiative taken by the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization is to encourage the awareness of the relevance of the role of forests...

“How renewable are the Alps?”
“What are the renewable resources the Alps can build a future on?”
“How can a sustainable future be built on past experiences and know-how?”

Under the umbrella of the ECONNECT project, during three years, 16 international partners worked towards extending and protecting the Alpine ecological network. The results of their work were presented in Berchtesgaden, Germany, from 26th to 28th September 2011.

On the initiative of ISCAR and ALPARC a new research journal on the protected mountain areas, published by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, IGF and Innsbruck University, was issued in June 2009.

“The Alps. From Rio 1992 to 2012 and beyond: 20 years of Sustainable Mountain Development. What have we learnt and where should we go?”. The report from M. Price et al. proposes some answers to these interrogations, focusing on the role of networks such as ALPARC for the development of mountain areas.

During an international workshop held in the Chartreuse Regional Park (France) from 13-15 October 2011, more than 30 experts from science and parks management across Europe discussed the role of mountain protected areas in regional development.

Based on interviews with 21 alpine protected areas, the report “Renewable energies in Alpine protected areas” shows the conflicts between the protection and the use regarding the production of renewable energies as well as possible strategies. The study has been elaborated by the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SAS) with the support of the Alpine Network of Protected Areas (ALPARC) and has been funded by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN).

Located in the Swiss cantons of Vaud and Fribourg, stretching from the Vaud riviera (Montreux) to Bulle, from Gstaad to Gruyères, the Gruyère Pays d'Enhaut Regional Natural Park is an unspoiled rural area in the foothills of the Alps but has also been a popular tourist destination since the 19th century.