A meeting for discussing the suite of the cooperation between the Alpine and Carpathian protected areas was organized in Berlin, 4th December 2008. Our colleagues from the Carpathians (Mr. Mircea Verghelet, CNPA – Carpathian Network of Protected Areas – Steering Committee chair and Mr. Ján Kadlečík, responsible of the CWI – Carpathian Wetland Initiative) met the German State Secretary for Environment Mr. Michael Müller.

The Large carnivores working group met on 13 March 2009 at Mittersill in the Hohe Tauern National Park in Austria. The meeting brought together wildlife officers from various protected areas in the Alps and Carpathian mountains.

Forty-nine teams from all eight Alpine countries and also Slovakia and Romania participated in the 14th Danilo Re Trophy in 2009. The teams met for a friendly sporting event but also attended the seminar on the situation of large carnivores (bear, wolf and lynx) in the Alps.

The corridor between the Alps and the Carpathians is a traditional migration route for wildlife. This corridor does not only connect the Eastern border of the Alps with the Little Carpathians in Slovakia but also crosses a highly dynamic European region located between the cities of Bratislava, Sopron and Vienna.

Switzerland counts its first couple of wolves since more then one century.