The international conference « Alpine Ecological Network: a response to climate change that will preserve biodiversity? » was held on 15th and 16th October 2009 in Berchtesgaden, Germany.

This event, organised by the Berchtesgaden National Park and the Alpine Network of Protected Areas, brought together 110 administrators of Alpine protected areas, international researchers, research institutes, academics etc.…

On the first day, 25 specialists gave a progress report on the Alpine projects linked to the setting up of ecological networks as a solution to climate change which will preserve biodiversity.

First of all emphasis was placed on the biodiversity-climate relationship in scenarios of the earth’s evolution in order to be able to comprehend this completely new change and its impacts. As M. Schweiger stressed, one of the sensitive topics in this context is in fact how long man can have at his disposal services supplied by ecosystems. Next was shown the impact of climate change on the functioning of ecosystems and how that affects the interaction and new distribution of species.

As M.Bollmann indicated, whereas climate change and its impact on the distribution of species on a continental scale is a priority in scientific research, the mechanisms which affect populations on a regional and habitat level remain little studied. In Central Europe, four species of galliformes (Bonasa bonasia, Lagopus mutus, Tetrao tetrix, and Tetrao urogallus) are found all along the ecological gradient which goes from semi open cultural landscapes to the high Alpine tundra. These are particularly appropriate species for the study of climate change and its direct and indirect impact on the conservation of biodiversity.

In the second part concrete examples of the setting up of ecological networks in the Alps were shown through current projects like ECONNECT , the Ecological Network Platform of the Alpine Convention and the Ecological Continuum Project .

Finally, in the last module, were presented possibilities of cooperation between the Alps and the Carpathians in order to create an international corridor for the migration of species.

The conclusions of this first day were drawn up by M.Lheureux, Assistant Director of the Vanoise National Park. They can be downloaded from the programme.

On the final day, 16th October, an excursion was organised in the Berchtesgaden National Park together with a workshop on the subject of the region’s vulnerability as regards hydrology, water resources and ecosystems in view of climate change in the context of the management of the protected areas. Climate scenarios and their impacts on water resources and the vulnerability of the protected areas were presented with the collaboration of the chief scientist of the host park.

In the « interactive » programme of the conference below you can see the presentations of the various speakers as well as a summary of their talks.