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.

The discussion was based on the input of selected experts from Germany, Switzerland, Norway and Austria who have a well recognized reputation in the area of protected areas. According to the experts´statements possible economic issues of protected areas are mainly linked to added values generated by park tourism, as proved by a large range of scientific studies. In future, research has to investigate more than so far on further economic opportunities generated by parks (ecosystem and cultural services etc.), on the involvement of regional stakeholders (perception, acceptance, multi-level governance etc.) and on regional change management (adaptive measures, scenarios in the light of climate change, demographic change etc.).

The workshop was jointly organised by ISCAR (International Scientific Committee on Alpine Research), ALPARC (Network for Alpine Protected Areas) coordinated by the Task Force Protected areas of the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention and NeReGro (Network Regional Development and Protected Areas). Major results will be published 2012in eco.mont - Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research and Management.

More information: http://www.iscar-alpineresearch.org/workshop2011/