The successful two-year WeWild project ("We respect Alpine Wildlife") on ecologically friendly mountain sports has officially been completed. On November 7th, the final event of the project was officially held at the Alpine Museum of the Alpine Club in Munich. Once again, the project mobilized a large number of German and international stakeholders from protected area managements, Alpine clubs, authorities and nature conservation organisations, who used this day to exchange their experiences. The lively group discussions in the afternoon revealed current problems such as the growing influence of social media and online communities on the number of visits to sensitive natural areas. Options for action were discussed. The final event showed that all actors in the fields of nature conservation and (sustainable) nature sports in the Alps should take a stand on "overtourism" and "overmountaineering" and should jointly develop solutions.

Through the WeWild project and for the Alpine protected areas, ALPARC was able to launch a joint communication and cooperation initiative on human-nature conflicts in nature and mountain sports: "Be Part of the Mountain" (BPM). In the future, this initiative should promote the exchange of sustainable solutions, increase the reach of regional and local initiatives and develop joint awareness-raising tools and messages for nature conservation in mountain sports.
With the first snow that has arrived these days in the Alps, the number of members of “Be Part of the Mountain” has already risen to nine. Most recently, the Massif des Bauges Nature Park in France and the Dobratsch Nature Park in Austria were officially added as members. Members of BPM are officially committed to and promote the vision and common values of the initiative for ecologically friendly mountain sports that does not neglect nature conservation. They are involved - some of them already very successfully - at their level - in area management, visitor guidance and awareness-raising communication.

The following organisations are members of the initiative "Be Part of the Mountain" at the end of 2018:

•    The Ossola Protected Areas, Italy
•    CIPRA Italia, Italy
•    The UNESCO Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch World Heritage Site, Switzerland
•    The Vercors Regional Natural Park, France
•    The Mont Avic Natural Park, Italy
•    The Nagelfluhkette Natural Park, Germany
•    The Dobratsch Natural Park, Austria
•    The Regional Natural Massif des Bauges Park, France

For more information see: www.bepartofthemountain.org

ALPARC is currently carrying out the Destination Parks project, which aims to promote the exchange of Alpine park destinations on sustainable tourism and to develop a common positioning of these regions in Alpine tourism. In October and December, regional exchanges took place in three best practise regions: the Queyras Nature Park in the Southern French Alps, the Gesäuse National- and Nature Park Region in Styria and the Dobratsch Nature Park in Carinthia.
In France, in the Queyras, the participants exchanged notably on the development of sustainable products for park tourism and their marketing (target groups, nature-oriented activities and packages). The marketed tourism products are tightly linked to the natural and cultural heritage of the Queyras valley. The visits to the regions in Carinthia and Styria were successfully organized by ALPARC as a study trip: In the Gesäuse region, the exchange focused primarily on regional branding and cooperation (for whom, how and what). The presentation of the successful development of the "Gesäuse" brand by the regional tourism organisation made the exchange very concrete and the discussions highlighted important success factors. At the Dobratsch, Villach's local mountain in Carinthia, the participants were then given a lively demonstration of what the future of low altitude ski resorts in the Alps could look like. Since 2002, the local stakeholders have positioned the Nature Park as a sustainable nature showplace (NaturSchauPlatz) for everyone, whereby the tourism strategy is coupled with a holistic visitor guidance concept. As part of the "Magische Momente" (Magic Moments) campaign, nature-based tourism offers are cross-marketed in Carinthia's nature parks.
The exchanges in the three regions have provided the participants with many good examples of a more sustainable Alpine tourism. In all three regions, success factors for the cooperation between tourism organisations and protected area managements as well as for the development of partner programmes also came to light. The partner programmes in particular are extremely important for sustainable tourism and the valorisation of regional production, as they can promote ownership of the protected area idea among locals and visitors alike.
The project is carried out with support of the Federal Office for the Environment (BAFU, Switzerland).

This appeal went to the politicians of the Alpine countries at the final conference of the GaYA project in Chambéry/F. The extent to which the topic gets people moving was shown by the participation of numerous young people and representatives from politics and society throughout the Alps.

Actively promote a political culture of participation, anchor the participation of young people in decision-making processes, and make youth participation a must, not just a nice extra! The partner organisations of the Interreg GaYA project brought these political recommendations to the politicians of the Alpine countries.
How can youth participation in cities and rural areas be promoted? What innovative ideas and projects are there? What can politicians and decision-makers do? More than 200 participants from all Alpine countries travelled to the GaYA conference in Chambéry, France, to answer questions on youth participation. In interactive sessions, young people, politicians and interested parties from various Alpine countries exchanged ideas. In addition, the event offered music and Alpine cuisine as well as films produced by young people, which were presented as part of an Alpine-wide film competition.

The conference also marked the end of the two-year EU GaYA project. Besides the international exchange and the political recommendations, the project partners presented a toolbox for youth participation and a comparative study on participatory democracy in the Alps.

As a GaYA project partner, ALPARC is also committed to involving the younger generation more closely in political decision-making processes especially in the rural areas and in the protected areas municipalities. For two years ALPARC was responsible for the coordination of the pilot activities and a video presenting the main project achievements and innovative results was developed by the network and presented at the GaYA final event. 

Source: GaYA Press release 17.12.2018

Information on GaYA project: www.alpine-space.eu/projects

You know about Ecological Connectivity, Fragmentation and Habitats? Well then, take up the challenge and test your knowledge in our picture quiz!
At this moment, a picture quiz is running to bring the topic of Ecological Connectivity closer to a wider public. In this perspective the project partners of the ALPBIONET2030 project have collected pictures and questions to set up an entertaining online picture quiz game and raise attention to the key topic of the project: ecological connectivity.
Let pictures speak instead of words: https://apps.facebook.com/fb-quizzes/ecological-connectivity

Identifying the Strategic Alpine Connectivity Areas (SACA) and proposing some concrete actions to safeguard their role for an Alpine ecological network – that is one of the main challenges facing the ALPBIONET2030 project.

During the project Mid-term Conference that took place on 2nd and 3rd July 2018 in the Berchtesgaden Project Working Region (PWR), first results of the mapping of these areas were presented to the interested audience (online access to GIS tool Jecami https://2030.jecami.eu/viewer/saca/). An excursion in the region offered the opportunity to get an idea of what different types of SACA could look like – and how to conserve or improve their functionality regarding ecological connectivity. Knowing what to do and where to implement the actions is a crucial step for preserving ecological connectivity in an Alpine context – but the support of local stakeholders and the local population is also a determining success factor for all activities.

Spreading the word on ecological connectivity

Different communication tools developed by the project partners make it possible for a wider public to familiarize themselves with the topic and get a feeling of the importance of inter-connected habitats: a picture quiz illustrating ecological connectivity in a landscape context here, exciting online games (https://2030.jecami.eu/) or a short video introducing some features of the project.  

ALPARC has selected the Austrian provinces of Styria and Carinthia and their parks for this second exchange event as part of the Destination Parks project. In particular, regional tourism strategies with a focus on protected area tourism as well as cooperation with tourism associations and tourism service providers should be in the foreground. With the insights into the tourism work of the nature park management in both federal states, product development and marketing will also be addressed.

Download the programme below.

Register

The Final conference of the Interreg Alpine Space project GaYA - Governance and youth in the Alps - Young Ideas for the Alps will take place in Chambéry, 30 November 2018, Centre de Congrès Le Manège, Chambéry/F
Are you a decision maker, a young citizen, a youth worker, an NGO or an interested Alpine inhabitant? Would you like to improve the possibility for young people to express their ideas and engage in the life and development of their municipality or region? Do you want to address the challenges of youth participation and find interesting solutions?

The GaYA – Governance and Youth in the Alps - conference is a unique experience, a chance to enjoy interactive sessions about youth participation and governance, music, an Alpine buffet and films made by young people. Come and appreciate the exchange with and creativity of participants from different alpine countries and speaking different languages.

The GaYA – Governance and Youth in the Alps - conference is a unique experience to enjoy interactive sessions about youth participation, music, an Alpine buffet and films made by young people. Join the conference and make your voice count!

During the conference, will be shown the best video made by the alpine young generation, in the frame of GaYA Film Festival “My Alps – My Chance".

For further information, programme and registration: http://www.alpine-space.eu/projects/gaya/en/home

ALPARC is pleased to invite you to the closing event of the WeWild project (‘We respect Alpine Wildlife’). The event aims at providing nature protection and mountain sports’ stakeholders with the opportunity to exchange experiences and new ideas on the management of nature and mountain sports in the highly frequented areas of the Alpine region. Starting from the current situation, the objective is to think further and imagine potential courses of action.

During the congress scientists, practitioners, associations, businesses and other stakeholders involved in the ambit will discuss agritourism´s challenges, opportunities and limitations with the aim to leverage and safeguard an effective development of this sector. The combination of international expertise and the existing treasure trove of experiences in agritourism that is available on the hosting territory offers an important added value to this World Congress.

The Mountain Wilderness conference "Find and Encourage Wilderness" will take place on October 30th and 31st 2018. It aims at presenting the main results of the wilderness study in Switzerland, discussing the wilderness strategy and discovering the Sihlwald nature park during a tour.

Registration is possible until September 30th on the website: https://mountainwilderness.ch/wildnis/projekte/wildnis-tagung/

Mountain Wilderness Suisse organise la conférence « Nature sauvage » en collaboration avec CIPRA Suisse, Pro Natura, la Fondation suisse pour la protection et l’aménagement du paysage & Stiftung Wildnispark Zürich (Sihlwald).

En plus de la présentation de l'étude « Nature sauvage », sur le potentiel et l'acceptation de la nature sauvage en Suisse, l’événement comprendra des conférences et des discussions sur le thème, avec une excursion prévue le deuxième jour.

L'invitation s'adresse à tous les amateurs de nature sauvage venant de la protection de la nature, des pouvoirs publics, de la recherche, des aires protégées, des médias, des utilisateurs et des propriétaires d’espaces sauvages existants ou potentiels, ainsi qu'à toute autre personne intéressée.

The National Park Val Grande together with the Ente di Gestione delle Aree Protette dell'Ossola organise a conference focused on the role of the natural parks in  mountain areas called :

" I parchi naturali per una nuova etica della montagna" the 20th of October 2018.

Further information available soon at : http://www.parcovalgrande.it/