Das Netzwerk Alpiner Schutzgebiete
“Our Natural Treasures”: in 2019, the European Days of Parks is a call to reconnect with nature, to highlight the natural treasures that make our Protected Areas so special.
Europarc invites all European Protected Areas to organise events in and around the 24th May to jointly celebrate our natural treasures. There are promotional materials available in 30 languages. Events should be register here.
All information and promotional material available at: www.europarc.org/european-day-of-parks
Climate Change is threatening our planet. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s ‘Special Report’, if global temperatures rise above 1.5 °C (above pre-industrial levels) we will face extreme climate events, a substantial increase in biodiversity loss, and difficulties gathering fresh water.
Climate Change in the Alps
The situation in the Alpine region is even more alarming, with rising temperatures about “twice as large as the global trend” (Brunetti et al., 2009). Furthermore, climate change’s effects are three time stronger in the Alps than the world’s average (OECD, 2007) and gathering fresh water is becoming an increasingly urgent issue. Over 90 percent of glacier volume in the Alps could be lost by 2100. Ice melting has become a symbol of climate change in the Alps, since it is the most visible and easily measured effect of climate change and due to the glaciers’ high importance for the region’s landscapes, ecosystems and economy. ‘The Cryosphere’ review envisages two alarming scenarios in which, depending on the increase in global temperatures, Alpine glaciers may or may not survive.
Alpine States are committed to climate change action and have adopted the Alpine Convention’s ‘Declaration on Climate Change’ (2006) and ‘Action Plan on Climate Change in the Alps’ (2009). Since 2011, “taking action on climate change” has been one of the priorities set during the ‘Multi-Annual Work Programme of the Alpine Conference’. This brought about the establishment of the Alpine Climate Board in 2016, which coordinates all climate change-related activities.
Concrete actions in Alpine Protected Areas
Several Alpine protected areas are carrying out concrete actions to deal with the effects of climate change which mainly consist in monitoring and research, adaptation and mitigation measures, promotion, educational activities and dissemination of relevant information to the general public.
In France, the project Alpages sentinelles, started in 2000, studies and measures the effects of climate change on 31 Alpine pastures. The project’s goal is to develop adaptation measures to preserve the traditional pastoral activity in the Alps. It involves the Ecrins National Park, Vanoise National Park, Mercantour National Park, Chartreuse Nature Regional Park, Vercors Nature Regional Park, and Luberon Nature Regional Park. The partners of Alpage sentinelles met last March to analyse the results of 2018 - the warmest year ever recorded since the launch of the project. They agreed that the most effective measure is to manage the Alpine pastures in a way that avoids further stress on the grasslands. Indeed, pastures are already feeling the effects of increasing temperatures, resulting in the depletion of vegetation.
In the same direction, the National Park of Ecrins and the National Park Gran Paradiso launched the LIFE project PastorAlp. Based on a consistent activity of transboundary research, the final output of the project consists of developing a platform of tools to facilitate the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies in the two parks.
The Interreg Alcotra CClimaTT project involves transborder protected areas from France and Italy. The objectives of the project include: gathering more knowledge and understanding of climate change effects; involving and informing the general public; and influencing people’s behaviour toward greater environmental responsibility. Within this framework, the Ente Aree Protette Alpi Marittime and National Park of Ecrins, offered 40,000 euros to eight projects, selected by a jury of experts, that promote a resilient and climate-smart future under the motto “If climate changes… we change as well!”. The winners will implement activities for the mitigation and adaptation to climate change in Alpine areas.
The Festival scientifique “Avec ou sans Glace” is an example of a series of activities held to inform the general public on the effect of climate change in the Alps with specific reference to glaciers melting. The conference organised by the National Park of Vanoise (France) included a ‘geological hike’ to discover the impact of the melting glaciers and a conference where climate change experts interacted with the public.
Apart from informing the general public, protected areas play a key role in carrying out educational activities on climate change effects. For example, the Natural Park of Adamello (Italy), together with a local high school, organised outdoor activities dedicated to pupils under the Interreg project YOUrALPS: The trees in the Alps as a signal of climate change. Students were guided by experts to discover the effects of climate change on forests to better understand the changing ecosystem. In Austria, still under the YOUrALPS project, educational activities were carried out in the Nature Park Geschriebenstein where high school students were confronted with the issue of extreme weather events caused by climate change. During on-field activities, they experimented with climate change adaptation and mitigation measures against floods.
In Slovenia, the Triglav National Park is part of the Julian Alps Biosphere Reserve. This initiative is an intergovernmental research programme that establishes a global network of biosphere reserves. This network strives to uphold the balance between people and nature, biodiversity and sustainable development and upkeep of cultural values. This is a great example of the enhancement of an active ‘sink’ of GHGs, which is a strong mitigation measure against climate change.
Moreover, the Berchtesgaden National Park, in Bavaria, is involved in different climate monitoring activities. One of these activities is the Klimamessnetz (Climate monitoring network). It relies on the National park service and the German weather service to track the changes in Alpine climate in the long run and in a large area. Moreover, the National Park is one of GLORIA-EUROPE research sites whose goal is to understand future scenarios we will have to face due to climate change.
Climate Change is producing severe effects on the Alps, but protected areas are fighting to resist.
Protected Areas' Actions:
Festival scientifique “Avec ou sans Glace”
Triglav National Park, the Julian Alps Biosphere Reserve
If the climate changes… We change as well!
The Trees in the Alps as a sign of Climate Change
“Draußen unterrichten“– Biodiversity Strategies
Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments
Bibliography
Brunetti et al., 2009, ‘Climate variability and change in the Greater Alpine Region over the last two centuries based on multi-variable analysis’, in International Journal of Climatology
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2018, ‘Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5 ºC’, as seen in https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/, 25-04-2019
NASA, 2019, ‘Responding to Climate Change’ as seen in https://climate.nasa.gov/solutions/adaptation-mitigation/, 26-04-2019
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2007, ‘Climate Change in the European Alps: Adapting Winter Tourism and Natural Hazards Management’, ed. Shardul Agrawala
Zekollari et al., 2019, ‘Modelling the future evolution of glaciers in the European Alps under the EURO-CORDEX RCM ensemble’, in The Cryosphere, volume 13, pp. 1125-1146
Is it possible to make the Alps climate-neutral and resilient by 2050?
The Permanent Secretary of the Alpine Convention lays out concrete actions for the Alpine region to turn this objective reality in its new publication "Climate-Neutral and Climate-Resilient Alps 2050". The publication highlights three central policies, coming from the 25th Alpine Convention: The Declaration of Innsbruck, the Alpine Climate Target System 2050 and the 7th Report on the State of the Alps “Natural Hazard Risk Governance”. The Alpine Climate Target System 2050, prepared by the Alpine Climate Board over the last two years, describes specific actions that must be taken under 12 different sectors to protect the Alps from climate change. The 7th Report on the State of the Alps describes the future for natural hazard risk governance.
The Alpine Convention’s new publication calls for the Contracting Parties to prioritize climate change action and policies to preserve the Alps’ natural heritage. These targets showcase the Alps as being a model for international cooperation and its role in climate change adaptation and mitigation.
The publication “Climate-Neutral and Climate-resilient Alps 2050" is available here.
Come to the international conference "Learning and networking for sustainable development in the Alps - The Alpine School & OurAlps network" on May 14th and 15th 2019 in Morbegno.
The Alpine School Model, one of the major YOUrALPS project output aiming at re-connecting youth to their natural environment, will be presented at the conference.
The event will give you the opportunity to discover the OurAlps network and to network with other Alpine stakeholders.
The event is organised in the frame of the INTERREG Alpine Space YOUrALPS project.
To register to the conference and for further information please click here:
Registrations are now open for the Sondrio Festival 2019 – an International Documentary Film Festival on Parks (33rd edition, Sondrio, Italy, from November 11th to 24th 2019).The Festival is open to film-makers of documentaries featuring naturalistic, ethnographic and managerial aspects of National Parks, Nature Reserves and other types of Protected Areas. Films selected for the Festival will be considered for the First Prize “Town of Sondrio" Award (4,000 Euros), the “Stelvio National Park” Award (3,000 Euros) and, for films shot in the European Union, the “Lombardy Region” Award (3,000 Euros). Other prizes include the “Audience Jury” Award, the “Students Jury” Award and the “Renata Viviani” Special Award (1,500 Euros), assigned by a special Jury of representatives of the Italian Alpine Club. The Festival organization may create new categories out of competition for films that address environmental, agricultural and conservation issues, as well as sustainable development and human activities. Films should be entered sent not later than 20th May 2019. There is no entry fee. The Festival is managed by ASSOMIDOP, an association comprising Sondrio Town Council, the Italian Alpine Club, the B.I.M. Consortium, the Stelvio National Park and Orobie Valtellinesi Nature Park.
On Thursday April 11th, 2019, the new regional platform of the Alpine network ALPARC CENTR’ALPS was officially founded in Balderschwang, Nagelfluhkette Nature Park (DE). Directly linked by contract to the ALPARC network, the new platform has an association status based on German law.
The creation of a regional platform is based on the decisions of ALPARC’s last three General Assemblies, who decided to put in place a decentralized structure of ALPARC to guarantee concrete work on the ground, a closer proximity towards the managers of the protected areas and local initiatives. ALPARC CENTR’ALPS shares the same objectives and working axes of its “mother organization” and represents a concrete possibility for smaller protected areas and local managers of biodiversity and natural sites to join the network. Thanks to ALPARC CENTR’ALPS there will be an opportunity to gain access to more of the EU’s funding for the central region.
The 10 founding members include protected areas from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Swiss Park Network, the Federation of the Austrian Nature Park and the interactive natural museum Inatura located in Dornbin, Germany. The presidency of ALPARC CENTR’ALPS is assured by Peter Oggier, the current president of ALPARC and director of the Nature Park Pfyn-Finges.
To insure a regional presence of the Alpine network with regional contact points and to guarantee the proximity to the protected areas, ALPARC is planning to create a second regional platform in the south-eastern Alps (East of Italy or Slovenia). This will strengthen the network’s activities.
List of the 10 founding members of the ALPARC CENTR'ALPS:
Europarc organise the XI Charter Network Meeting. It takes place in Greece (Tzoumerka, Acheloos Valley, Agrafa and Meteora National Park) between the 9-11th April, with a special post-conference excursion until the 14th April. It is an excellent opportunity to all professionals working and interested in sustainable tourism in protected areas to examine, discuss and learn from each other. Using practical examples and experience from across Europe, this will be a valuable chance to consider how to explore a “sustainable response” to the many social and cultural impact that tourism brings about in Protected Areas.
Registrations are now open, all information available at: www.europarc.org/xi-charter-network-meeting
Like its bigger sister, the quadrennial AlpWeek, Alpweek Intermezzo is an international event on sustainable development and related Alpine issues, jointly organised by key Alpine organisations. The 2019 edition of the event is conceived as a lunch to lunch conference which will bring the main Alpine stakeholders together to meet and exchange views on the topic “Tomorrow in the Alps”.
More information on alpweek.org
The international photography contest “Fotografare il Parco” is now open for its 13th edition. The contest, organized by the Stelvio, Gran Paradiso, Abruzzo-Lazio-Molise and Vanoise National Parks, is a must do for any photographer passionate about mountain wildlife. Although these national parks may seem far from each other, they are all connected through their beauty, natural landscapes, and biodiversity of plants and animals. Participating in this event is an opportunity to enhance these protected areas, since the winners’ photos will be used in the parks’ exhibitions, publications, websites and social networks.
Participants can compete in four categories: The Park Landscape, The Park Wildlife, The Park Microcosmos and natural details, and The Park Plant World. For each category, photographers can send up to four photos either in color or in black and white. Winners will be awarded a cash prize in addition to stays in the national parks and a subscription to the to the magazine “La Rivista della Natura”.
Participation is free of charge and the contest will be open until September 30th, 2019. Participation rules can be found on the Fotografare il Parco website.
Every year, the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention invites journalists on the We are Alps, a tour across the Alps to experience interesting initiatives in the Alps hands-on and meet various stakeholders, travelling with trains, buses and other sustainable means of transport.
This year, the tour will take place as the “We are Alps Compact” edition, being held on Wednesday 3 April – Thursday 4 April simultaneously to the XV Alpine Conference and focussing on the topics of Climate Change, Natural Hazard and Governance. Excursions in and around Innsbruck (AT) will demonstrate how these three issues are approached, taking into account the particularities of the Alpine natural features. Furthermore, the participants will get the chance to converse with political representatives of the 8 Alpine Countries in the run-up to the XV Alpine Conference (taking place in the morning of 4 April) and participate in the closing Press Conference.
The call is open until Sunday, 10 March for interested journalists from all types of media, particularly from Alpine countries to apply for a place on the tour.
Further information and the application documents can be found on the Alpine Convention’s website.
Alpine Water - common good or source of conflicts?
The proceedings of the FoumAlpinum 2018 and the 7th Water Conference of the Alpine Convention have been published online. The volume contains abstracts of all presentations and posters dealing with questions of water use in the Alpine region and foreseeable future water use conflicts, as well as measures to avoid them. The proceedings also contain a summary of the 7th Water Conference and the results of the mapping of hotspots of water use in the Alpine region, that were recorded during the conference with the participants. The key messages of the ForumAlpinum 2018 are summarized in a policy brief addressed to the Alpine Convention and relevant administrations, entitled „Action needed to prevent future conflict over the use and management of water in the Alpine region in times of climate change and growing demand“.
The ForumAlpinum 2018 has been organised by the International Scientific Committee for Alpine Research (ISCAR) together with the 7th Water Conference of the Alpine Convention and the Macroregion Alpine Space (www.forumalpinum.org).
Download Proceedings: https://doi.org/10.1553/forumalpinum2018
Source: ISCAR