Agreement on cooperation between the Alpine and Carpathian Conventions
Germany, France, Ukraine, the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the Secretaries-General of the Alpine and Carpathian Conventions today agreed to strengthen cooperation in nature conservation and signed a corresponding Memorandum of Understanding. "This cooperation is aimed at establishing an ecological network in the sensitive Alpine and Carpathian mountain regions," said Matthias Machnig, State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry. Ukraine's Environment Minister Heorhiy Filipchuk stressed that such a cooperation between Europe's two largest mountain regions can make a major contribution towards the creation of a global network of protected areas.
On the initiative of France, Alpine countries began developing a network of Alpine protected areas around 13 years ago. Germany and France currently hold the presidency of the Alpine Convention. "The very tangible experience and solid body of instruments gained in the course of establishing the protected area network in the Alps can serve as a very useful model for other regions," said Laurent Stefanini, who represented France at the signing. For the past five years, the network of Alpine protected areas and the parties to the Alpine Convention have been supporting the creation of a Carpathian network of protected areas, which is also envisaged under the Carpathian Convention.
Transboundary protected areas and the geographical links between protected areas in the Alps is a key aspect of the work under the Alpine Convention. More than 800 sites in the Alpine arc are currently protected in various ways. This accounts for around 23 percent of the area covered by the Alpine Convention. The goal now is to join existing protected areas in an ecological network. The protected Alpine areas of the eight Parties to the Alpine Convention, including transboundary protected areas, will form the core zones of the Alpine-wide network.