Das Netzwerk Alpiner Schutzgebiete
A peatland is a particular type of wetland that can be found in naturally intact areas and is generally known for storing greenhouse gasses (GHGs). In the scientific language it is a GHGs ‘sink’. In fact, worldwide peatlands store more carbon than all other vegetation types combined. However, due to climate change and other external conditions, a peatland might turn into a ‘source’ of GHGs, releasing CO2 and methane in the atmosphere.
This is what happened to the Monte Bondone’s peatland (Italy, 1563m above sea level) due to temperature increases. This ecosystem was studied for three years by Italian and Irish researchers that discovered that the wetland released a considerable amount of CO2 in the atmosphere (J.W.M. Pullens et al., 2016)1 . This finding is in contrast with what has been observed to date in most of European peatlands. The cause? Mostly the shortening of the snow period, a rise in temperatures and a decrease in precipitation.
Taking action
Peatlands are key habitats contributing to climate change mitigation. However, some of them are threatened by human exploitation and climate change. For these reasons, different states in Europe are taking action in order to enhance peatlands’ ‘sink’ function and to avoid them turning into CO2 ‘sources’. EUROPARC Federation insists that restoring peatlands is a powerful means to fight against climate change and pollution being that peatlands are “the most efficient terrestrial carbon-sink in the world”.
In the Alps
The LIFE project “Tourbières du Jura” aims at restoring 60 peatlands distributed in 16 Natura 2000 sites in the Doubs and Jura departments. Different restoring interventions that have been carried out are giving positive results that will ultimately benefit a surface of more than 600 hectares. These results will be presented on Thursday 14th November 2019 during a conference dedicated to Alpine wetlands in Annecy (FR).
The regional government of the Bavarian Alps is carrying out operations (singe 1998) for the restoration of endangered peatlands by means of increasing the amount of water and removing young trees and bushes.
And elsewhere
Together with nine partners from Poland, Germany and the Baltic states the LIFE Climate Mitigation project “Peat Restore” aims at rewetting degraded peatlands for an area of 5,300 hectares to restore their natural function as carbon sinks.
The managing organizations of the protected areas of the North of England are collectively investing an unprecedented amount of money and energies for the restoration of damaged peatlands during the conservation works season 2019-2021.
Sources
The article from EUROPARC:
https://www.europarc.org/news/2019/07/restoring-peatlands/
The measures taken in the Bavarian Alps:
https://www.cipra.org/en/good-practice/peatland-restoration-in-the-region-of-the-alps-in-bavaria
The LIFE project “Tourbières du Jura”:
http://www.life-tourbieres-jura.fr/
Conference on Alpine wetlands – 14 November 2019 in Annecy (FR):
“Zones humides de montagne, « Amortisseurs » et 1eres victimes des changements globaux ?”
The LIFE project “Peat Restore”:
https://life-peat-restore.eu/en/
The commitment of English protected areas’ managing organization to preserve peatlands:
https://www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk/the-latest/recent-news/moorlife-2020/the-conservation-works-season-of-20192021-is-set-to-be-the-biggest-yet-for-peatland-restoration
[1]. J.W.M. Pullens et al., 2016, Carbon fluxes of an Alpine peatland in Northern Italy, in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, ELSEVIER.
The aim of Destination Parks was to find a common ground on how to develop and promote a shared vision, strategy and implementation of sustainable forms of tourism in the Alpine protected areas. During the one-year project period, ALPARC organized one online and four in-person meetings. Partners from most of the Alpine countries actively participated in these events amongst others. They represented different kinds of protected area and park networks and thus, a large diversity of interests, ideas and needs.
The final conference took place in Bern, Switzerland and was hosted by the Swiss Parks Network. ALPARC presented the final report’s main findings and openly discussed with all attendees. In order to highlight the cooperation that emerged (thanks to this project) between Valeurs Parcs, France and the Swiss Parks Network, the evolution of the respective projects and their partnership were presented. It is a very typical example of how the network provides its members with services, and in this case, through the linkage of actors formerly not in contact.
The general outcomes of the conference embraced several ideas on how to continue the cooperation on the project’s goals. It was agreed that it is important to continue the cooperation on sustainable tourism and the role of protected areas. Several leading questions and general assumptions were identified:
A new project or second phase will be proposed on these topics.
Recent studies found that more than 75% of insects have disappeared during the last 30 years in Europe (Vogel, 20181). As they constitute more than 60% of all known animal species, they are an integral part of ecosystems both as pollinators and prey for other animals. This is alarming knowing that it is thanks to insects that our kitchens are full of fruits, vegetables and almost all our food. Indeed, insects have been pollinating year after year the plants that we eat, granting successful harvests and abundance of food. Hence, the dramatically decreasing numbers will have a large impact on human society in the medium to long run.
In this context, future generations are particularly concerned about insects’ disappearance. For this reason, the Interreg project YOUrALPS aimed at raising Alpine youth awareness on the issue. This led to the creation of “The Insect Effect”, a video on the long-term impact of biodiversity loss – and more specifically, the dramatic plunge in insect numbers.
This short film was created and recorded by and with young people from Berchtesgaden National Park (DE). Eleven German kids had the opportunity to spend 4 days training with a professional video maker and an environmental expert to produce the following video:
[1] Vogel Gretchen, “Germany’s insects are disappearing”, in Science, Oct. 18, 2017, https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/10/germany-s-insects-are-disappearing accessed 23-09-2019
The Alpine protected areas are united in their goal of preserving the natural heritage of the Alps and play a major role in nature conservation due to their unique ecosystems and expertise. There are nearly 1,000 protected areas in the Alps, covering a surface area of over 53,000 km2. This makes up over 28 percent of land under the jurisdiction of the Alpine Convention.
Protected areas are categorized based on their management objectives and protection status. By definition, nature conservation is the core task of protected areas. In addition, there is an increasing need for cooperation with various economic sectors such as tourism, agriculture and forestry. The focus varies depending on the protected area category and management objectives. The integration of protected areas into regional development planning is becoming increasingly important in order to maintain or increase their acceptance by the population.
APAs have a shared geographical base and values that allow them to work together on common Alpine issues. ALPARC cooperates with protected areas to implement concrete actions and projects around its three areas of work: Biodiversity and Ecological Connectivity, Regional Development and Quality of Life and Education for Sustainable Development in the Alps. ALPARC also facilitates the exchange of knowledge and shared experiences between protected areas.
The Platform Ecological Network of the Alpine Convention, under the initiative of the forthcoming French presidency, has mandated the French research institute Irstea to carry out a study on ecological connectivity and spatial planning throughout the Alpine arc. The resulting report, known as the PLACE report, is organized in five parts.
Download the report below.
The final event of Destination Parks will take place on September 11, 2019 in Bern Switzerland.
The results of the projects will be presented along with some outstanding good practice examples, before exploring further ways to move ahead on the development of a common Alpine strategy on the future development and promotion of sustainable toursim in protected areas.
Please find the programme here.
From April 3rd to 4th 2019, ten key Alpine organizations put together AlpWeek Intermezzo, an international event on sustainable development and related Alpine issues. This event was a shorter version of AlpWeek, which is held every four years. Over a period of two days, a total of 60 invited guests from all over the Alps (e.g. Youth Parliament of the Alpine Convention, mayors from Alpine cities and scientists) came together in Innsbruck, Austria to answer the question ‘what is your most relevant concern for the Alps tomorrow’?
In total, three main topics were presented during the conference: land use, mobility and climate change. Each topic was introduced by a guest speaker and was then opened up to debate. The results of each debate session were presented (as recommendations for future action) to the Alpine Convention during the XV Alpine Conference, which occurred in parallel with the event. AlpWeek Intermezzo also featured presentations on 10 projects addressing Alpine issues.
The final conference report is now available and presents crucial information from the topic sessions and project presentations.
Key information from the topic sessions:
Highlights from project presentations:
The complete conference report can be found here.
The conference is one of the most comprehensive international meetings on mountain research, with more that 40 workshop topic announcements and keynote speakers from various disciplines and countries. This conference is an opportunity to be a part of a scientific exchange and the creation of new concepts in interdisciplinary mountain science.
Species living in mountainous areas depend on unique climate conditions, which vary with elevation, for survival. Climate change is modifying these areas and has already resulted in temperature increases, changes in precipitation patterns and more extreme climatic events such as droughts and heat waves. These changes are already having noticeable effects on Alpine fauna and flora and many international studies approach the question of how affected species are managing to adapt to climate change.
According to a study published in July 2019 in Nature Research, most common species, such as birds and deer, are unable to acclimatize to the speed of the climate change crisis. The report looked at 71 studies across 13 countries to access whether species’ phenological changes or adaptive responses were adequate to deal with climate change. Out of the species studied, almost all species were unable to handle the changes.
Species rely on the timing of biological events to adapt their behavior to new environmental conditions. However, this is becoming a challenge as seasonal shifts are accelerating due to human activities. In the Alps, the early arrival of spring and summer is causing ecosystems to be out of sync, impacting animal reproduction and survival. For example, peak vegetation is happening before Alpine Ibex have their kids in Autumn, resulting in a higher mortality rate for their young. Climate change is also affecting migration patterns, as many species are forced to move upward an average of 100m to deal with rising temperatures. This dangerous lag between the natural world’s ability to adapt is even greater for species that are already threatened by extinction.
“The fact that species struggle to adapt to the current rate of climate change means we have to take action immediately in order to at least halt or decrease the rate” –Viktoriia Radchuk
Human-induced climate changes has already caused irreversible damage to biodiversity. Without drastic cuts in CO2 emissions and habitat restoration, climate change could change the world as we know it.
Climate change impacts on the Alps: https://creamontblanc.org/en/climate-change-and-its-impacts-alps
Involving and empowering Youth in nature conservation is becoming increasingly important. ALPARC itself is deeply convinced that young people participation is one fundamental tool to contribute to the preservation of the Alpine natural and cultural heritage.
To all our young public:
If your project is selected not only you will be able to present it to the EUSALP Annual Forum but you might also win up to 5.000€ for its implementation.
What are you waiting for? Submit your project by October 31st!
For further info: Check the open call
In their most recent editions, eco-mont wrote two interesting editorials on the mission of Protected Areas (PAs).
The general trend regarding PAs administration is to favor touristic and local development over preservation, education and research – PAs core mission.
With his 30 years of experience as a coordinator for the Research Council of the Swiss National Park, Thomas Scheurer explains that three factors are pushing PAs to invest in image building, branding, touristic offers and facilities:
The author finds two particularly simple and effective solutions: putting a limit (fixed percentage) on funds for institutional investments and separating management conservation from nature marketing management.
Eco-mont’s latest edition opens with an editorial by Herbert Wölger, the Managing Director of Gesäuse National Park. The author tries to address the matter from the perspective of PA managers and underlines that all managers should respect their core mission of conservation and, at the same time, contribute to regional development. However, he acknowledges the existence of a major problem: “We receive applause for short-term economic development but little recognition for long-term ecological conservation.”
PAs have one major challenge, gathering long-term funding for long-term results in nature conservation. If European instruments like LIFE program allow PAs to start pursuing their core mission, their limited duration still constitutes a major obstacle in the long run.
The editorial ends with some examples of nature conservation measures that can benefit PAs.
This is an invitation to develop new and innovative ways to find a conciliation between economic development and nature conservation by exploiting the first to enhance the second.
We invite you to read the full articles at the following links:
http://www.austriaca.at/0xc1aa5576_0x003abf00.pdf
http://www.austriaca.at/0xc1aa5576_0x003a2b4d.pdf
The Natura 2000 network is the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world. It was established in 1992 with the Habitats Directive. Ensuring effective management of individual Natura 2000 sites remains a challenge in most EU countries which hinders the full implementation of the Nature Directives.
What are the Core Competencies that Nature 2000 and Protected Area Managers should have?
The LIFE e-Natura2000.edu project tries to answer to this question in its Technical Report.
Starting from the analysis of the ‘Fitness Check’ of Birds and Habitats Directives, some critical issues have been identified in their implementation. More specifically, to ameliorate Natura 2000 management in its practical dimension, improvements in the following areas are required:
Specifically, it is fundamental to keep a strong connection between all Natura 2000 sites, without forgetting their specific context and needs.
Identification and Assessment of Competencies for Management of Natura 2000
This is the title of the Report that constitutes the first activity of the LIFE e-Natura2000.edu project. It is the result of the findings of a technical workshop in which the project team and invited experts analysed the IUCN Global Register of Competencies for Protected Area Practitioners.
Its structure:
Building capacities for Nature 2000 Site Managers
The project also aims at offering 3 blended-learning opportunities for Natura 2000 & Protected Area Managers in 2020 to enhance management practices in the protection of nature, with the support of e-learning and other innovative tools. The call to participate will open at the end of 2019.