The AlpsLife project (INTERREG Alpine Space) continues its journey with the second consortium meeting, held in Innsbruck on 18-19 September. Many partners had already gathered on 17 Septemer during the International Mountain Conference, where a dedicated session on mountain regions as key biodiversity observatories featured strong participation from AlpsLife partners.
After nearly a year of work, the first results are beginning to take shape, even as discussions remain lively. Within the work package on the Application and evaluation of an early warning system for biodiversity in the Alpine Protected Areas and beyond, that is led by ALPARC and see as main characters the project’s protected area partners, 30 questionnaires have been completed. The questionnaires collection will continue until the end of 2025, but these questionnaires have already provided valuable insights into monitoring schemes and management measures across Alpine protected areas in the whole Alpine Arc. This marks an important milestone, offering a solid foundation for the next steps and for the selection of indicators that will be crucial in conceptualising the early warning system.
A key moment of the consortium meeting was a workshop organised by the protected area partners, focusing on four major biodiversity components commonly monitored across the Alpine arc: ungulates, grouses, alien species, and flora (general monitoring). Each discussion table soon delved into the core issues, comparing monitoring methods across different protected areas and identifying the minimum thresholds needed for data sharing and comparability. These exchanges laid the groundwork for the early stages of the early warning system’s conceptual development.
The field excursion took participants by funicular and cable car to Seegrube, in the mountains overlooking Innsbruck of the Nationalpark Kalkalpen. There, together with staff from the Nationalpark Kalkalpen, participants explored the Tyrolean mountain landscape and engaged in discussions on ecological topics such as landscape connectivity and fragmentation (made especially tangible by the panoramic view over the city) and the feasibility of comparing monitoring data across different protected areas. Insights from the Kalkalpen team enriched the conversation with past experiences.
The next consortium meeting of AlpsLife will be in Annecy (FR), hosted jointly by ALPARC and ASTERS!
For more information about the project: https://www.alpine-space.eu/project/alpslife/
The AlpsLife project is co-funded by the European Union through the Interreg Alpine Space programme, which supports cross-border cooperation projects between seven Alpine countries.
© photo: ALPARC / Dominik Greiderer