Mreža zavarovanih območij v Alpah
From as yet undiscovered biodiversity to resilient forests and the impact of food consumption on nature: 64 experts have now published their knowledge and recommendations in the form of "10 Must Knows from Biodiversity Science" for 2024. The Leibniz Research Network Biodiversity's new report provides policymakers and society with concrete ways to effectively conserve and sustainably use biodiversity at the local, national, and European levels and thereby also mitigate climate change. With this publication, the researchers contribute current scientific facts to the debate on the German National Biodiversity Strategy, which is to be adopted before the next United Nations Biodiversity Conference in autumn 2024.
"We are already exceeding planetary boundaries, both in terms of global warming and biodiversity loss. Joint responses are needed to counter these crises. We know that preserving biodiversity can significantly contribute to mitigating climate change, for example through biodiverse forests and rewetted peatlands that can act as carbon sinks. Only by focusing on measures to protect biodiversity can we succeed in tackling both crises at the same time," says Kirsten Thonicke, lead author and Deputy Head of Research Department “Earth System Analysis” at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), who coordinates the research network.
Following the great response to the "10 Must Knows from Biodiversity Science" first published in 2022, scientists from a total of 52 German and international research institutions have now contributed their expertise from the environmental, life, spatial, social, humanities and economic sciences to the new version. "Our recommendations summarise the research available today for decision-makers. The Must Knows are intended to provide guidance on how to implement the globally agreed biodiversity targets in the German context,", says author Sibylle Schroer from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB). "This also includes the awareness that so far we only understand a relatively small part of biodiversity. Recognising this fact, is a crucial step towards more sustainable environmental policies. These policies should focus on ecosystem-based habitat management – and thus the functions and interactions between species and habitats, rather than just individual species and habitats."
Concentrated biodiversity knowledge from 64 experts across all disciplines
To implement the 23 global biodiversity targets agreed by United Nations member states at the UN Biodiversity Conference in December 2022 (COP 15), the German National Biodiversity Strategy 2030 is currently being developed. The strategy aims to preserve and protect biodiversity in Germany. In order to provide up-to-date facts from the scientific community, the first version of the "10 Must Knows" from 2022 was expanded to include numerous aspects and brought up to date with the help of current literature. The new report addresses, among other things, how the impact of food consumption on biodiversity can be reduced in concrete terms: "Understanding and using biodiversity as a crucial production factor can help to stabilise yields, enhance agricultural resilience and turn us all into biodiversity managers, whether we are producers or consumers" says author Jens Freitag from the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK). The authors offer practical suggestions for policymakers and provide citizens with specific options for taking action in society.
The BMBF Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity (FEdA) and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig collaborated on the project. The "10 Must Knows" were commented on by experts from politics, administration, science and associations before publication.
The "10 Must Knows from Biodiversity Science 2024" are:
Click here for the full article and to read quotes from scientiests, who contributed to the "10 Must Knows from Biodiversity Science"
Weblink to the detailed "10 Must Knows from Biodiversity Science in 2024": https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10837769
ALPARC CENTR’ALPS has now published the brochure "Biodiversitätsschutz an kleineren Fliessgewässern im deutschsprachigen Alpenraum - Rahmenbedingungen, Zuständigkeiten und Handlungsoptionen von Schutzgebieten für gemeinsame Maßnahmen" (Biodiversity protection on smaller watercourses in the German-speaking Alpine region - Framework conditions, responsibilities and options for action of protected areas for joint measures). It is available only in German (with a short Englisch summary) and can be read or downloaded here:
https://www.alparc.org/alpine-resources/centr-alps-brochure-watercourses
Printed copies are available from the office in Immenstadt (centralps@alparc.org).
Content
The brochure describes the systematics and legal basis of watercourses in Germany/Bavaria, Liechtenstein, Austria and Switzerland, addresses responsibilities and stakeholders and identifies key challenges from the perspective of protected areas. It then describes the most important strengths of protected area managements and considers four fields of action:
A selection of concrete examples of measures serves as motivation for other protected areas to implement (further) activities themselves. The examples primarily provide ideas and practical tips. Based on their experiences, recommendations are made on how protected areas should approach the topic in principle, how they can participate in the activities of other stakeholders and how they can take action with their own measures.
The project behind the brochure
The work on smaller watercourses and the brochure are part of the project “Biodiversity Protection in Times of Climate Change - Cross-border Cooperation of Protected Areas for Species and Habitat Protection in the Central Alpine Region" (https://www.alparc.org/de/biodiversitaetsschutz-in-zeiten-des-klimawandels), which was funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection.
In 2024 we celebrate the 10th edition of Youth at the Top and the registration is now open!
The 2024 edition will take place on July 18th 2024 (and the night of July 18th to 19th). On this common date, protected areas all around the Alps and the Carpathians are invited to take groups of curious kids and teens to the mountains, to experiment their surroundings in a new and creative way. Organizations, protected areas, youth associations, local professionals, and refuges are invited to take part in this international event and to plan educational activities on this year's common theme: "Alpine Flowers and Pollinator Insects".
Organizations willing to join the project should fill up the online form before April 30th.
What is Youth at the Top?
Youth at the Top is an international event that aims to help young people (re)discover nature and connect to their mountain heritage. It is organized through local events that take place simultaneously in different countries across the Alps and Carpathians. It has a highly symbolic dimension as hundreds of young people go out and experience nature on a single date through an overnight stay in the mountains. Each registered organization is invited to plan a hike, an overnight stay in the mountains, an activity on a common topic and other educational activities to help the younger generation reconnect with the mountain environment. The project leaves a lot of leeway to the participating organizations to organize local events according to their goals and capabilities.
ALPARC has been responsible for the general management and international communication of the project since its very beginning.
The 10th edition of Youth at the Top is organized by ALPARC with the financial support from the German Ministry of the Environment and the Principality of Monaco.
Click here to open the Youth at the Top website.
Click here to watch the official video.
During the International Tourism Fair (Internationale Tourismusbörse, ITB) in Berlin, the directors of the Berchtesgaden/Germany and Triglav/Slovenia national parks recently signed a declaration of intent to intensify cross-border cooperation at the Slovenian celebratory evening.
Both regions are very comparable in terms of their natural resources and current challenges. Just like the Berchtesgaden National Park, a biosphere region directly adjoins the Triglav national park, and the Slovenian national park municipality of Bohinj has been Ramsau's partner municipality for around 25 years. Dr Roland Baier (right) and the Slovenian National Park Director Dr Tit Potočnik (left) therefore intend to work closely together and exchange knowledge, initially in the areas of research, education, information and visitor guidance. Joint projects, training and further education are also planned.
The teams from both protected areas are currently working on the detailed content and objectives of the new cooperation. The official agreement will be signed in June 2024 at a ceremony in Bohinj, Slovenia.
© private
“Biodiversity protection on smaller watercourses in the German-speaking Alpine region”
“Biodiversitätsschutz an kleineren Fließgewässern im deutschsprachigen Alpenraum”
In late 2022, the Swiss Parliament adopetd a new law called «Solar express», to produce more solar electricity in winter as soon as possible. As the flat parts of the country are often under cloud cover in winter, the new solar parks should be constructed in the Alps. To speed up the development, the law gives solar parks the priority against most nature protection instruments – thus also Nature Parks.
As no spatial planning process defined the best sites for solar parks and the government promised subsidies of up to 60%, energy companies got into contact with communities directly– including some within Nature Parks. Once the project perimeter was defined, the local population voted on the solar parks.
In the Nature Park Binntal, the population of one community voted in favour of a solar park. In the Nature Park Pfyn-Finges, three votes in three different communities took place. One community approved their solar project whereas the two other communities rejected their projects. The same outcome (rejection) could be observed in the Nature Park Ela.
It is suprising that solar park projects can be planned within Nature Parks in Switzerland. But the Nature Parks focus the discussions around the landscape values, because the communities risk loosing their label.
© G. Plassmann, ALPARC
Management plan for regional development in the Mürzer Oberland Nature Park launched in Neuberg an der Mürz
A few weeks ago the Mürzer Oberland Nature Park was able to start implementing the management plan for the Mürzer Oberland as commissioned by the Province of Styria. With the involvement of all relevant stakeholders from business, politics, tourism and regional development, the Mürzer Oberland Nature Park and, in this context, certain economic interests of the market town of Neuberg an der Mürz will be evaluated over the next 1 ½ years.
The Nature Park was pleased with the active participation of the Upper Styria East Regional Management on the one hand and the Mariazellerland Mürztal Leader Region on the other in the last workshop.
From these workshops, fields of action for the region's future activities and projects were developed. I will be happy to make the contents of the workshops and the associated considerations available on request, especially with regard to supporting the regional economy.
Mürzer Oberland Nature Park - Inventory of one of Austria's largest private natural history collections completed
It is considered one of the largest and most diverse private natural history collections in Austria - the collection of Prof. Herbert Schliefsteiner, which has been housed in the Mürzer Oberland Nature Park for over 30 years. In 2021, the market town of Neuberg an der Mürz took over the exhibits as part of a donation from Helmut Schliefsteiner, the son of the collection's founder. At the same time, the market town concluded an operating agreement with the Mürzer Oberland Nature Park Association for the exhibition and maintenance of the exhibits.
The Mürzer Oberland Nature Park then began, with the financial support of the Cultural Department of the Province of Styria, to create a professional depot and to digitally inventory the exhibits. Two employees were hired for these activities and this project was completed at the end of December 2023. In addition, as part of the "Who are you Styria" campaign, an exhibit from the collection, the "defensive female golden eagle", was awarded a prize as a particularly valuable exhibit with a very special background story!
More than 1,000 animal specimens from all over the world, including unique showpieces such as a great bustard, were photographed and scientifically recorded and entered into an online inventory. In coordination with the Museumsforum Steiermark, a branch of the Universalmuseum Joanneum, the exhibits are now available not only for the future new Neuberg an der Mürz Nature Museum but also for other exhibitions.
The collection itself will become the heart of the new nature museum funded by the state's nature conservation department. With this project, the market town of Neuberg an der Mürz, together with the Mürzer Oberland Nature Park, has been able to secure the preservation of one of the most important natural history collections in our region of Hochsteiermark.
Since 2021, the Vercors Regional Nature Park has been carrying out and leading a Municipal Biodiversity Atlas (ABC) approach in conjunction with the LPO and Flavia APE associations. From 2021 to 2023, the ABC involved 38 volunteer municipalities. In 2024, a second ABC Vercors will be created for 3 years and will take over from the previous one. It concerns 26 new municipalities that will therefore benefit from support from the Vercors Regional Nature Park.
The Atlas of Communal Biodiversity makes it possible to carry out a local scientific inventory and a mapping of animal and plant biodiversity so that each of these municipalities takes it into account in its developments and projects.
The themes of the first ABC Vercors are continued: pollinators, remarkable trees and hedges, wetlands and bats, to which flora is added as a new theme studied.
Residents are invited to contribute to the observations, thus deepening their knowledge of natural heritage with a view to better preserving it. They can set up "local ABC groups" and become stakeholders in the proposals for ABC activities in their municipality.
Moreover, everyone at their own level can participate by discovering the trees, ponds, pollinators, bats and flora near their home - in their garden, on their balcony, on public paths... and by adding its observation data to the online participatory tool "Vercors Biodiversity Observatory".
In addition to these free participations, discovery outings are organised by the park and its partners throughout the process. Local groups or naturalists can also suggest them.
Each inhabitant can get involved in the local ABC group of his municipality, and thus participate in the development of the choice of events and projects for biodiversity in the municipality. To register on the ABC group of a municipality, simply contact its town hall.
Find here more information.
Click here to participate in the observatory.
Click here to access the atlas.
From September 2023, a cross-border project between Italy and Slovenia - E-NAT2CARE - has been launched with the main objective of conserving and restoring a high level of biodiversity and ecosystem richness, from the Alps to the karst landscape. The project will last 24 months. The involved partners are the Slovenian National Institute of Biology, the Škocjanske Jame Park, the University of Primorska on the Slovenian side and the Prealpi Giulie Nature Park and the University of Udine on the Italian side.
The E-NAT2CARE project builds on the excellent results of the NAT2CARE project from the previous Interreg Italia-Slovenia 2014-2020 programming period, which showed that cross-border areas need coordinated management to halt the decline in biodiversity and the deterioration of habitats and species. Forests, which consist of old trees with stunted trunks and contain large amounts of dead wood, are among the most diverse ecosystems. They harbour many animal and plant species, have an important economic value, an educational and aesthetic function and help to mitigate climate change. These forests are severely threatened by deforestation, climate change and unpredictable and violent natural events such as fires and floods, including in the Alps and karst. This also threatens many species that need such forests to survive. The general objective of the project is to support the protection and development of biodiversity in PA through the implementation of 2 pilot actions at cross-border level to monitor species defined as "bio-indicators": Rosalia Alpina and Strix Uralensis in the protected areas Biosphere Reserve of the Julian Alps and the Slovenian Karst (pilot area the Park Škocjanske jame), Trieste and Gorizia. On the other hand, there is a growing need for sustainable management of water resources. The project will thus also focus on developing a methodology for mapping ecosystem services and involving the population and local businesses in activities for active protection and collective responsibility towards this resource, which also has an economic value.
The common challenge of PA is to protect and actively conserve of the high level and widespread biodiversity that extends from the Alps to the sea through the Karst region. The E-NAT2CARE project pursues the objectives of implementation, transfer, and communication in order to use the results of the NAT2CARE project.
The idea of a cooperation platform emerged at an ALPARC CENTR'ALPS workshop as part of the considerations for a joint measure by protected areas. The basic idea: protected areas support each other with expertise and (wo)manpower.
This type of cooperation was initially to be trialled on a small scale using a pilot project so that experience could then be used as a basis for expansion. The Tyrolean Lech Nature Park and the Swiss National Park were involved in the pilot project. Initially, the need for support, support options, important topics for the exchange and the rough format were defined with them. Then two exchange visits of two respectively three days took place, where staff members of both parcs discussed the selected key topics (visitor guidance, process dynamics, monitoring) in the field.
An important realisation was that process protection and dynamics are not only possible in core zones of large national parks or wilderness areas, but also in nature parks - even if not in all aspects, but often only on a small scale or temporarily. Due to the differences between the two protected areas (in terms of protection category, age, size, staffing), the exchange was perceived as very enriching by the participants. The fact that this format enables a very intensive exchange was also rated very positively.
© J. Eich, Naturpark Tiroler Lech
The prestigious "Management of Conservation Areas (MCA)" master degree program starts again in September 2024 at Carinthia University of Applied Science.
Conservation areas, such as national parks, heritage sites and biosphere reserves, represent Earth's most beautiful and valuable landscapes. In this international master degree program, students learn to effectively plan and manage such areas, harmonizing biodiversity protection with local interests.
Tailored to the needs of international professionals, the program blends intensive on-site courses, including visits to various conservation areas, with flexible online elements. Further information about the program and registration can be found on the webpage www.cuas.at/mca .
© FH Kärnten
For many years now, the annual Danilo Re Meet has provided a major opportunity for all those working in Alpine Protected Areas to get acquainted with one another, in particular those in the field, carrying out surveillance, facilitation and fact-finding missions. The event comprises a sports competition (known as “The Danilo Re Trophy”), a theme-based seminar and a range of other activities for all participants to enjoy together. The 28th edition will take place from January 18th to January 21th 2023, within the Kalkalpen National Park in Austria.