“The Alpine Convention in small bites”: in this webpage we present, in a simple and dynamic way, the main topics in order to get to know the Alpine Convention. The dynamism stems from the fact that the described issues (" small bites") in this web page will be periodically updated in order to deal with all the important policies for the Alps.
Whoever would like to know about all the up-to-date "small bites" that are currently available can download the book -The Alps-Eight countries, a single territory (pdf, 9MB) published by the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention in March 2009, where meaningful photographic images can be found next to the texts .
2. Population and Culture
Already the Alpine Convention, signed in 1991, mentioned as a priority that we have “to respect, preserve and promote the cultural and social independence of the indigenous population and [that we have] to guarantee the basis for their living standards” as one of its central tasks. While for many other themes, Protocols of the Alpine Convention were gradually drafted, nothing was achieved with respect to “Population and Culture”.
Finally, in 2006 the Ministers of the Alpine Convention countries agreed on a Declaration about this theme. Even though this is legally less binding than the protocols, it provides valuable operating instructions and food for thought. It offers great potential for the future dynamics of the Alpine Convention which should focus more on involving the population.
The declaration reaffirms the shared responsibility of the Alpine and non- Alpine populations for the maintenance of the cultural uniqueness of the Alpine environment. Dialogue, cooperation, and knowledge-sharing are a means to strengthen mutual understanding and respect. A significant aspect lies in the measures to maintain linguistic diversity.