“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 .
6. Conservation of Nature and Landscape Protection
More than 20 percent of the Alpine area consists of National Parks, nature protected areas or natural parks, with differences regarding the various protection categories nationally and internationally, which make them hard to compare. Unlike other mountain regions, the Alps are strongly characterized by cultural landscapes which are present also at high altitudes. These areas being traditionally marked by a great biodiversity, the preservation of nature and landscape protection in the Alps must deal especially with cultural landscapes, in which the transition to “wild nature” is often blurred. Protection ranges from recreational areas of conurbations to glacier regions, taking into account that pressure on these natural areas has increased on all levels in recent decades.
The objectives indicated in the Protocol on the Conservation of Nature and Landscape Protection are among the most ambitious in the whole Alpine Convention. They include measures to protect, care for, and restore ecosystems as well as preserve the natural living environments of wild animal and plant species. The objective is the lasting protection of the “diversity, specificity and beauty of the natural and rural landscape.” Nature protection is to be considered across-the-board, and touches a variety of other action and political fields. Among other things, territorial and urban planning, soil protection, water, energy, industry and handicraft, tourism, agriculture and forestry, but also training, education and research are mentioned in the Protocol. Thanks to the Protocol, Alpine states have pledged to promote international cooperation, to draft detailed inventories, and to regularly submit concepts, plans and projects.
The direct and indirect consequences on the natural balance and the landscape must be assessed for all private and public projects, and any avoidable impairment should not occur. According to the Protocol, unavoidable impairment should be offset by compensation measures. If such compensation is not possible, projects can only be approved once the decision is reached that the needs for nature conservation are not dominant. Existing protected areas are supported by the Protocol by means of a prohibition to impair these areas. The Alpine states are encouraged to promote the institution of newly protected areas, specifically also national parks.