Permanent Secretariat
An effective coordination of all Alpine States requires a reference point. That was the reason why the Contracting Parties decided to establish the Permanent Secretariat.
The Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention was established by a decision taken at the VII Alpine Conference in Merano/Meran in November 2002 (document VII/2)*.
The Permanent Secretariat supports the bodies established by the Alpine Convention. It offers a professional, logistic and administrative help and assists the countries in carrying out the actions, required by the Convention and its Protocols. The Permanent Secretariat has been set up in 2003 and is located in Innsbruck (AT) (political-administrative duties), with a branch office in Bolzano/Bozen (IT) (technical-operational duties). The location of the Permanent Secretariat's seat has been chosen on the basis of an international tender published by the Italian presidency.
The Permanent Secretariat is mentioned in Article 9 of the Framework Convention.
What does the Permanent Secretariat do?
- Administrative and technical support to the bodies of the Alpine Convention.
- Public relations (communicating and disseminating information about the Convention, its Protocols and their achievements).
- Co-ordination of the Alpine research projects.
- Facilitating the implementation of the Convention and the compliance with its protocols.
- Observation and information system for the Alps (SOIA).
- Translating and interpreting.
CONTACT
* un-official English translation provided by the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention
The Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention promotes the organization of Alpine Convention events as Green events.
The Alpine Convention strives for all its events to be organized with high sustainability standards – e.g. as "green events".
What is a green event?
Green events are events designed, organised and carried out using sustainability criteria and measures, contributing at the same time to strengthening the economy of a territory and taking into account social aspects. In fact, the organization of events and meetings has environmental repercussions in all its components (choice of participants' travel, catering, printing and distribution of materials, waste, etc.).
How to organize your event as an Alpine Convention Green Event?
If there are no local, regional or national green event certifications or should the implementation of the measures entail disproportional expenditures for the organizers, the Permanent Secretariat offers the possibility to get the label “Alpine Convention Green Event” for their events, organized in the framework of the Alpine Convention.
In order to obtain this label please follow these steps:
- Check if a local, regional or national green event certification can be used for your event, if not, contact the Permanent Secretariat as early as possible and inform the Secretariat of your intention of making your event a green event.
- Download the checklist.
- If you fulfil at least half of the measures foreseen for each of the categories listed then send it to the Permanent Secretariat, which will provide an evaluation and the logo “Alpine Convention Green Event” if successful.
- Put the “Alpine Convention Green Event” logo on the main advertising material of the initiative (e.g. program, agenda, poster, flyer, webpage).
- Send relevant offers to the Permanent Secretariat (e.g catering, transportation, technical equipment, etc.), to show the implementation of the measurs.
- Have a good green event and don’t forget to communicate the sustainable measures implemented to the participants of your event, thus raising people's awareness of these issues and opportunities!
- Within one month after the event send a final report in English language to the Permanent Secretariat, describing the measures taken accompanied by pictures and a copy of promotion materials.