Carpathian
Countries Take Action on Protected Areas and Sustainable
Tourism
Environmental projects for mountain region to
build on partnerships with EU, UN and NGOs
Kiev, 13 December 2006 – The
Carpathian Convention’s seven member Governments
have adopted a wide-ranging programme of work
containing immediate measures for promoting environment-friendly
tourism and a regional network of protected areas.
The programme was adopted by
the first conference for the Framework Convention
on the Protection and Sustainable Development
of the Carpathians, which brings together the
Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia,
the Slovak Republic and Ukraine. The three-day
meeting concludes here today.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary
General and Executive Director of the UN Environment
Programme, said: “The Carpathians of Central and
Eastern Europe are among the world’s richest regions
in terms of biodiversity and pristine landscapes.
As such they hold huge potential for nature- and
wildlife-based tourism”.
“Today’s decisions recognize
this potential and the importance of managing
these natural and cultural assets sustainably.
I have no doubt that the Carpathians, like the
Alps, the Himalayas and the Rocky Mountains, will
become world famous for walking, hiking, climbing,
wildlife watching, photography and similar leisure
pursuits,” he added.
“Sustainable tourism can draw
investors and tourists to rural communities. This
will assist in conserving and developing livelihoods
that until now have been largely isolated from
the European economy,” said Mr. Steiner, whose
organization provides the Convention’s interim
secretariat.
It can also provide economic
incentives to protect the region’s brown bears,
wolves, European bison, lynx, Imperial eagles
and other globally threatened birds, and unique
plant species such as the Slovak laurel, East
Carpathian lilac and Pieniny’s chrysanthemum.
A key result of the Kyiv meeting
has been the decision to develop a Protocol on
the Conservation of Biological and Landscape Diversity.
The Protocol, which will detail concrete measures
for strengthening the Convention’s impact on natural
resources, is to be adopted “as soon as possible”.
One of these practical measures
will be to establish a Carpathian Network of Protected
Areas. A conference to advance this Network will
be organized in 2007 in cooperation with the already
existing Alpine Network of Protected Areas. The
Network will be linked to the EU’s Natura 2000
and the Carpathian Wetlands Initiative.
As a complement to these biodiversity
activities, the region will establish a ‘Tourist
Circuit’. This thematic travel itinerary will
empower rural communities to ‘brand’ and promote
themselves. The meeting also mandated the creation
of the ‘Via Carpati’, a transnational network
of trails and mountain huts. Training programmes
will expand the available pool of professionals
skilled in managing these and other aspects of
environmentally sustainable tourism.
In addition, the Governments
will assist rural towns to adopt Local ‘Agenda
21’ plans modeled on the global Agenda 21 adopted
at the 1992 Rio ‘Earth Summit’ on sustainable
development. Recognizing the active participation
of civil society as one of the Convention’s fundamental
principles, they will also support information
centers and other means of informing and engaging
stakeholders and the general public.
Meanwhile, the region will benefit
from a wide range of new and continuing projects
involving a wide range of international partners.
The EU-financed Central European, Adriatic, Danubian
and South-Eastern European Space (CADSES) project
will underpin many of the Convention’s activities.
In addition, the meeting welcomed
the ongoing UNDP/GEF project on reversing land
and water degradation in the Tisza basin, which
straddles Romania and Hungary. It also urged completion
of the Carpathian Environmental Outlook, a UNEP-led
assessment that will feature maps, data and analyses
of key themes. Early findings confirm that the
ongoing loss of biological diversity in mountain
and wetland ecosystems poses a serious threat
to the Carpathian region.
Other projects and activities
are being implemented with partners such as the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the
UN, Central European Initiative, the Regional
Environment Centre, the Worldwide Fund for Nature
(WWF) and Austria, Italy, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
Ministers of Environment from
most of the member countries have attended the
final day of the Kyiv conference. They formally
adopted a Ministerial Declaration that invites
the EU to join the Convention and applauds efforts
to promote a “Carpathian Space” that would provide
a common strategic vision for the countries and
peoples of this historically marginalized European
mountain region.
Spread over some 200,000 square
kilometers (an area 10% larger than the Alps),
the Carpathians region contains vast tracts of
forest that still shelter large populations of
brown bear, wolf, lynx and other animals that
are rare elsewhere in Europe. For example, some
45% of Europe’s wolves outside of Russia – over
4,000 animals – live in the region.
Once widespread throughout the
continent, these and other carnivores have declined
dramatically during recent centuries due to conflicts
with human development. Around 200 unique plants,
found nowhere else in the world, are also a feature
of the region.
Many small, rural communities
of various ethnic groups and nationalities have
adapted successfully to the mountain environment
over the centuries. Although separated by national
boundaries, the people of the Carpathians are
in many ways united by their cultural heritage.
Altogether some 16 or 18 million people call these
mountains home.
Key threats to the Carpathians
include growing unemployment and poverty, which
have worsened since the transition from Communism
began over a decade ago, as well as unsustainable
development patterns, over-exploitation of natural
resources, pollution, deforestation, excessive
hunting and habitat fragmentation.
The new Convention recognizes
the link between environmental protection and
the need to bring benefits to the local population
through sustainable development. Promoting responsible
tourism, for example, which protects landscapes
and benefits local communities, would be an example
of a win-win approach for the environment and
the economy.
Other important people-centered
goals involve improving the management of water
resources and river basins; promoting sustainable
agriculture, forestry, transport, industry and
infrastructure; and preserving and nurturing the
cultural heritage and traditional knowledge.
The Carpathian Convention will
also assist the spread of environmental “best
practices”. These include the application of the
‘polluter pays’ principle, an emphasis on public
participation and stakeholder involvement, transboundary
cooperation, integrated planning and management
of land and water resources, and the ecosystem
approach (by which biodiversity is managed in
a way that meets human needs while maintaining
ecosystem integrity).
The Carpathians also play a
vital role in ensuring Europe’s freshwater supplies.
Runoff from the mountains – which receive twice
as much rain as surrounding areas – feeds the
Danube, the Vistula and other major rivers that
flow into the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea. The
Carpathians hold some of the cleanest streams
on the continent.
The Convention entered into
force of 4 January of this year and has been ratified
by six of its members (Serbia’s membership has
been approved by the Government and is awaiting
ratification by Parliament). The next conference
will be held in Romania in 2008.
Note to journalists: For official
and other documents, see www.carpathianconvention.org.
Photographs can be downloaded from www.unep.org
or www.stlllpictures.com (insert “Carpathians”
into search engine box). For more information,
contact conference press officer Michael Williams
UNEP spokesperson Nick Nuttall
