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© UNEP Vienna ISCC 2006
The Carpathian Project on the Move
In November 2007 the eighteen partners of the Carpathian Project arrived in the city of
Xanthi in Greece, from Romania and Poland in the north to Austria and the Ukraine in the
east. Since its inauguration in April 2006 the project - which serves to protect the
Carpathian mountain region - has gained considerable momentum.
Finalized in 2003, the Carpathian Convention
is an international agreement
that aims to promote the protection and
sustainable development of Carpathian
mountain regions and its rich natural
and cultural heritage. In support of the
Convention, the Carpathian Project aims
at assisting the governments of the Carpathian
region to acquire the scientific
knowledge to better ground their policies
and initiatives and to support the development
of the Convention’s institutions.
With four of its institutes involved in
eleven activities spread throughout four
work packages, and with more than twenty
experts and researchers involved so far,
EURAC is playing a central role in the
shaping and advancing of the project.
A project of diverse partnerships
In its contribution, EURAC is building
upon the experience it acquired in the
development of both the Alpine and Carpathian
Conventions and in its participation
in projects such as the Umbrella
Project of the Italian Ministry of the Environment.
Within the framework of the
Umbrella Project, for example, EURAC
developed, among other elements, a
handbook on the Carpathian Convention
Carpathian Project
The Carpathian Project was approved in
2006 and is a project of the so - called Central,
Adriatic, Danubian and South - Eastern
European Space (CADSES) program, supported
by the interregional cooperation (INTER-
REG) initiative of the EU. It is through funds
such as the European Regional Development
Fund (ERDF) that the EU is promoting regional
cohesion throughout Europe, and beyond
borders.
© UNEP Vienna ISCC 2006
in collaboration with the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) and
the Regional Environmental Centre for
Eastern and Central Europe (REC).
With the Carpathian Project, EURAC led
six other partners in the activities of the
key work package that provided the basic
data on which all other activities were
based; it is also contributing to a number
of studies on transport networks, forest
management, risk prevention and,
more generally, on the Carpathian environment;
and finally, it has hosted and is
organizing or co - organizing a number
of meetings in Bolzano and elsewhere.
EURAC is therefore active in both the
scientific and institutional components
of the Carpathian Project.
Science and policy working together
In addition to the institutional compo-
nent, EURAC is providing scientific and
technical support to a number of working
groups of the Carpathian Convention,
especially those on biodiversity and
natural heritage, sustainable rural development,
agriculture and forestry, sustainable
transport, infrastructure, industry
and energy, and spatial development.
EURAC is also active in the field of transport
networks, together with the Central
European Initiative (CEI), as well as in
other issues, including education, awareness
- raising and public participation.
For the scientific component, EURAC carried
out extensive data collection and harmonisation
for the development of ten thematic
maps. In particular this activity was
carried out in collaboration with the Palacký
University of Olomouc in the Czech
Republic. These data and maps, in combination
with those of other partners, consti-
tute the central elements of an Atlas of the
Carpathians (accessible also through a Geoportal
from the website of the project) as
well as a database on the Carpathian environment.
(www.carpathianproject.eu/
portal/ map/ index.php)
The way forward
As the project approaches its final stages,
the dissemination, awareness and ed-
In their final declaration,
the representatives of the
Carpathian states noted
“the efficient cooperation
and partnership” of the
UNEP, EURAC and the REC.
The rich biodiversity of the Carpathians.
A cultural heritage in need of preservation.
ucation phases are acquiring increasing
significance. The project is providing, in
the opinion of the Carpathian governments,
an important political (and scientific)
support to the implementation
of the Carpathian Convention. From
this project, several cousin projects will
emerge from the so - called Central European
Space (CENTRAL) program, a new
program also funded by the European
Regional Development Fund, through
which the EU is promoting regional cohesion
in the broader Central European
region as well in the Carpathian region.
As the partners prepare to move beyond
Xanthi, this is an encouraging glimpse at
the future of the Carpathian Convention
as a whole.
Jon Marco Church / EURAC
Alpine Convention - IMA Coordination Unit
jchuch@eurac.edu
20 Dezember – Dicembre 2007 Dezember – Dicembre 2007 21
FOTOS: UNEP Vienna Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention