Did you know that ...
... one-third of all European vascular plant species can be found in the Carpathians? That means almost 4,000 plant species, and 481 of them are found only in the Carpathians!
… Gerlachovsky Peak (2,655 m altitude) in the High Tatras in Slovak Republic is the highest peak of the Carpathians?
… the European Union’s largest populations of brown bears, wolves, lynx, European bisons and imperial eagles (globally threatened species) are found in the Carpathians?
… 36 national parks, 51 nature parks and protected landscape areas, 19 biosphere reserves and 200 other protected areas are member of the Carpathian Network of Protected areas
… there are 36 registered UNESCO World Heritage sites and 49 important pilgrimage destinations in the Carpathian area?
… the number of hotels in the Carpathians has increased by nearly 60% in the last ten years?
… the Carpathians contain the continent's largest remaining natural mountain beech and beech/coniferous forest ecosystems and the largest area of pristine forest in Europe (outside Russia)?
... the Carpathians are the largest, most twisted and fragmented mountain chain in Europe? They are Europe’s largest mountains by area.
… in the 1970’s, about 1,000,000 people worked in the mining sector in the Carpathians? Today, the number of employees in this sector is about 340,000.
… the Carpathians were put on the WWF ‘Global 200’ list of major ecoregions in need of biodiversity and habitat conservation?
… more than half of the Carpathians are covered by forests? The Carpathian forests are a vital link between the forests of the north and those of the west and south-west of Europe.
Events
Changing environment - 30 years of environmental development in Central and Eastern Europe
Much has changed in the past thirty years. The Black Triangle is no longer black. Large parts of the Danube, previously unswimmable, are now reasonably clean. The Carpathian Mountains remain a European hotspot for biodiversity, but are being fragmented by infrastructure and development.
From Czechoslovakia to Bulgaria, environmental issues and concerns played a major role in the mostly peaceful revolutions that took place in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989. In Prague, mothers demonstrated for clean air; in Hungary, popular concerns over construction of a dam at Nagymaros on the Danube contributed to the overthrow of Communism; likewise in Bulgaria, it was environmental protests that sparked regime change. Environmentalists played important roles in developing civil society across the region and in introducing far-reaching reforms.
What have been their legacy, current status and outlook for the future? How has the environment in Central and Eastern Europe changed? What has been achieved and what are new challenges, opportunities and solutions?
This symposium will examine the development of the environment and of the environmental movement in Central and Eastern Europe since 1989 and cast a look forward to future opportunities and challenges. It will bring together a group of people from across the region and beyond that played both very direct and indirect roles in the development of the region, bringing together their insight as well as personal stories.
Programme
14.00–14.15 • Setting the scene
14.15–15.15 • Looking back: Impulse statement and panel discussion
15.15–16.15 • Looking forward: Impulse statement and panel discussion 1
6.15–16.30 • Conclusions 16.30–18.00 • Reception
