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
Second Forum Carpaticum
Related documents and background information:
Signed MoU download
About the signature of the MoU between the Carpathian Convention and S4C link
UNEP Vienna - ISCC, Mr. Egerer, presentation "The Carpathian Convention - A platform for Interaction between Carpathian science and policy" download
Workshop "From data to knowledge, from knowledge to action – The role of science in the Carpathian Convention (with a focus on the Biodiversity Protocol)" - Programme download
What are the implications of the Carpathian Convention in the Carpathian Region? How can the Convention, and in particular its Biodiversity Protocol, be implemented? What is still missing and what is the concrete input that Carpathian science can provide in this process? What are the next steps?
These are the basic questions that have been further explored at the workshop on the Carpathian Convention and its Biodiversity Protocol, organized by the European Academy Bolzano in cooperation with UNEP Vienna - Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (ISCC). It was intended to be an informal platform of exchange between decision makers involved in the Carpathian Convention process and the Carpathian scientists.
There was a special focus on the SEE Programme BIOREGIO Carpathians project, aimed at implementing the main provisions of the Carpathian Convention Biodiversity Protocol. In particular, the first results of the activities related to the elaboration of a Carpathian Red List of Species and Habitats have been presented.
The presentations were followed by a Round Table moderated by the European Academy Bolzano and to which decision makers, experts, the Science for Carpathians Initiative, and the UNEP Vienna – ISCC participated.