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.
WG Industry Energy Transport Infrastructure
Meeting of the Carpathian Convention Working Group on Sustainable Industry, Energy, Transport and Infrastructure
From 18 to 19 October 2012 the Carpathian Convention Working Group on Sustainable Industry, Energy, Transport and Infrastructure Meeting was held in Košice, Slovakia.
The meeting was organized by the Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (supported by UNEP Vienna) in strong collaboration with the European Academy Bolzano (EURAC) and its Vienna Office.The meeting was organized by the Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (supported by UNEP Vienna) in strong collaboration with the European Academy Bolzano (EURAC) and its Vienna Office. The Working Group aims at supporting the Parties to the Carpathian Convention towards their cooperation for the implementation of Articles 8 (Sustainable Transport and infrastructure) and 10 (Industry and energy) of the Carpathian Convention, the concrete objective of this meeting was to foster the development of the draft text Protocol on Sustainable Transport and Infrastructure to the Carpathian Convention.
The next meeting of the WG is scheduled for beginning of 2013 with the view of further elaborating the draft text of the Protocol. It is envisaged to have the final draft text of the Protocol by the end of 2013 with the view of presenting it to COP4 of the Carpathian Convention (to be hosted in 2014 in Czech Republic).
The WG will benefit from various available results, e.g. past and ongoing experiences and results throughout implemented projects such as “Access2Mountain” (funder under SEE Programme) or the “Carpathian Project” (former CADSES Programme). One concrete outcome of this strategic project was the study (including recommendations) on the transport system in the Carpathians elaborated under the lead of European Academy Bolzano (EURAC) that will serve as direct input to the meeting.
This event enjoyed the technical and financial support of the European Transnational Cooperation South East Europe Programme project “Access2Mountain” (www.access2mountain.eu) and contributes to as well as benefits from the European Regional Development Fund. The Working Group meeting was held back to back with the “Access2Mountain” Midterm Conference organized by the Rzeszow Regional Development Agency together with the Environment Agency Austria, that took place at the same meeting venue from 16 to 18 October 2012.
Presentations:
- Working groups to implement the transport protocol of the Alpine Convention: experience and some working results
- Access2Mountain, Sustainable Mobility and Tourism in Sensitive Areas of the Alps and the Carpathians
- Connecting Danube & Baltic macroregions I
- Connecting Danube & Baltic macroregions II
- Connecting Danube & Baltic macroregions III
- Connecting Danube & Baltic macroregions IV
- Connecting Danube & Baltic macroregions V