2 December 2014
A Milestone for the Protection of Europe’s Mountains: Carpathian States Adopt Protocol on Sustainable Transport
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Sustainable transport represents a major challenge for today's rural and urban environments, and this is particularly true for the sensitive mountain regions of the Carpathians.

From the 23-26 September 2014, Environment Ministers and other high-level government officials of the seven Carpathian States met in Mikulov, the Czech Republic, for the fourth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP4) to the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians (Carpathian Convention).

A Brief History of the Convention

The Carpathian Convention was adopted and signed by seven Central and Eastern European countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine) in May 2003 in Kyiv, Ukraine. It is the only multi-level governance mechanism dedicated to the whole of the Carpathian area, and the second sub-regional treaty-based regime for the protection of a mountain region worldwide. Since 2004, the (Interim) Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (ISCC), and since COP4, the Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention, has been administered by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in the Vienna office, hosted by Austria.

The COP is the main decision-making body of the Convention, consisting of high-level representatives of the Contracting States to the Convention. The COP is responsible, inter alia, for the adoption of Protocols and amendments to the Convention and for the establishment of subsidiary bodies to the Convention. It decides the programme of work and the financial budget of the Convention and reviews and supports the implementation of the Convention and its Protocols. The ordinary meetings of the COP are held every three years.

The Protocol on Sustainable Transport

Sustainable transport represents a major challenge for today’s rural and urban environments, and this is particularly true for the sensitive mountain regions of the Carpathians. The Carpathians host a very rich diversity of fauna and flora, and harbor many species that are increasingly threatened by fragmentation from infrastructure development. Roads, railways, hydropower dams and energy transmission lines as well as intensive forest and agriculture management challenge the sustainable management of the Carpathians’ fragile mountain ecosystems and natural resources. As infrastructure development continuously grows, it is important to find adequate solutions that balance conservation with growth, and build in the most sustainable way possible.

It is in this context that, on the last day of COP4, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Republic of Serbia, Slovak Republic and Ukraine unanimously adopted the Protocol on Sustainable Transport. Four Parties signed this Protocol immediately. The Protocol had the substantial support of the European Academy of Bolzano (EURAC), several institutions and partners like Austria and Italy, and civil society organizations (WWF and IENE Networks). It resulted from a series of intergovernmental negotiations in the context of the Working Group (technically and financially supported by the European Union ‘Access2Mountain’ Project).

Green Infrastructure is one of the main issues to be tackled in the future under the incoming Czech Republic’s Presidency of the Carpathian Convention as well as at the EU level. The future of the new Transport Protocol gives the Carpathian countries an important tool in this respect. Within this Protocol, the Parties agree to cooperate through common policies on sustainable transport and infrastructure planning, ensuring economic and social benefits while taking into consideration the protection of ecosystems. The Protocol falls in line with the new strategy of May 2013, elaborated by the EU Commission, to promote the use of green infrastructure across Europe. This new strategy advocates the full integration of green infrastructure development in EU policy objectives, especially with regard to regional and rural development. As the Carpathian mountain region further develops, it is important to ensure that the advancement of social and economic development does not threaten the region’s natural environment.

Beyond Transport

The Carpathian Convention is not limited to the Protocol on Sustainable Transport. Many efforts in the past years have been made in the fields of biodiversity and sustainable forest management, for example. At COP4, countries also adopted the Ministerial Declaration on Cultural Heritage and the Joint Alpine – Carpathian Statement on Adaptation to Climate Change. Cooperation with other mountain regions, and especially with the Alpine Convention, are of important value for the region.

All these initiatives follow the one important goal of the Carpathian Convention: the protection and sustainable development of this outstanding region based on its natural and cultural heritage. The development of the Carpathian region is in harmony with the green economy concept, which aims at improving human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities.

For further information please visit http://www.carpathianconvention.org.


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