As at: October 2009

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Background information on the Alpine Convention

Protection and sustainable development of the Alps

• During the first Alpine Conference held from 9 to 11 October 1989 in Berchtesgaden, initiated by the German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, an urgent need for action to protect the Alps was recognized. A strong population growth and a dynamic development of the economy in some Alpine regions is contrasted by the depopulation of others. Imported air pollutants, heavy tourism and trans-Alpine traffic affect living and environmental conditions for the population as well as nature. The participating parties at the Alpine Conference therefore agreed to draw up a convention binding under international law for the protection of the Alps.
  
  
• The Alpine Convention was signed by the Alpine countries Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein and Switzerland as well as by the European Union on the occasion of the 2nd Alpine Conference on 7 November 1991 in Salzburg, Austria. Monaco became a Party to the Convention on the basis of an additional protocol. Slovenia signed the Convention on 29 March 1993. The Convention entered into force on 6 March 1995.
  Germany ratified the Convention on the Protection of the Alps (Alpine Convention) of 7 November 1991 by law of 29 September 1994 (Federal Law Gazette 1994 II, p. 2538).
  
  
• The Alpine Convention is a framework convention to guarantee the protection of the Alpine region and its long-term and sustainable development. The Contracting Parties commit themselves to jointly achieving this goal.
  
  
• To realize the holistic policy for the conservation and the protection of the Alps called for by the Alpine Convention, the Contracting Parties have approved the following protocols (in the following listed by the date of Germany signing the protocols):
  
  

  Protocol	Date of signature
  Spatial planning and sustainable development	20 December 1994
  Conservation of nature and landscape	20 December 1994
  Mountain farming	20 December 1994
  Mountain forests	27. Februar 1996
  Tourism	16 October 1998
  Soil protection	16 October 1998
  Energy	16 October 1998
  Transport	31 October 2000
  Dispute settlement	31 October 2000

  
  
  
• Article 2 of the Alpine Convention provides for further measures in the sectors of population and culture, prevention of air pollution, water management and waste management. One of the reasons why the Alpine Conference has not made a decision on drawing up further protocols is that so far not all Contracting Parties to the Convention have ratified all existing protocols. Concerning "Population and culture", the 8th Alpine Conference agreed on 16 November 2004 that this topic, at least for the time being, will be addressed by means of a political declaration which is, however, to be subject to the mechanism of the compliance regime. The declaration "Population and culture" was adopted by the 9th Alpine Conference on 9 November 2006.
  
  
• The protocols are independent implementation agreements under international law and have to be ratified individually. For the Contracting Parties that have expressed their consent to be bound by a protocol, the protocol enters into force three months after the date on which three countries have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval.
  
  
• In appreciation of the International Year of the Mountain 2002 and with regard to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, the 6th Alpine Conference requested the Contracting Parties to make all efforts to conclude the ratification process for the protocols and to focus international cooperation within the framework of the Alpine Convention on their implementation. As the first Contracting Party Liechtenstein ratified all nine protocols on 18 April 2002. Germany and Austria also ratified all protocols in 2002, so that for the three Contracting Parties they entered into force in December 2002.
  In 2003 the Protocols Spatial planning and sustainable development, Tourism, Soil conservation and Solution of litigations entered into force in Monaco, and in 2005 the Protocol Conservation of nature and landscape protection. Slovenia ratified all Protocols in January 2004. France concluded the ratification of all protocols in 2005. Italy and Switzerland have not ratified any of the protocols so far.
  
  
• Up to now, the European Union has signed the Protocols Spatial planning, Conservation of nature and landscape protection, Energy, Tourism, Soil conservation and Transport and ratified the Protocols Energy, Tourism, Soil conservation and Mountain farming in 2006. The exceptionally important Protocol Transport was signed by the EU in December 2006, ratification is currently in preparation.
  
  
• On 19 November 2002, the 7th Alpine Conference decided on the location of the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention. Since 2003 the Permanent Secretariat has been based in Innsbruck, Austria, with a branch in Bozen, Italy. In 2006 the Alpine Network of Protected Areas was affiliated to the Permanent Secretariat as a Task Force (office in Chambéry, France).
  
  
• The 8th Alpine Conference agreed on a working programme for the years 2005 - 2010 ("Mehrjähriges Arbeitsprogramm der Alpenkonferenz 2005 bis 2010", MAP). The programme aims to ensure a long-term, continuous implementation of the Alpine Convention and its protocols. Some of the priorities for joint action are:
  
  
• • Elaboration of a Report on the State of the Alps on the key developments in the Alps
    
    
  • Joint projects in the four key areas
    
  • • Mobility, accessibility, transit traffic
    • Society, culture, identity
    • Tourism, leisure, sports
    • Nature, agriculture and forestry, cultural landscape
      
      
  • Cooperation with other mountain regions and conventions.
    
    
• The first Report on the State of the Alps was entitled "Transport and Mobility in the Alps". It was published in the "Alpine Signals" series. The second Report on the State of the Alps on "Water and Water Management Issues" was published in 2009. The 10th Alpine Conference decided that the third Report on the State of the Alps on "Rural Development and Innovation" will be drawn up in time for the 11th Alpine Conference in March 2011.
  
  
• The Chair of the Alpine Conference changes every two years. It is currently held by Slovenia (March 2009 to March 2011).