Carpathian Convention

• Carpathian Convention - a framework for cooperation and coordination

• The Carpathians - natural heritage of Europe we want to protect

• History of the Carpathian Convention - how it became a reality

Carpathian Convention

The Carpathians – natural heritage of Europe

Few people know about the unique natural and cultural richness of the Carpathian Mountains arching across seven countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine. The mountains bridge Europe's Northern forests with those to the South and West, making them a vital corridor for the dispersal of plants, animals and fungi species throughout the continent.

The Carpathians are home to 481 plant species found nowhere else in the world, as well as to Europe’s largest populations of brown bears, wolves, lynx, European bison and rare bird species including the globally threatened imperial eagle. Some 45 percent of Europe’s wolves — a species extinct in many Western and Central European countries — can be found here.

On a continent where 40 percent of mammals are threatened by extinction, this region offers one of the last opportunities for re-populating Europe’s large carnivores. This is why WWF listed the Carpathians as one of its Global 200 ecoregions - representing one of the world’s most outstanding areas of biodiversity in need of targeted conservation.

Local practices, local sense – where people and nature live together

With approximately 16 to 18 million people, the Carpathians possess a diverse cultural richness with traditional economic practices that respect local environment and resources. For example, centuries of shepherding have led to the creation of numerous semi-natural habitats including pastures and grasslands such as in the species-rich Poloniny meadows in Slovakia and Poland.

Furthermore, given their remoteness, many Carpathian areas have been spared the negative effects of communist planning. For example, land collectivisation did not take place in some parts of the region, thereby preserving many extensive small-scale farming practices and preventing the over-exploitation of forests.

New threats from human activities – economic and political transition

Unfortunately, rural unemployment is now on the rise as a result of economic and political transition following the end of communism, while EU-subsidized imports undercut local prices. The results have been increased poverty, rural depopulation, land abandonment, over-grazing, poaching and the break-up of the social fabric of many small communities, especially in the South-East Carpathians.

Old customs and economies are now threatened by continued economic and political transition. After joining the EU more Carpathian countries could integrate unsustainable EU policies, especially the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which fosters intensive production and creates environmentally damaging subsidies for farmers.

History of the Convention

The Carpathian Ecoregion Initiative

Threats to the natural and cultural richness of the Carpathians though can be curbed. The Carpathian Ecoregion Initiative (CEI), an umbrella group of more than 50 organizations from seven Carpathian countries, among them with CEEWEB, launched in 1999 under the leadership of the WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme Office in Vienna. It aims to take a complex, multidisciplinary ecoregional approach to conserve the Carpathian mountain range, and works on protected area management, forestry best practices, species/biodiversity, tourism, socio-economics, capacity-building and education.

The early phase of the Initiative dealt with creating a biodiversity vision through data collection, inventory and assessment across a diverse range of cultures and scientific backgrounds, which work resulted in the publication of numerous reports and factsheets including the ‘Status of the Carpathians’ and the ‘Carpathian List of Endangered Species.’ The recommendations included the expansion of the current protected areas system to include all 30 “Priority Areas”; support to local sustainable economic activities such as small-scale farming and eco-tourism; better forest management schemes and reform of specific EU policies.

This phase garnered internationally recognized results and high-level political support culminating first in the unprecedented April 2001 summit in Bucharest, and then in the form of the Carpathian Convention, signed in May 2003 in Kyiv.

Recently the modalities are reshaped and it is planned that the Initiative will convert to a self-sustaining, independent network that seeks to promote practical implementation of the Convention by enabling member NGOs to fill-in and complement the gaps of the government-driven process using the biodiversity assessment data of the early phase. This will be accomplished through improving the ability of NGOs to increase local capacity, development and implementation of ‘CEI-owned’ field projects, as well as continued support of the small grants programme, and by facilitating communication between NGOs and the official bodies of the Convention.

The Carpathian Convention - conservation through partnerships

It was during the Summit on Environment and Sustainable Development in the Danube and Carpathian Region, co-organised by WWF and the Government of Romania in Bucharest, Romania, in April 2002, that the first call for the creation of a Carpathian Convention was made. WWF and the CEI have been instrumental in that process, while UNEP facilitated the negotiations. The CEI was involved throughout the drafting process, hosting one of the negotiation meetings, and many of their recommendations have been incorporated. The Carpathian Convention was signed at the 5^th Environment for Europe Conference by the governments of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia and Ukraine in May 2003 in Kyiv, and by Poland in November 2003.

With the contribution of WWF Danube Carpathian Programme Office