The Carpathians As a Region of International Co- Operation Niewiadomski, Zbigniew

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The Carpathians as a region of international co- operation Niewiadomski, Zbigniew

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Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Niewiadomski, Z. (2004). The Carpathians as a region of international co-operation. Europa Regional, 12.2004(4), 168-172. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-48129-9

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ZBIGNIEW NIEWIADOMSKI

Fig. 1: Location in Europa Source: verändert nach www.carpathians.org/launch/index.htm, Zugriff 11.4.2005

Introduction ecological systems develop beyond over several countries, are home to Europe is characterised by its numer- these virtual boundaries. Therefore a many different nations and cultures ous small countries and many borders transboundary approach towards eco- and represent the best of European that cut across ecosystems and areas logical concerns and sustainable de- natural and cultural heritage. More- of high natural and cultural value. velopment is necessary, both in local over both share the same challenges – State borders usually divide our conti- and eco-regional scale. increasing human pressure and loss of nent using natural barriers like moun- The Alps and the Carpathians – biodiversity. In the Natura 2000 imple- tains and rivers. Although political two neighbouring European mountain mentation process the Carpathians borders may divide an ecoregion, ranges cover similar area, both stretch are provisionally being treated as a

168 EUROPA REGIONAL 12(2004)4 part of the Alpine biogeographical evant thematic protocols, would al- Facility agreed to provide funding for region. low to adapt measures applied in the establishment and permanent capitali- The entire length of the Carpathian Alps to the Carpathian conditions zation of the foundation and the Arch accounts for some 1,550 kilo- and enhance co-operation on a wider WWF – World Wide Fund for Nature metres, while the main part between regional scale. – provided assistance in the design Danube at the Austrian-Slovak border and legal establishment. and Danube at the Romanian-Serbian The Carpathians – a less favourable The Foundation for the Eastern border, stretches over some 1,300 area? Carpathians Biodiversity Conserva- kilometres. The westernmost point of Covering mostly border areas the tion (ECBC) registered in 1995 in the Carpathians is close to the out- Carpathians may be perceived simul- Switzerland as ‘the neutral fourth skirts of Vienna (Wien), while the taneously as a less-favoured and a country’ with the objective “to encour- southernmost point of the Carpathians, most favoured region of Central Eu- age, organise, conduct and promote close to the city of Niš in Serbia, is the rope: Less favoured from market activities serving to protect the overall place, where the Carpathians meet the economy point of view – due to biodiversity of the Eastern Carpathians Balkan Mountains (Fig. 1). political factors banning development Mountains zone” is an environmental The total area of the Carpathian in the past, present political and trust fund operating in Poland, the region, including the Pannonian Plain economical marginality, lack of infra- Slovak Republic and Ukraine, serving as the inner basin, accounts for 555 structure, high unemployment rates as the permanent financial mecha- thousand square kilometres, while the and poverty as well as due to natural nism for supporting trans-boundary mountains encompass some 209 thou- factors such as topography, low pro- co-operation on nature conservation sand square kilometres – which is still ductivity of soils and short vegetation and sustainable development in the more than the Alps, covering only 191 period. Most favoured in biodiversity Eastern Carpathians. Since 1996 ECBC thousand square kilometres. The and cultural heritage terms due to supported 40 local projects on nature Carpathians, inhabited by some 17 well preserved nature, forests and and historical heritage conservation, million people stretch from Austria to landscape, water resources, traditional scientific research, environmental edu- Serbia and cover border areas of the way of life and land-use forms, non- cation, capacity building and sustain- Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and intensive agriculture and limited in- able tourism development with the Ukraine, a significant part of Roma- fluence of industry. total amount of around US$ 110,000 nia and a major part of the Slovak The Carpathians support a wealth involving additional 40,000 matching Republic. of biological diversity, which is unpar- funds from other sources ECBC initi- Share of the Carpathians by coun- alleled in Europe and a rich cultural ated direct co-operation on joint tries: heritage reflecting centuries of human management of the East Carpathians • Austria: < 0.5 per cent presence in the mountains. Biosphere Reserve and supports com- • Czech Republic: 3,28 per cent mon trilateral thematic working groups • Hungary: 3,78 per cent Examples of international co-opera- on wildlife, plants and forests of the • Poland: 9,63 per cent tion in the Carpathians Eastern Carpathians. • Romania: 55,19 per cent Local level – the East Carpathians • Serbia and Montenegro: < 0.5 per Biosphere Reserve The Carpathian Euroregion cent Based on the inter-ministerial Proto- The Carpathian Euroregion was es- • Slovak Republic: 17,17 per cent col signed in September 1991 the tablished on February, 14th 1993, based • Ukraine: 10,60 per cent World’s first trilateral Biosphere Re- on an agreement signed in Debrecen Most often governments sign bilateral serve has been officially designated by by representatives of local and re- agreements on co-operation in e.g. UNESCO. The “East Carpathians” gional governments from the border environment protection, but usually Biosphere Reserve of the total area of regions of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia such are too general to facilitate co- 2,132 square kilometres encompasses and Ukraine. At present the Car- operation in particular transboundary six neighbouring protected areas in pathian Euroregion embraces border region. This is why conventions rati- Poland, the Slovak Republic and areas of Hungary, Poland, Romania (a fied either worldwide or by several Ukraine. member since 1997), Slovakia and countries of the region proved to be Since the early 1990s economies of Ukraine, totalling for 161,279 square more efficient than any other tools to the three abovementioned countries kilometres, inhabited by a population raise interest of governments in are undergoing the process of transi- of about 16 million people. transboundary and international co- tion towards market orientation, which The mission of the Carpathian operation on regional issues. means that conservation issues and Euroregion is to facilitate cross-bor- Following the pattern of the Al- transboundary co-operation receive der co-operation among its members pine countries the Framework Con- less attention in a situation of other as well as to contribute to the vention on the Protection and Sus- competing urgent needs. To solve this comprehensive development of the tainable Development of the Car- problem the idea to establish a member regions for the benefit of pathians was signed on 22nd May permanent financial mechanism was their inhabitants. 2003 in Kiev. Building on the experi- proposed. The John D. and Catherine The common expectations were ence and lessons learned in the Alps T. MacArthur Foundation (USA) and that the Carpathian Euroregion would this Convention, reinforced by rel- the World Bank Global Environment automatically repeat the success of

169 some other similar inter-regional struc- The Carpathian Ecoregion tures located within the EU, and Boundary of the promote co-operation in economy as POLAND Carpathian Ecoregion the first priority. Different sources1 State Border Cracow admit that the Euroregion has not yet CZECH been successful in promoting eco- REPUBLIC UKRAINE nomic co-operation between member Brunn regions, while the co-operation in SLOVAKIA cultural exchange is the best-devel- Uzhgorod oped field of joint activities, e.g. those

Vienna listed at the Euroregion’s website Bratislava AUSTRIA www.carpathian.euroregion.org. The Carpathian Foundation (www. Budapest carpathianfoundation.org), initially called ‘the Fund for the Development HUNGARY of the Carpathian Euroregion’ was founded in 1994 by the East West ROMANIA Institute with generous support from Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, as an initiative to meet the transition

High Mountains challenges in the Carpathian Moun- tains by encouraging sustainable demo- Mountains Bucharest cratic, human and economic develop- Foothills ment. The mission of the Carpathian 050 100 150 200 km IfL 2004 Cartography: P.Mund Hollows Scale 1: 7500000 Foundation is to provide financial and technical assistance to NGOs and Fig. 2: The Carpathian Ecoregion local governments. It focuses prima- Source: The Status of the Carpathians. A report developed an a part of The Carpathian Ecoregion rily on inter-regional, economic devel- Initiative, Nov. 2001, S. 2 (www.carpathians.org, Zugriff 11.4.2005) opment, and trans-frontier activities promoting cross-border and inter-eth- nic approaches fostering regional and The Carpathian Ecoregion Initiative in action: community development in the bor- How does it work? dering regions of the Carpathian Euroregion. Reconnaissance Urgent Need (Information gathering) and Action Carpathian Scale – non-governmental co-operation

Biological Socio-Economic In summer 1999, the Carpathian Assessment Assessment Ecoregion Initiative (CEI) has been launched by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) under the Danube-Carpathian Vision Programme. It aims to combine conservation efforts with actions supporting the local economy and culture and involves some 50 local NGOs from Carpathian-Danube Heads the Carpathians (Fig. 2, Fig. 3). From of State Summit (April 2001) autumn 1999 to spring 2002 CEI set up 17 thematic working groups, car- Building partnerships ried out studies and inventories on natural resources, published the “Sta- Conservation and Action Plans tus of the Carpathians” Report, the Carpathian List of Endangered Spe- cies, 17 theme reports, 9 fact-sheets in several languages, identified 30 Prior- Implementation ity Areas for Biodiversity Conserva- and Monitoring tion, developed a vision for future IfL 2004 Graphic: P.Mund protected areas in the Carpathians,

Fig. 3: The Carpathian Ecoregion Initiative in action: how does it work? Source: The Status of the Carpathians. A report developed an a part of The Carpathian Ecoregion 1 These were opinions of several Ukrainian and Initiative, Nov. 2001, S. 11 (www.carpathians.org, Zugriff 11.4.2005) Polish ‘regional officials’.

170 EUROPA REGIONAL 12(2004)4 funded field projects, organised training, and convened the Carpathian- A Vision for Protected Areas in the Carpathians Danube Summit thus initiating the Priority Areas (high Carpathian Convention process. In POLAND conservation value) Existing Protected Areas autumn 2003 CEI developed the CZECH “Carpathian Project Portfolio” and Boundary of the REPUBLIC Carpathian Ecoregion organised meetings with potential State Border sponsors. From summer 2004 the SLOVAKIA Carpathian Ecoregion Initiative (now UKRAINE abbreviated CERI) developed as an independent international initiative, to be soon registered in the Slovak AUSTRIA Republic.

Carpathian Scale – governmental co-operation HUNGARY From 29th to 30th of April 2001, the “Green Light for Europe” summit on ROMANIA Environment and Sustainable Devel- opment in the Carpathian and Danube Region was held in Bucharest [Bucu- 050 100 150 200 km rești], Romania. One of the outcomes Scale 1: 7500000 Total Area of the Carpathians: 209256 km² was the Declaration on Environment Existing Protected Areas (> 1000 ha): 26178 km² and Sustainable Development in the Priority Areas (high biodiversity value): 33462 km² Priority Areas with existing protection: 11283 km² IfL 2004 Carpathian and Danube Region. Priority Areas without protection: 22179 km² Cartography: P.Mund Heads of 14 states declared their intention to encourage and support Fig. 4: A Vision for Protected Areas in the Carpathians inter alia “... Mobilisation of financial Source: The Status of the Carpathians. A report developed an a part of The Carpathian Ecoregion resources for environment and sus- Initiative, Nov. 2001, S. 45 (www.carpathians.org, Zugriff 11.4.2005) tainable development projects and programmes in the Carpathian and ment for Europe” the Czech Repub- water/river basin management Danube region and the use of existing lic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia & Article 7: Sustainable agriculture and mechanisms for this purpose, in par- Montenegro, the Slovak Republic forestry ticular EU funds ...” (Bucharest Dec- and Ukraine sign the Framework Article 8: Sustainable transport and laration, point 4., letter (c)). Further- Convention on the Protection and infrastructure more, the Declaration meant also the Sustainable Development of the Article 9: Sustainable tourism “green light” for the new Framework Carpathians (the Carpathian Con- Article 10: Industry and energy Convention on the Protection and vention); Article 11: Cultural heritage and Sustainable Development of the •25th November 2003, Kyiv: Poland traditional knowledge Carpathians. signs the Carpathian Convention; Article 12: Environmental assessment/ Carpathian Convention develop- • June 2004, Vienna: UNEP opens the information system, monitoring and ment process: Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian early warning • April 2001: Bucharest Summit Convention. Article 13: Awareness raising, educa- organised by the WWF; Poland The overall goal of the Convention is tion and public participation officially supports the Ukrainian to promote co-operation of the Signa- Next steps: initiative on the convention; the tory States for the protection and • June 20053: 1st Intergovernmental Declaration on Environment and sustainable development of the Car- Committee of the Convention; Sustainable Development in the pathians with a view to inter alia • 2004/2005: ratification of the Car- Carpathian and Danube Region is improving quality of life, strengthen- pathian Convention (by at least 4 adopted by the Heads of States; ing local economies and communities, Signatories); • November 2001, Kyiv: the first and conservation of natural values • Autumn 2005: 1st Conference of the expert meeting on scoping for the and cultural heritage. Parties to the Carpathian Conven- Carpathian Convention; Scope of the Framework Carpathian tion; • June 2002, Bozen/Bolzano: Inter- Convention:2 • negotiations on thematic Protocols governmental meeting organised by Article 3: Integrated approach to the UNEP recommends preparation of land resources management a Framework Convention; Article 4: Conservation and sustain- • October 2002 - March 2003: nego- able use of biological and land- 2 These are selected points from the CFConvention Preamble, quoted during the presentation to ‘raise tiations on the Convention text; scape diversity the spirit for cooperation’ among Kraków meeting •22nd May 2003, Kyiv: during the Article 5: Spatial planning participants. Ministerial Conference “Environ- Article 6: Sustainable and integrated 3 Currently updated timing for the IGC meeting

171 to the Framework Carpathian Con- tween protected areas in different of cultural heritage. Successful coope- vention; regions. ration has developed among several • Implementation of the Carpathian Concrete examples of the coordi- Alpine regions, building also on expe- Convention. nating work done by the Alpine rience gained from the implementati- Network are e.g. conferences and on of the Alpine Convention. Networking as a tool for trans- workshops for protected area manag- None of the Carpathian countries boundary co-operation of protected ers (some 20 events per year), staff has a specifically dedicated national areas exchanges and common training, 15 policy for the protection and sustain- Protected area networks help to rep- working groups which address specific able development of mountain areas resent their interests towards national, topics finding solutions for common in place. The Carpathian Convention European and international authori- management or research problems, can foster developing such, providing ties and organisations. By working common European projects (allowing an opportunity to decide what kind of together as a network, protected areas the use of the EU financial tools) and development they want and to deter- gain lobbying strength to promote the communicating on the activities of the mine the level of conservation they idea of nature protection as well as of protected areas through a common want to achieve. transboundary cooperation (Fig. 4). website, information letters, the ANPA The EU enlargement is a key They establish a common communica- bulletin and transalpine exhibits. strategic issue, which has important tion strategy and increase public Article 4 para 5 of the Carpathian implications for the political, eco- awareness and support for nature Convention provides for cooperation nomic, social and environmental de- protection. Common public relations of the parties in establishing and velopment of the Carpathians. Since work is more effective and convincing supporting a Carpathian Network of one third of the Carpathians entered than individual public relations work. Protected Areas (CNPA). Between the EU in May 2004, the voice of Networks help to build common June 2003 and May 2004, building on mountain areas within the European regional identity and allow a more the experience of the Alpine Network Union became significantly strength- effective and harmonised manage- (ANPA), the Carpathian Network of ened. ment of habitats and species as shared Protected Areas has been prepared in natural heritage as well as joint order to: preservation and promotion of cul- • allow a more effective and harmo- tural values of the region. Common nised management of habitats, spe- databases and inventories allow ensur- cies and cultural heritage in the eco- ing data compatibility and better regional scale planning, jointly designing manage- • allow establishing common data- ment and restoration plans, joint work bases and inventories ensuring data programmes, research and monitoring. compatibility Networking allows joint fundraising • facilitate joint research, planning, for conservation projects and contrib- management and monitoring utes to Natura 2000 concept imple- • allow joint fundraising for joint mentation. conservation projects in the Car- A good example of such network is pathians. the Alpine Network of Protected Adoption of the resolution on estab- Areas (ANPA) created in 1995 as an lishing the CNPA by the 1st Confer- implementation tool for the Protocol ence of the parties to the Carpathian on “Nature conservation and land- Convention to be held in 2005 shall scape planning” of the Alpine Con- allow official launch of this network. vention. The ANPA brings together INTERREG as a potential tool foste- representatives from 350 protected ZBIGNIEW NIEWIADOMSKI ring regional co-operation under the areas throughout the Alps in 8 coun- Foundation for the Eastern tries: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Carpathian Convention Carpathians the Principality of Monaco, the Princi- The INTERREG Community Initiati- Biodiversity Conservation, pality of Liechtenstein, Slovenia and ve has a great role in supporting inter- Switzerland Switzerland. The Network operates in regional co-operation in EU moun- Representative Office in Poland the four alpine languages (French, tain areas, focusing on the promotion Ustrzyki Górne 19 German, Italian, Slovenian) and En- of regional products, creation of joint PL-38714 Kraków Polen glish, facilitating communication be- tourism databases and the promotion

172 EUROPA REGIONAL 12(2004)4