THE ALPINE CONVENTION AND BEYOND: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS

Markus Reiterer

I. Introduction

The General Assembly of the United Nations has designated the year 2002 as the International Year of Mountains.' This provides an adequate occasion for reporting on recent developments on international legal issues in respect of the as well as other mountain areas, the more so as literature on the topic is very scare The following article intends to describe, by way of a short tour d'horizon, the current activities, in particular within the framework of the Alpine Convention, but also in respect of other mountain areas.

II. The Alpine Convention-A Brief Introduction

In 1986, the Commission Internationale pour la Protection des Alpes (CIPRA)3- an NGO with headquarters in —started to actively advocate the elabo-

* Ministry for Foreign Affairs, ; the views expressed in this article are those of the author and need not coincide with those of the institution he represents. The author wishes to thank Mr. Tim Enderlin, Mr. Ewald Galle and Mr. Andreas Kumin for valu- able comments on an earlier draft of this article as well as for long hours of fruitful and constructive discussions on issues related to the Alpine Convention. 1 Resolution 53/24 of 10 November 1998. 2 For a notable exception see T. Treves, L. Pineschi and A. Fodella (eds.), International Law and the Protection of Mountain Areas — Droit international et protection des regions de montagne (forthcoming 2002). 3 The homepage of CIPRA is a valuable resource base for alpine issues; it also contains the texts of the Alpine Convention and its Protocols in the four official languages of the Alpine Convention (French, German, Italian and Slovene); URL: http://www.cipra.org. ration and conclusion of a convention for the protection of the unique alpine eco- system. In 1988, a resolution of the European Parliament demanded negotiations on such a convention to start. In 1989, the First Alpine Conference took place in Berchtesgaden, , on the level of environment ministers of the Alpine States. A declaration adopted at that conference also called for a Convention and included concrete ideas as to the necessity and the contents of such a treaty. Two years of intense negotiations were finalized at the second Alpine Conference in Salzburg, Austria, in 1991 where the Convention for the Protection of the Alps (hereinafter "Alpine Convention") was signed." After having received the ratifications by Aus- tria, Germany and Liechtenstein, the Alpine Convention entered into force in 1995. The Alpine Convention is a classical framework convention which provides an institutional structure5 for co-operation among Alpine States and defines goals to be achieved through this co-operation. It applies to the Alpine region as defined in the Annex to the Convention. The Annex contains a map displaying the borders of the region and a list of the State Parties' administrative entities (local communi- ties, provinces, etc.) falling within the geographical scope of the convention. Each Party may by unilateral act designate additional areas to fall under the geographi- cal scope of the Alpine Convention.6 The State Parties to the Alpine Convention have approximately the following shares in the Alpine region: Austria—28.5 per cent, ltaly-27.6 per cent, —21.4 per cent, —13.1 per cent,

4 The Alpine Convention was initially negotiated by Austria, France, Germany, , Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Yugoslavia and the European Community. Following its dissolution, Yugoslavia's role as negotiating partner was taken over by . Mo- naco did not partake in the initial negotiations, but signed the Alpine Convention in 1994; it was admitted as party to the Alpine Convention by means of an accession protocol which so far has been ratified by all Parties, except Italy. On the Alpine Con- vention see generally E. Galle, Das Obereinkommen zum Schutz der Alpen (Alpenkon- vention) und seine Protokolle (forthcoming 2002); for a brief introduction to the Alpine Convention see A.Ch. Kiss, Cinq Annees de Droit International de l'Environnement (1996-2000), RJE 4/2001, MN 78s. 5 The Alpine Convention establishes a conference of the Parties, called the Alpine Conference which usually meets on ministerial level and is the steering body of the Convention; furthermore it establishes a Permanent Committee to deal with the day-to- day issues of the Alpine Convention. 6 Cf. Article I of the Alpine Convention. States may also withdraw such unilateral decla- rations ; the initial geographical scope of the Convention as defined in the Annex may however not be altered by unilateral act.