AlpsLife

Protect Alpine Life by monitoring and managing Alpine biodiversity for the future. “Observing globally, acting locally.”

General Information:

• Project ID: ASP0500335
• Name of the lead partner organisation: Eurac Research
• Name of the lead partner organisation in English: Eurac Research
• Project title: Protect Alpine Life by monitoring and managing Alpine biodiversity for the future. “Observing globally, acting locally”.
• Project acronym: AlpsLife
• Programme priority: Climate resilient and green Alpine region
• Specific objective: SO 1.2: Enhancing protection and preservation of nature, biodiversity and green infrastructure, including in urban areas, and reducing all forms of pollution
• Project duration in months: 36
• Total budget estimation: 2.916.176,40€

Partnership:

Project Leader (LP)

• 1. Eurac Research (IT)

Project Partners (PP)

• 2. UIBK – University of Innsbruck (AT)
• 3. ALPARC – The Alpine Network of Protected Areas (FR)
• 4. CIPRA – International Lab GmbH (AT)
• 5. ISPRA – Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (IT)
• 6. BGNPP – Berchtesgaden National Park Administration (DE)
• 7. TNP – Triglav National Park (SI)
• 8. NPG – Gesäuse National Park (AT)
• 9. ASTERS – Asters, Haute-Savoie Conservatory of Natural Spaces (FR)
• 10. PNGP – Gran Paradiso National Park (IT)
• 11. SNP – Swiss National Park (CH)
• 12. EPNS – ERSAF Stelvio National Park (IT)

Summary

The Alps are a global biodiversity hotspot threatened by climate and land-use changes. However, a lack of pan-Alpine policy coordination reduces the effectiveness of current and future conservation efforts. The main challenge arises from the diverse biodiversity monitoring schemes implemented by Alpine authorities at different levels, which make it difficult to obtain a comprehensive overview of the pan-Alpine situation. A general overview is essential for establishing common conservation priorities or policies and measures. Ecological indicators are key tools for identifying priority areas for restoration or conservation efforts and guiding policymakers in decision-making processes. In the Trans-Alpine context, where synergies and cooperation are crucial, the lack of available Alps-wide indicators increases the risk of ineffective biodiversity conservation strategies. AlpsLife addresses these challenges by 1) providing specific areas that need attention for conservation or ecological restoration policies; 2) selecting EU indicators to be downscaled at the Alpine level, developing
interoperability strategies to compare fragmented datasets and establish a common understanding of the conservation status of the Alpine biodiversity; 3) Implementing the selected indicators on the ground by capitalizing on the existing data and filling the gaps of knowledge; 4) Ensuring consistency with the policy needs of the Alpine countries to better implement and use AlpsLife results in the longterm.
The outputs are co-developed and disseminated by EUSALP AG6, AG7, and ABB of the Alpine Convention (AlpConv). The partnership includes protected areas managers, national authorities, members of EUSALP and Alpine Biodiversity Board of AlpConv, and scientists. AlpsLife explicitly responds to the need for a common knowledge on the status of Alpine biodiversity and its results contribute to the achievement of the goals of the Biodiversity Action Plan set by the ABB (17th CoP).

AlpsLie Project Description: Pfoject overall objective:

AlpsLife project: Consistent biodiversity indicators for effective decision-making at the Alpine level

The ALpsLife project arose from conclusions by the Alpine Biodiversity Board of the Alpine Convention (ABB) on the lack of harmonisation between biodiversity monitoring systems in the Alpine countries. AlpsLife aims at providing a common ground to ensure that political decisions are based on reliable and consistent indicators at alpine level.

General context and main issues:

Transnational cooperation is essential to efficiently preserve and restore Alpine biodiversity. Priorities for action must be based on a common understanding of the current state and trends of biodiversity.

To draw this collective understanding, one of the biggest challenges is the harmonisation of data based on different biodiversity monitoring systems through the Alps.

At the European level, each Alpine EU-country must regularly report the conservation status for each species and habitat in the Alpine biogeographical region (current Habitat and Bird Directives and future Nature Restoration Law). From these reports, action plans are built to restore and preserve nature at the European level. However, the lack of harmonisation on the indicators used can lead to very different conclusions on the conservation status of species or habitats from one country to another, making it difficult to reach coherent collective decisions.

AlpsLife Objectives:

The AlpsLife project aims at establishing a strategic and technical coordination at Alpine level on these data issues, as the basis for collective action and with a long-term perspective. This will support the elaboration of an Action Plan for Biodiversity in the Alps by the ABB. At the same time, the Alpine EU-countries will be able to draw on the project’s results to meet European reporting obligations: this gives AlpsLife a particularly strong visibility and political foothold.

AlpsLife’s Outputs:

The project includes four work packages which will deliver four key outputs to meet both strategic and technical challenges:

• The first will be a mapping of priority action areas in the Alps. The idea is to highlight areas that need special attention for conservation or ecological restoration policies (WP1)
• The second deliverable concerns the choice of European indicators to downscale at the alpine level, to have a common understanding of the conservation’s status of the alpine biodiversity (WP2)
• The third deliverable involves setting up new monitoring systems on the ground or reinforcing existing ones for specific priority indicators at the European level. (WP3)
• And finally, a fourth axis deals on ensuring consistency with the political needs of Alpine countries for better implementation and use of results in the long term (WP4)

Project Partnership:

The project partnership demonstrates the strategic and technical interest around this initiative. National administrations from all Alpine countries are acting as observers and each of them identified an operational organisation able to implement activities on the ground as project partner – mainly protected areas since they tend to have the capacity of long-term monitoring.

Partners: The Lead Partner is Eurac Research, supported by 11 Project Partners:

• 4 partners with Alpine-wide competence: ISPRA, CIPRA, ALPARC, University of Innsbruck;
• 7 protected area management structures mandated by national authorities: Gran Paradiso National Park and ERSAF-Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio for Italy, Upper Savoy Nature Areas Conservatory for France, Gesäuse National Park for Austria, Triglav National Park for Slovenia, Swiss National Park for Switzerland, and Berchtesgarden National Park for Germany.

Observers: 29 observers with strategic interest in the project

Ministries and National Environmental Agencies representing Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Slovenia;
Research organisations: ISCAR, University of Turin, GMBA, MRI, University of Turin, and a European partner dedicated to monitoring: Biodiversa+ - The European Biodiversity Partnership
International and European entities: EUSALP AG6, EUSALP AG7, Mountain Partnership Secretariat – FAO, Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and finally, the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention.
Protected areas: Netzwerk Schweizer Pärke, BIOSFERA Engiadina val Müstair, Fundaziun Pro Terra Engiadina, Verband der Naturpärke Österreich, Parc National de la Vanoise, Julian Prealps Nature Park, Biosphere Region Berchtesgadener Land, Conservatoire Botanique National Alpin - (CBNA), Parc National des Ecrines, Réserves Naturelles de France (RNF), Parc naturel règional du Vercors.

Ansprechpartner:

Dr. Sebastian König

Biodiversity, Community Ecology, Biotic Interactions (Herbivory, Predation, Parasitism), Ecosystem Dynamics, Conservation Biology

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