Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians in a Transnational Framework

The CARPATHIAN PROJECT was a project co-financed by the EU-Community Initiative Programme for

transnational cooperation: INTERREG CADSES in the Programming Period 2000-2006. The objective of the Carpathian Project was to enhance the sustainable development of the Carpathian region based on its rich natural and cultural heritage.

In the Carpathian Project, 18 project partners from 10 countries joined their efforts to work on common and harmonised data and maps from the Carpathian Space and to develop analyses, recommendations and a common conceptual document covering the contents of the Carpathian Convention (biodiversity and natural heritage; cultural heritage; sustainable rural development, agriculture and forestry; sustainable transport, infrastructure, industry and energy; sustainable tourism and spatial planning) as well as to implement pilot activities for selected topics (e.g. on sustainable tourism).

The outputs of the project gave a detailed status quo of the Carpathian region which includes eight Central and East European countries with differing basic conditions. Among the most valuable outputs of the Carpathian Project you can find the Handbook for Local Authorities and Development Actors in four languages, the Carpathian Environment Outlook, the Carpathian Spatial Development Vision (VASICA), the  Carpathian Atlas, etc.

All these project outcomes prepared the basis for the six transnational thematic Working Groups in the field of biodiversity and natural heritage, cultural heritage, sustainable rural development, agriculture and forestry, sustainable transport, infrastructure, industry and energy, sustainable tourism and spatial development and subsequently the intergovernmental platform on the Carpathian Convention topics. Thus the project outcomes  contribute strongly to the adoption of internationally legally agreed tools, starting with the adoption and signature of the Biodiversity Protocol. Further protocols on transport, tourism and forestry have been initiated, together with regional programmatic approaches for renewable energy , for sustainable agriculture and rural development in mountains, for the promotion of the Carpathian identity  for the adaptation to climate change, amongst other. The Conference of the Parties to the Carpathian Convention - bringing together the authorized governmental representatives of the Carpathian countries – served as the high-level Intergovernmental Platform of the Carpathian Project

The Carpathian Project resulted in the formulation of the Carpathian Space Vision. Its main objective is to continue and intensify the provision of support to the  Carpathian Space, as an area of economic, social and environmental progress and sustainability in the heart of Europe, in the following programming periods. In order to bring the Carpathian Space Vision into life in the upcoming EU programming period 2014-2020, a full-fledged “Carpathian Space” programme, following the successful example of the Alpine Space programme, should be established, possibly in combination with (an) existing programme(s), or as a stand-alone new programme for the new period.