Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians

The Carpathian Convention, formally the Framework Convention for the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians, is a multilateral agreement for cross-border coordination of protective measures in the Carpathians. In addition to objectives of environmental protection and nature conservation, the Convention will also sustainable development of the regional economy, and thus achieve a better quality of life in the Carpathians. The Convention was signed in Kiev on 22 May 2003 and has now been ratified by the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine. The Carpathian Convention held its first meeting on January 4, 2006.

History

In 2001, the Ukrainian government turned to the European Regional Office of UNEP and asked for the design of an agreement for the protection of the Carpathians. In 2002, a cooperation between the Alps and the Carpathians States States was launched by the Italian Minister for the Environment and then chairman of the Alpine Convention. Based on this, several conferences were organized at ministerial level. In the fifth Ministerial Conference, which took place in Kiev in May 2003, adopted the States concerned, a framework agreement for the protection and sustainable development of the Carpathians. After this conference, all participating states except Poland had signed the Convention, the Convention in the course of the following years was ratified by the individual states. From the 4th January 2006, the Convention entered stepwise in all participating States in force.

Overview of the signing and the ratification status of the Carpathian Convention:

Objectives

The objectives of the Carpathian Convention include the protection and sustainable use of landscape and biodiversity, a coordinated spatial planning in border areas, integrated management of water resources and river beds, the promotion of sustainable agriculture and forestry, the development of a sustainable transport infrastructure, the promotion of sustainable Tourism, an increase of environmental awareness in the industrial and energy, conservation of cultural heritage and traditional knowledge, monitoring and study of the environment as well as programs to promote the awareness and knowledge of ecological relationships within the population.

After the Carpathians is one of the areas with the largest untouched forest areas in Europe, an agreement was signed for sustainable forest management in Bratislava in 2011, 2011.

Institutions and financing

The implementation of the Carpathian Convention is being driven by the Secretariat of the Convention. Currently, this task is performed by an Interim Secretariat of the UNEP in Vienna, known as the Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention ( ISCC ). The Convention is funded by contributions from the signatory States. The Chair of the States took over in 2011, Slovakia for three years.