17 December 2018
WWF awarded today a Gift to the Earth, its highest award, to the Convention for the Protection and Sustainable
Development of the Carpathian Mountains at a ceremony at the UN in Vienna.
“WWF has given a Gift to the Earth, its highest award, to the Carpathian Convention in recognition of the important role
that the Convention has played in facilitating action by its seven member governments and relevant stakeholders to
preserve the exceptional natural values and promote sustainable development in the globally important Carpathian
mountains region as well as in serving as a model for cross-border cooperation. The Carpathian Convention presents an
example of the necessity and potential for working together across national borders and across sectors,” said Andreas
Beckmann, Director of WWF-Danube-Carpathian Programme.
“The Carpathian Convention is the product of cooperation between governments and different stakeholders, including from
civil society, science, the public and private sectors that all share a Carpathian dream,” said Harald Egerer, head of
UN Environment Vienna Office, Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention. “It is for this dream and our efforts to
sustainably develop the region and preserve it for future generations that I think we are receiving this Gift to the
Earth award from WWF.”
Arching across 7 countries, from the Czech Republic, across Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine and Hungary, and down to Romania
and the tip of Serbia, the Carpathians are Europe's last great wilderness area - a bastion for large carnivores, with
over half of the continent's population of bears, wolves and lynx, and home to the greatest remaining reserve of old
growth forests outside of Russia.
Covering an area five times the size of Switzerland and larger than the Alps, the Carpathian Mountains are home to 18
million people. Many of them depend on the natural resources of the region for their livelihoods and well-being.
Forestry, tourism and agriculture are important for local economies, including income and employment. More significantly
perhaps, the region and its natural resources are significant for providing a host of ecosystem services, including
climate regulation and water management.
The exceptional natural treasures of the region are increasingly threatened by unsustainable development. Demand for
biomass is driving harvesting of the region’s forests, both legally and illegally. Particularly at risk are old growth
and virgin as well as natural forests.
Infrastructure development, including transportation, energy and tourism, is leading to the reduction and especially
fragmentation of once intact habitats and the species that they support. Bears and other large carnivores suffer from
illegal hunting. But arguably a greater, longer-term threat lies in the fragmentation and degradation of their habitats
e.g. from infrastructure construction.
The Carpathian Convention has played an important role in leading and coordinating action by its member countries and
relevant stakeholders to address not only a host of environmental challenges across the very diverse Carpathian
Mountains, but also to identify and promote opportunities for sustainable local development.
Beyond policy development and alignment, the Carpathian Convention has facilitated and supported practical actions for
implementation of the protocols and action plans, including for example the ongoing EU-funded TransGreen project, led by
WWF within the framework of the Carpathian Convention, which brings together authorities and stakeholders from transport
and environment to identify and develop best practice solutions to addressing conflicts between linear infrastructure
and ecological corridors.
ends