The Continuum Project: Establishing ecological networks throughout the European Alps

The Alps are one of the largest natural regions left in Europe and therefore of particular importance for biodiversity; but they are also home to 14 million people and one of the most visited areas in the world. This is not without impact on biodiversity. Habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change, changes in agricultural practices, and pollution are among the most important reasons for biodiversity loss and landscape destruction in the Alps. The creation of a functioning ecological network in the Alps can help to conserve extraordinarily rich alpine diversity. Two closely linked initiatives are working together to implement an ecological network: on the one hand the Ecological Continuum Project initiated in June 2007 by the Alpine Network of Protected Areas (ALPARC), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the International Scientific Committee on Research in the Alps (ISCAR), and the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA); on the other, the Ecological Network Platform of the Alpine Convention.