Governance and Laws of Mountains - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 174

It aims at providing conservation and restoration of unique, rare
and typical natural complexes and objects of recreational and other
importance situated in the heart of Europe, preventing them from negative
anthropogenic influences through the promotion of joint policies for
sustainable development among the seven countries of the region.
The Alpine Convention is the fi rst convention for the protection of a
mountain region worldwide that is binding under international law: for
the fi rst time a transnational mountain area has been considered in its
geographical continuity, a common territory facing common challenges.
This is how the Alpine Convention evolved, and has been followed by
the Carpathian Convention. Today several other areas (Caucasus, Central
Asia, Andes) look with interest at the experience of the Alpine Convention
(MAP 2011).
For Lian and Robinson (2002), regional systems of environmental
management are an essential component of global environmental
governance improving efforts at the national and global levels, and for
Dua and Esty (1997), the regional scale represents a critical middle ground
between the global and national levels.
To understand the importance of The Alpine Convention we have to
ask: Why protect the mountains in a same common way if they belong to
different countries? Mountain areas cover 24% of the Earth's land surface
and host 12% of its people. Mountains provide vital resources for both
mountain and lowland people, including freshwater for at least half of
humanity, critical reserves of biodiversity, food, forests and minerals.
They are culturally rich and provide places for the physical and spiritual
recreation of the inhabitants of our increasingly urbanized planet (MAP
2011).
The disconnection between environmental needs and environmental
performance in the current international system is striking. New institutional
mechanisms for better global governance are urgently needed (Esty and
Ivanova 2002), the Alpine Convention can be one of those new mechanisms.
The Alpine Convention on one hand is a model because it is the fi rst
mountain convention to protect an entire region, on the other hand, the
Alpine Convention needs to be really effective and implement indicators,
measurements and accountability to verify the effectiveness of the
convention.
References
Becker, Alfred and Harald Bugmann (eds.). 2001. Global Change and Mountain Regions. The
Mountain Research Initiative.
Esty, Daniel C. and Maria H. Ivanova. 2002. Revitalizing global environmental a governance:
function-driven approach. pp. 181-204. In : Daniel C. Esty and Maria H. Ivanova (eds.).