53rd Permanent Committee of the Alpine Convention and the Workshop on Sustainable Tourism in the Alpine Green Economy Hosted by Municipality of Cortina in the Council Hall, Corso Italia 33 Cortina d Ampezzo (BL) Cortina d Ampezzo, 26th 27th June 2013 The 53rd Permanent Committee of the Alpine Convention, was held on 26th and 27th June 2013 in Cortina d Ampezzo, with participation of the Delegates and the Observers of the eight contracting parties of the Alpine Convention (Austria, France, Germany, Italy,,, Liechtenstein, Principality of Monaco, Slovenia, Switzerland,). This institutional event of the Alpine Convention was preceded by a workshop, open to the public, on the topic of the Sustainable tourism in the alpine green economy. Events were organized by the Italian Presidency of the Alpine Convention in cooperation with the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention, the Veneto Region, the Municipality of Cortina d Ampezzo, Cortina Tourism and the Dolomites UNESCO Foundation. The focus of the discussion of the Delegates and Observers of the Permanent Committee were:the implementation of the results of Rio+20 in the Alpine Region; the involvement of the Alpine Convention within the EXPO 2015 in Milan and the evaluation of the process of the Working Groups and Platforms work in addressing the main topics of interest for the Alpine Region: Demographic Changes, Water Management, Forests, Ecosystem Services, Green Economy, Mountain Farming, UNESCO World Heritage, Energy, Macro-Regional Strategy for the Alps and Digital Agenda. The novetly of the 53 rd Permanent Committee was the observer status of the a delegation of young from the contracting parties which was invited on the initiative of the Italian Presidency. In addition to following the work of the Permanent Committee, the students also prepare a question time for the delegates on the topics of the Green Economy, Tourism, Energy, Mountain Forests and Mountain Farming. For the participation at the event, students received a certificate of attendance from the Presidency, in the name of the Permanent Committee.. Participation of the young delegation is a result of the work of the Task Force New Generation in the Alps launched by the Italian Presidency of the Alpine Convention. The Workshop Sustainable Tourism in the Alpine Green Economy was opened by the welcome speeches of the local authorities and promoters of the event (Veneto Region, the Municipality of Cortina, Cortina Tourism, Dolomites UNSECO Foundation and by the Italian Ministry of Environment).
The main topics discussed during the workshop analysed in detail: The meaning of the Green Economy for the Alpine areas, explaining a detailed framework in the field of sustainability. In particular, after the introduction of the concepts of green economy and green growth, it was mainly spoken about: how to reconcile the theories of the classic growth with those of the green growth and which models to use; the role of the natural capital, of the environmental policies and of the market failure within the growth s process and about the main green growth policies to be considered for environmental sustainability. The topic of the challenges for a sustainable tourism in the Alps, the objectives and the added value of the periodic Reports on the State of the Alps was discussed, with a particular reference to that concerning the Sustainable Tourism in the Alps (RSA IV). An overview on two concepts was illustrated: the one on the situation of the tourism in the Alps in reference to the mobility, the transport and the social aspects; and the second one on the question of how to face the challenges and promote the sustainable tourism, maintaining, for example, the social and cultural context of the balanced tourism and strengthening the economical dimension of the sustainable tourism. The tourist potential for a sustainable and economic growth in the Alpine Region. In particular, it was highlighted that today s tourism in the Alps has to face a series of issues, that have to be at the core of the strategies for a touristic development of the mountains territories. Some of these issues are: the climate change, periodicity, the factors influencing the choice of tourist, the reduction of tourism. The modalities of communicating the landscape from the tourist point of view should be a new green challenge for the tourism coming from the BRICS Countries, focusing in particular on the analysis of touristic dynamics in these countries, in order to understand how really attract the tourists and especially how the Dolomites could conquer the markets of the emerging countries. The economic potential represented in architecture and the alpine and local craftsmanship, whith particular regard to culture, landscape, architecture and occupation (?), on order to protect, valorise and promote them on the basis of a sustainable business model.
The energy optimization and the environmental sustainability of the bioenergy production in the alpine refuges. The Energianova system represents an innovative system of an integrated management of the waste waters and of the solid waste management that aims to ensure the environmental sustainability of the management of this flows thanks the energy production from renewable sources and the recycling of nutrients. The innovation in the touristic promotion of the territory, relative to the municipalities of the Belluno s Province, strengthening the need to create a modern and efficient information system for the promotion, the divulgation and the improvement of the territory s knowledge and its main attractions. Some studies and development cases with reference to the green touristic offer in the Alps. The SWG-Coldiretti 2102 analysis The Face of Italy - agrarian landscapes: beauty, sustainability, economy showed that more than half of Italians (55%), in a vacation destination in the year 2012, especially looked for the nature and beautiful landscapes, which together with culture and history, represent the fundamental ingredients for the choice. The multifuncionality of the Alpine forests. Four types of main functions were presented: production (wood, leaves, mushrooms, fruits); protection (floods, avalanches, landslips and climate control); recreation (nice location for the hiking, mushrooms and berries picking, fishing and hunting) and culture (houses, furniture and craftsmanship). It has also emerged that the two traditional touristic activities with a low environmental impact are hiking and mushrooms picking. A model was presented, in the framework of the South East Europe (SEE) Project Access2Mountain, for the evaluation of the multidimensional sustainability, of planning choices and alternative use. The project aims at the sustainable mobility in the Carpathian and eastern mountain regions through helping the decision makers to implement and propose innovative strategies and models of transport and sustainable mobilities. The general purpose of the project is to promote the development of the touristic sector. The voluntary initiatives and the Corporate Social Responsibility. Starting from the Corporate Social Responsibility as a form of voluntary integration of social and environmental aspects in the corporate s management and in the relationship with other stakeholders, the crucial principles for the alpine tourism and the obstacles for their adoption and implementation in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) were strengthening.
FOTO: Eleonora Musco