European ministers sign UN-supported agreement to conserve untouched forests

Ministers from Central and Eastern Europe today signed an agreement that aims to conserve the region's greatest reserve of untouched forests and large carnivores while benefiting isolated mountain communities, the United Nations environment agency said.

The Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians will strengthen regional cooperation and support local projects in the mountain areas of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia and Ukraine, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which serviced the treaty negotiations.

Spread over some 200,000 square kilometres, the Carpathian region contains vast tracts of forest that function as a bridge between Europe's northern forests and those in the south and west, UNEP stated. This allows bears and other species to migrate and remain healthy through genetic exchange. One third of all European plant species also grow there, including 481 species that can be found nowhere else in the world.

"Though less famous than the neighbouring Alps, the Carpathian region boasts a stunning landscape of great beauty that is rich in both wildlife and culture. This new treaty promises to help the region retain its wildness while offering its people new opportunities for improving their well-being," UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said.

UNEP noted that conflict with human development has dramatically corroded the wildlife in recent centuries. This modernization has also affected 16 million to 18 million people who call these mountains home.

Key threats to the Carpathians include growing unemployment and poverty, which have worsened since the transition from communism began over a decade ago. Unsustainable development patterns, over-exploitation of natural resources, pollution, deforestation, excessive hunting, and habitat fragmentation are also major threats.

The new Convention recognizes the link between environmental protection and the need to bring benefits to the local population through sustainable development. It promotes responsible tourism in which, for example, landscapes are protected and local communities benefit.