Safeguarding the Future of Europe's Mountain Habitats

Two new initiatives are drawing worldwide attention to the importance of mountains for people and for biodiversity.

The United Nations Environment Programme designated 2002 as the International Year of Mountains. The aim of IYM 2002 was to safeguard the future of mountain and lowland communities by promoting action for the conservation and sustainable development of mountain regions. In addition, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is in the process of formulating a new thematic work programme on mountain ecosystems, with the intention that implementation will involve contributions from the 183 Contracting Parties, as well as the CBD Secretariat, relevant intergovernmental organisations and other organisations.

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One of the ways that BirdLife International is contributing to these initiatives is by focusing attention on wide-scale habitat conservation in the mountains of Europe. As part of a pan-European effort to produce habitat conservation strategies to cover the next 20 years, the BirdLife European Partnership has ascertained that montane habitats in Europe (mainly forests and agricultural grasslands) support 73 priority bird species and contain 558 Important Bird Areas (IBAs). Thirty-seven of these species (more than 50%) are strongly declining in Europe or even threatened with extinction in Europe, due to human activities such as inappropriate forest management, changes in agricultural practices, and poorly planned tourism development. More than 90% of the IBAs are also impacted by such unsustainable activities.

The BirdLife European Partnership is monitoring the priority montane species and IBAs, and taking action to protect them, but there is still a need to conserve the wider environment – the 'everyday' land outside IBAs where mountain people gain their livelihoods through employment in sectors such as forestry, agriculture, tourism and energy. Mountain people play a crucial role in maintaining key habitats for birds and biodiversity, and their participation and engagement in future conservation efforts is vital.

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BirdLife aims to conserve mountain habitats in Europe through promoting to governments and civil society a more environmentally friendly agriculture and forestry, and a move towards a lower-impact, more viable ecotourism. By describing broad conservation objectives for the habitats, listing essential ecological targets for the habitats, and recommending numerous broad policies and actions for the habitats, the BirdLife European Partnership is seeking to influence national and local policies and regulations on forest and grassland management in mountain areas.

For example, the recommendations for the forestry sector cover the location and type of new forest-planting, the type of forestry operations conducted and the kind of forests created. Increasing attention is being given to forest design. Poor management puts at risk not only the forest but also lower-lying agricultural land which may be affected by flooding, avalanche, or siltation.