On 30 October, two important institutional meetings were held in Bolzano/Bozen (IT) and provided an opportunity to present the provisional programme of the upcoming Italian Presidency of the Alpine Convention (2025-2026).
Secretary General of the Alpine Convention Alenka Smerkolj, the Head of the Italian Delegation to the Alpine Convention Paolo Angelini, the President of Eurac Research Roland Psenner and its Director Stephan Ortner met with the Governor of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen, Arno Kompatscher.
During the meeting, the programme of the next Italian Presidency of the Alpine Convention was presented, and its main themes were illustrated. These will include the preservation of Alpine biodiversity, climate change adaptation, the next Report on the State of the Alps (RSA 11), Alpine culture, and cooperation with other mountain regions.
The meeting with Mr Kompatscher was a timely opportunity to reaffirm and further consolidate the already fruitful collaboration between the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen, the Permanent Secretariat, the Italian Delegation, and Eurac Research.
The province is an important partner through its backing and collaboration on various projects and initiatives. Technicians from the province, for example, provide valuable support to the work carried out within the Alpine Convention’s Working Group on Natural Hazards (PLANALP). In addition, the province also supports the running of the Secretariat's operational branch office.
Prior to the meeting with Governor Kompatscher, the Secretary General and the Italian Delegation met with Mr Psenner and Mr Ortner at the Permanent Secretariat’s operational branch office, hosted in the headquarters of Eurac Research.
For more than 30 years Eurac has been supporting and collaborating with the Italian Delegation to the Alpine Convention and the Italian Ministry of Environment. Eurac is an important hub for research on Alpine and mountain environments, participating in various transnational projects such as those of the Interreg Alpine Space Programme. Eurac and the Alpine Convention also cooperate on various activities such as the Alpine Convention Atlas, our tool for visualising Alpine-wide data, for which Eurac provides the technical support.