Kick-Off AlpsLife 

7-8 October 2024

On October 7th and 8th, the Eurac Research Institute in Bolzano hosted the Kick-Off meeting for the Interreg Alpine Space AlpsLife project.
The project leader welcomed 29 participants from 12 institutions across the Alpine countries, including nine partner national parks, the University of Innsbruck, ALPARC, and the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA).

Officially launched in early September, AlpsLife will run until 2027, aiming to achieve data interoperability for biodiversity monitoring schemes across the Alpine region. Based on scientific evidence, AlpsLife will establish a solid, shared knowledge base essential for creating an early warning system for endangered Alpine species and habitats and for identifying areas requiring urgent intervention (urgent need-to-act areas). Key anticipated outcomes include indicator selection, long-term accessible maps and data, all of which will provide strategic guidelines for policymakers to plan and implement more coherent conservation actions and staretegies for biodiversity in mountain areas.

During the meeting, with the participation of the Joint Secretariat Officer, the foundational elements of the project were defined, including the selection of Pilot Monitoring Areas, identification of key stakeholders, and the development of methodologies for each Work Package.