The Mediterranean Alps

A cross-border Nature Property:
candidate for the UNESCO World Heritage

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Cum autem bella moverentur externa, accidisse plerumque luctuosa, icto

Alii summum decus in carruchis solito altioribus et ambitioso vestium cultu ponentes sudant sub ponderibus lacernarum, quas in collis insertas cingulis ipsis adnectunt nimia subtegminum tenuitate perflabiles, expandentes eas crebris agitationibus maximeque sinistra, ut longiores fimbriae tunicaeque perspicue luceant varietate liciorum effigiatae in species animalium multiformes. Fuerit toto in consulatu sine provincia, cui fuerit, antequam designatus est, decreta provincia. Sortietur an non? Nam et non sortiri absurdum est, et, quod sortitus sis, non habere.

Proficiscetur paludatus? Quo? Quo pervenire ante certam diem non licebit. ianuario, Februario, provinciam non habebit; Kalendis ei denique Martiis nascetur repente provincia. Mox dicta finierat, multitudo omnis ad, quae imperator voluit, promptior laudato consilio consensit in pacem ea ratione maxime percita, quod norat expeditionibus crebris fortunam eius in malis tantum civilibus vigilasse, cum autem bella moverentur externa, accidisse plerumque luctuosa, icto post haec foedere gentium ritu perfectaque sollemnitate imperator Mediolanum ad hiberna discessit.

Cyprum itidem insulam procul a continenti discretam et portuosam inter municipia crebra urbes duae faciunt claram Salamis et Paphus, altera Iovis delubris altera Veneris templo insignis. tanta autem tamque multiplici fertilitate abundat rerum omnium eadem Cyprus ut nullius externi indigens adminiculi indigenis viribus a fundamento ipso carinae ad supremos usque carbasos aedificet onerariam navem omnibusque armamentis instructam mari committat.

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Project backers:

To defend this high-profile project with added value for the entire territory, partners will help support the project’s backers:

Marittime - Mercantour European Park

This European Park is made up of the Mercantour National Park and Alpi Marittime Protected Areas.

Website : fr.marittimemercantour.eu

Mercantour National Park

The Mercantour National Park, founded in 1979, covers 2,142km², including 685 in its core area (special protection status) and 1,462 in peripheral areas (optimum area of adhesion). It features two large mountains separated by the axis of the Tinée River: a limestone or shale formation to the north-west and the crystalline massif shared with the Argentera to the south-east. It is made up of a mosaic of natural environments whose diversity determines the wealth of flora and fauna. Approximately 2,000 different plant species have been identified in the Park, including 234 considered to be heritage plants. Wild ungulates (chamois, ibex, roe deer, stag, mountain sheep and wild boar) are, with many other mammals, emblematic of this region. The presence of wolves, recently back in this part of the Alps and descended from a small group in the Apennines, attests to the Park’s environmental quality and the fact that Nature knows no borders. The Mercantour Park has a 33km border with Parco Naturale Alpi Marittime.

Website : www.mercantour.eu

Alpi Marittime Protected Areas

Logo Aree protette Alpi Marittime

Alpi Marittime Protected Areas authority includes Parco naturale delle Alpi Marittime and Parco naturale del Marguareis and seven nature reserves .

Parco naturale delle Alpi Marittime

Logo Parco naturale Alpi Marittime

Parco Naturale Alpi Marittime, founded in 1980, covers a 283km² surface area largely dominated by rocky habitats (approximately 47% of its surface area), forest cover (approximately 22%) and herbaceous vegetation (approximately 17%). Particularly rich in terms of vegetation, in particular regarding the orchid family, it features a multitude of vascular plant species (approximately 2,600) representing nearly 40% of the total in Italy. It also harbours many endemic species. The sky over the Argentera Mercantour is filled with over 150 bird species, including many prestigious birds of prey.

Website : www.parcoalpimarittime.it

Parco naturale del Marguareis

Logo Parco naturale Marguareis

Parco Naturale del Marguareis covers a 78km² surface area with the largest karstic system in the Piedmontese Alps, with over 150km of cave systems. The region is characterised by vast forests of silver fir, larch and beech trees. For its geographic location and climate, the Pesio Valley offers an exceptional variety of plants (approximately 1,500) with the coexistence of continental Alpine and Mediterranean species.

website : www.parcomarguareis.it

La Fondation Prince Albert II De Monaco

The Foundation was created in June 2006 by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco. It is dedicated to environmental protection and sustainable development focusing on climate change and the promotion of renewable energy, biodiversity, water resource management and the fight against desertification.

The exceptional quality of its geology and the history of its biological and ecological processes made it quite natural for the Foundation to bring its support to the Mediterranean Alps’ candidature for listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

website : www.fpa2.com

Parco Alpi Liguri

Parco Alpi Liguri covers a 60km² surface area, characterised by a mountain setting not far from the sea and harbouring many plant species, with glacial relicts and rare endemic species. From a geological standpoint, it features major karstic regions.

The significance of Monte Toraggio and Monte Pietravecchia is recognised for the entire Alpine mountain range: the geological substrate, the proximity to the sea of mountains rising above 2,000m, the alternation of glacial and interglacial periods having created microenvironments with the presence of a large number of floristic species of great biogeographic value.

website : parconaturalealpiliguri.it

Natura 2000 sites managed by the Provincia di Imperia

The territory is completed by neighbouring Natura 2000 sites under Provincia di Imperia management, providing continuity of the territory all the way to the Hanbury Botanical Gardens with the Marine Reserve.

website : www.provincia.imperia.it

The Alpes-Maritimes Departmental Council

Le Conseil Départemental des Alpes-Maritimes

This cross-border candidature for UNESCO World Heritage status has extended its territory on the French side to the sea. A total of nearly 40 communes in the department are involved in the World Heritage Site candidature area, including its buffer zone.
The Alpes-Maritimes département, an eminent player in environmental policy
The need for conservation of such Nature Sites is obvious. In recent years the Alpes-Maritimes département has been committed to the conservation and enhancement of these natural sites and to promoting wildlife corridors.
The PDIPR (Departmental Map of Hiking Trails) with IGN (Institut Geographique National), publish fourteen Top 25 maps showing the over 6,500km of marked trails covering the entire territory, to enable the public to discover the trails in the Alpes-Maritimes. Hiking and trekking are very popular year-round in the department, well known for its topographic diversity. The variety of trails in this network, consistent signage and promotion of these itineraries in widely circulated guidebooks (Randoxygène), contribute greatly to this popularity.
Every year, the Département allocates a sizeable budget for work on the upkeep of these trails. In 2016, the offer was completed with the 212km-long Grande Traversée du Mercantour from the mountains to the sea, accompanied by a specific guidebook. It has enjoyed great success since its launch.
The series of eight protected Nature Areas, the “Mediterranean Alps”, proposed for UNESCO candidature, will further enhance the network of Departmental Nature Parks (PND):

19 PNDs open to the public: approximately 4,685ha of Nature Reserves,
2,545 million visitors in 2016,
€775,000 (operating costs) and €962,000 (investments),
59 agents mobilised daily; FORCE 06 mobilised occasionally.
In the “Mediterranean Alps” project submitted to UNESCO World Heritage, several Protected Nature Areas in the Alpes-Maritimes département are included in the perimeter: The Grande Corniche Departmental Park (712ha) in the communes of Èze, La Turbie, La Trinité and Villefranche-sur-Mer is one of the eight territories which make up the candidature property. The Alpes-Maritimes département manages this park in the framework of its environmental policy.

website : www.departement06.fr

Regional Protected Area « Giardini botanici Villa Hanbury »

Located in Cape Mortola near Ventimiglia, the Regional Protected Area "Giardini botanici Villa Hanbury" was created in 2000 by the Liguria Region. It is managed by the University of Genoa. The 19-hectare protected area includes an acclimatisation garden founded by Thomas Hanbury in 1867 with 5800 plant species, a semi-natural vegetation zone and an inlet.

Website : www.giardinihanbury.com

Co-funding:

Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur Region

The Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region must represent a republican community inspired by respect for other human beings, solidarity and good-fellowship for all citizens. As the main decentralisation tool, the Region is a territorial structure that carries the values of the Republic and its motto: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” (Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood). With its wealth of human and geographic resources, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region is preparing its future by privileging partnerships and openness.

website : www.regionpaca.fr

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Departmental Council

Here, the Alps are fortunate in being in the South, combining the magnificence of towering peaks, glacial lakes and high-altitude valleys with intense blue skies and sunshine bathing its pristine valleys with all their history. The Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Departmental Council is promoting outdoor, rural and distinctive tourism and supports the Mediterranean Alps’ candidature to UNESCO World Heritage status to help enhance this unique territory’s exceptional qualities.

website : www.mondepartement04.fr

Sponsors:

Government of Monaco

The Monegasque Government renewed its support for the Alpi Marittime-Mercantour European Park. The extension of the Framework Convention for the partnership signed on 19 September 2008 opens the way to pursuing projects launched in the framework of applying for the UNESCO World Heritage Convention Programme, aiming to prepare, support and submit a dossier for the Mediterranean Alps’ candidature to be listed, in the long term, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We can recall the close ties between the Principality of Monaco and the Mercantour National Park have since 1979, when the “Amis du Parc du Mercantour” Association was founded. The joint Alpi Marittime-Mercantour territory at Monaco’s gates, now a European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), a European Nature Park administrative structure, represents the southernmost part of the Alpine range and its listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site would mean international recognition for this exceptional park, for its geological, biological and cultural wealth as much as its unique character.

website : www.gouv.mc

ALLIANZ

The ambition of Allianz, its distribution networks and staff, as European leader in the field of insurance, is to serve its clientele. Being close to clients also means working with civil society to promote lasting collective values. This is why the Allianz Group wished to support the Mediterranean Alps’ candidature to become a UNESCO Site.

website : www.allianz.fr

Supports:

Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Cuneo

Achieving international recognition for a territory of such exceptional value, valorising a truly unique site so future generations can appreciate it in their turn, such is the ambition of the CCI of Cuneo in supporting the Mediterranean Alps project, especially since UNESCO listing will be sure to boost the economy of an entire territory while also guaranteeing the sustainability of its uniqueness...

website : www.cn.camcom.gov.it