Posted on September, 25 2001

Brussels, Belgium: The Carpathians mountains stretch southward for 200,000km across seven central European countries: Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine and Romania. They are home to a diversity of peoples and nature. The challenge now for most of these countries is to build new economies following the collapse of Communism.
 
In some Carpathian villages, there is still no electricity. In others, there are neither telephones nor gas supply. Many have no motor vehicles, just carts and horses. But one thing these people do have is a stunning homeland, rich in natural wealth and economic potential.
 
The biggest threat to the Carpathian people's traditional life, and to the survival of wildlife, is not predatory beast, but predatory man. Privatization of forests is leading to overlogging.Deforestation due to climate change is also occurring, threatening wildlife habitat. In some areas, poaching is out of control and the traditional natural farming methods practiced by livestock breeders for centuries in harmony with nature are under pressure from the difficult economic situation faced by these European countries.
 
The Carpathian peoples are faced with a new beginning. Five of the Carpathian countries will join the European Union over the next few years. EU accession, will see new economic development in the region. Roads, factories and hotels could ruin the Carpathians unless a comprehensive system of habitat protection is established. But the economic reality also means that they have to find new sources of income.
 
The Carpathian ecoregion is one of 200 in the world where the conservation organization WWF is focusing its efforts to preserve outstanding biodiversity. Through a dynamic partnership of some 50 key decision-making organizations from within and outside the region, the newly formed Carpathian Ecoregion Initiative has begun a sustainable development plan that will run for 50 years, conserving the region as one of the world's most prized wildlife areas and a means to prosperity for its inhabitants.
 
Recent actions include helping to revive sheep farming in the mountains; sheep help keep the territorial equilibrium between man and carnivore, and the grazed land also conserves and encourages endemic plant species such as orchids.
 
Ovidiu Ionesco, coordinator of the WWF supported Carpathian Large Carnivore Project, says there are around 8,000 bears living in the mountains, 4,000 wolves and 2,500 lynx. His project covers an area of 2,000km around Brasov in Romania and aims to educate people in the villages about large carnivores and promote economic activity that is compatible with conserving the carnivores natural habitat.
 
Here eco-tourism is beginning to play a key role. The project has advised some 200 guesthouses on setting up in Piatra Craiului, and provides some of them with clientele itself. Last year, 120 proprietors went to France to see how the chambre d'hôte system works, and have adopted many good French practices in Romania. Later this year, the Romanians play host to their French counterparts in a return visit.
 
In the White Carpathians, across the Czech and Slovak border, the region is undertaking a fascinating experiment with organic farming and energy-efficient heating systems. There are some 39 organic farms in Bílé Karpaty on the Czech side of the border. The people here farm cattle and sheep, grow cereals, herbs and spices, and produce plum brandy and organic cider.
 
Several farms in and around the village of Hostetin have already earned a certificate awarded for good farming practices, "Traditions of the White Carpathians." One is an apple juice production plant. The area has an astonishing 250 naturally-occurring fruit varieties.
 
Hostetin is a typical Carpathian village, with 230 inhabitants, about 80 houses, people mainly living off the land. But Hostetin is rather special, too, for there is a new prosperity developing there, based on organic farming methods and energy conservation. The village is proving a model for the rest of the Carpathian region, with visitors from as far away as Romania arriving to learn from the success of its projects.
 
Until recently, like many across the region, Hostetin villagers burned brown coal. A joint Czech and Dutch government project has installed a biomass district heating system, which has cut down radically on CO2 emissions and saves the villagers around 600MWh/year in electricity costs.
 
The village buys wood chips leftover from local sawmills and burns them in a hi-tech boiler, from which hot water is circulated to 80 per cent of houses. The ash from the boiler is used as fertilizer in the fields, free of heavy metal.
 
Other energy conservation measures are operating in the village, too. Several houses have solar panels fitted to their roofs and the sewage treatment plant uses reedbeds as natural filters instead of electrically powered pumps.
 
"The Carpathians is a valuable region in terms of environment and culture," said Hostetin's deputy mayor Radim Machu. "One weak point identified was the lack of cooperation between the countries.
 
"That is why we started the Carpathian Ecoregion Initiative - to protect the region as a whole and help all its peoples reach prosperity through sustainable means. I hope that together we can establish such a cooperation, because the mountains are our common future."
 
Tony Snape is a freelance journalist based in Brussels, Belgium.