6th Day of the Alpine Convention

6th Day of the Alpine Convention for friendlier visiting of the alpine area

Ahead of the 6th Day of the Alpine Convention, which under the slogan By bike and on foot through the alpine valleys – from Mojstrana to Krma, Vrata and Radovna! will take place from 29 to 31 May 2015, the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning of the RS, Triglav National Park and the Alpine Association of Slovenia drew attention to the sensitivity of the Alps and presented joint efforts for sustainable development and friendly visiting of the alpine area. Before the press conference, they opened the exhibition Aljažev stolp – This tin has a soul! in the Tuš center Ljubljana BTC and presented the fund for the preservation of natural and cultural heritage.

The main purpose of the Day of the Alpine Convention is to draw attention to the sensitive alpine area, present the importance of the Alpine Convention and sustainable development of the alpine area, the importance of preserving nature and cultural heritage, and encourage visitors to visit alpine valleys in an environmentally friendly way. "The Alpine Convention in Slovenia covers the area of 62 municipalities from Nova Gorica in the west to Maribor in the northeast. The principles and guidelines of the Alpine Convention for sustainable development of the alpine area are based on development challenges faced by such areas and are similar to those in other mountainous and hilly areas. Key issues include preserving the population, accessibility to public services, employment, and in some places, especially in valleys, suburbanization, etc. The Day of the Alpine Convention with its messages on sustainable development orientation and promotion of sustainable mobility also addresses other parts of Slovenian territory, as a large part of the country is mountainous or hilly, where we face similar challenges," said Blanka Bartol, representative of the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, contact point for the Alpine Convention, about the role of the Day of the Alpine Convention in Slovenian territory.

"Within the framework of the 6th Day of the Alpine Convention, we want to highlight the issue of demographic development of mountainous areas in Slovenia and measures to mitigate the consequences brought by climate, social and economic changes, as well as forms of sustainable tourism development in mountainous areas that are based on the natural, cultural and ethnological features of these areas," said Vice-President of the Alpine Association of Slovenia Miro Eržen and presented the program of the 6th Day of the Alpine Convention, which this coming weekend under the umbrella of environmentally friendly experiencing and getting to know the natural and cultural features of alpine valleys invites to Mojstrana for a conference, guided alpine hikes, recreational cycling and a rich accompanying program.

6th Day of the Alpine Convention – by bike and on foot through the alpine valleys

29–31 May 2015

By bike and on foot through the alpine valleys – from Mojstrana to Krma, Vrata and Radovna

Friday, 29 May 2015, Slovenian Alpine Museum in Mojstrana from 9.00 to 16.00: conference on the topic of challenges of mountainous and border areas with presentation of the 5th report on the state of the Alps on demographic changes and presentation of possibilities for implementing the pilot project Mountain Villages in Slovenia.

Saturday, 30 May 2015: recreational cycling to Krma, hike to Pocarjeva homestead in Radovna valley or along the Triglavska Bistrica path in Vrata valley with a rich accompanying program at the Slovenian Alpine Museum from 10.00 to 16.30.

Hikers and cyclists gather in front of the Slovenian Alpine Museum in Mojstrana at 10.00. Cyclists can join already in Jesenice (departure from the railway station at 8.30) or in Kranjska Gora (parking lot in front of TIC Kranjska Gora at 9.00).

In front of the Slovenian Alpine Museum in Mojstrana: various presentations at stands, performance of a brass band and folklore group, workshops for children, possibility of climbing on a climbing tower and demonstration of a mountain rescue action by the GRS Mojstrana Association.

A free bus will be organized from Bohinj and Bled to Mojstrana with departures: at 8.30 Bohinj Jezero, 8.40 Bohinjska Bistrica and 9.00 main station Bled. Return bus from Mojstrana to Bled and Bohinj at 15.30.

Sunday, 31 May 2015: alpine hike to Dovška Baba. Meeting point at 8.00 in front of Aljažev hram in Dovje.

Organizers: Mountaineering Association Dovje-Mojstrana, Municipality of Kranjska Gora, LTO Kranjska Gora, Triglav National Park, Alpine Association of Slovenia, Slovenian Alpine Museum and Upper Sava Museum Jesenice, in cooperation with the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning and the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention.

Events are free. In case of bad weather, the program will be adapted.

The importance of friendlier mobility in the alpine area was highlighted by the head of the Triglav National Park Information Center Dom Trenta Marko Pretner: "If we once thought that traffic management was only in the domain of larger cities, the trend of individual and short holidays has caused an unimaginable pressure from driving and parked vehicles also on the most remote parts of the Julian Alps. Thus, calming and managing traffic is no longer just a problem of rare mass-visited tourist attractions, but an everyday reality for every visitor, resident or user of the space. Each such problem presents a unique challenge for resolution. Undoubtedly, it is the task of all managers and users of the space to seek comprehensive solutions that are anything but simple and cheap. In addition to arranging appropriate infrastructure, they are primarily shown in developing and increasingly using the existing public transport." He then presented joint efforts, examples of good practice and innovations in the field of sustainable tourism/transport.

On 30 May 2015, the booklet Timetables in the Alps will be published, prepared by Cipra Slovenia, association for the protection of the Alps, together with 21 partners. For the past seven years, stakeholders who recognize sustainable mobility as a solution for traffic in the sensitive alpine area have been uniting on their own initiative. With the handy booklet, which will be published in Slovenian and English versions, they are increasing the use of public passenger transport, which is suitable for both tourists and locals. It contains an overview of timetables for all lines of bus and rail transport, cable cars and the boat in the area of the Slovenian Alps and part of Austria. A novelty in this year's edition is the bicycle rental table, with which they want to emphasize the importance of cycling in transport.

The Municipality of Bohinj has in recent years succeeded in carrying out several activities to calm traffic and promote and promote alternative forms of nature-friendly mobility. The Bohinj guest card enables free parking, free bus rides around Bohinj or cheaper bus rides and train and motorail rides from Bohinj and other discounts. During the main tourist season, a summer bus runs along the Upper Bohinj Valley on the route Bohinjska Bistrica railway station – Savica Waterfall. This year, for the second summer in a row, a hop-on hop-off bus will run to Pokljuka on weekends, both from the Bohinj and Bled sides. The project Park & Experience Nature! aims with the comprehensive introduction of environmentally friendly mobility in TNP to preserve nature and enable true nature experience. In winter, they organize a ski-bus from the railway station in Bohinjska Bistrica to the Vogel cable car, efforts to calm winter traffic have been upgraded with the Bohinj ski train project, which encourages arrival for skiing by train or bus. Bohinj Tourism has been cooperating with Slovenian Railways for several years (they also signed a cooperation agreement in December 2014) and other providers of public transport forms with the aim of gradually calming traffic in Bohinj and promoting and strengthening the use of public transport.

For almost two decades, public transport has been running in the summer months between Bovec and Kranjska Gora, which is among the more important tourist infrastructure support in this part of the Julian Alps. The municipalities of Bovec and Kranjska Gora, with the help of local development cooperatives, organize parking, support public transport and manage traffic on Vršič. From year to year, smaller buses carry more passengers, which shows better recognition of this connection, greater awareness of park visitors and the rationality of using public transport. Both municipalities, together with Triglav National Park, will try to influence the road manager so that the competent services pay more attention to this only park high mountain road in the future. Triglav National Park invites you to a trip along the Soča Trail, which runs along the Soča from its source to Bovec and connects the quiet, mysterious parts of the Trenta and Soča valleys. A special attraction of the 25-kilometer trail are the picturesque hanging bridges, along the trail 16 information points with panels in

Slovenian and English welcome visitors. Walking the Soča Trail and visiting the Triglav National Park Information Center Dom Trenta offer getting to know and understanding the only Slovenian national park.

Tour cycling is becoming an increasingly popular activity among members of the Alpine Association of Slovenia. As an additional incentive for its development, the PZS Tour Cycling Commission is preparing a circular cycling route that circles all major Slovenian mountain groups, measures around 1800 kilometers and overcomes 50,000 meters of elevation gain. The Slovenian tour cycling route is a clear example of a contribution to sustainable mobility and one of the larger projects in the field of cycling and alpine trails in Slovenia, which requires close cooperation with local mountaineering associations, local communities and other organizations in the field of mountaineering, tourism and hospitality.

In recent years, the issue of population has been at the forefront of state concerns, as it crucially affects development opportunities of various types of areas, including mountainous ones. The role of the population in development and preservation of material and spiritual heritage of the alpine area is highlighted in the Declaration of the Alpine Convention on Population and Culture. The report on demographic changes in the Alps is an instrument of the Alpine Convention that provides policymakers with an overview of the situation and examples and possible proposals for action. "Similar processes as in the entire alpine area are also present in Slovenia. Aging and decline of population in remote areas of alpine municipalities and concentration of population in alpine valleys or in the hinterland of larger urban centers, e.g. Maribor. Also in the field of employment, 25 out of 62 municipalities in the Alpine Convention area or 42% of municipalities within the Alpine Convention area showed a higher unemployment rate than the Slovenian average," emphasized Blanka Bartol, the entire 5th report on the state of the Alps will be an introduction to the discussion on challenges of mountainous and border areas, which will be illuminated on 29 May 2015 at the conference in the Slovenian Alpine Museum by representatives of ministries, regional development agencies, local communities and research organizations and represents a contribution to the renewal of the Spatial Development Strategy of Slovenia, led by the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning.

Within the framework of the conference, activities regarding the Mountain Villages project in Slovenia as an example of tourism with high responsibility towards nature will also be presented. The Alpine Association of Slovenia, in cooperation with the Austrian Alpine Association, presented the project at the Alpe-Adria fair. "The presentation aroused quite a lot of interest among potential areas, so we held talks at the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning and at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food on the possibilities of developing the project also in Slovenia. Together with representatives of the Austrian Alpine Association, an informational visit and discussion was held with one of the potential candidates – the municipality of Jezersko. All this will be the basis for further activities in the implementation of the project in Slovenia," introduced the introduction of the project, which is based on mountaineering tradition, natural features and environmentally friendly activities related to mountaineering and mountain sports, Miro Eržen.

In the spirit of protecting the heritage of the alpine area, before the press conference in the Tuš center Ljubljana BTC, they officially opened the traveling exhibition of the National Museum of Slovenia Aljažev stolp – This tin has a soul!, with which they want to bring this irreplaceable symbol of Slovenianness closer to people on the 120th anniversary of the erection of Aljažev stolp on Triglav. The exhibition encourages reflection on the importance of this vulnerable monument and on plans to protect and preserve it for future generations, thereby preserving the legacy of Jakob Aljaž and the place his tower has in Slovenian history and consciousness of Slovenes. With the establishment of the Fund for the Preservation and Maintenance of Aljažev stolp and the path to it, the company Tuš together with the Alpine Association of Slovenia is committed to preserving natural and cultural heritage.