The Alpine Convention is a framework agreement for the protection and sustainable development of the Alpine region. It was signed on November the 7th 1991 in Salzburg (Austria) by Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the EU. Slovenia signed the convention on March the 29th 1993 and Monaco became a party on the basis of a separate additional protocol. The Convention entered into force on March the 6th, 1995.

The convention is a positive result and recognises the Alps as a single space in a global context, that is to say one space, its parts – nature, economics and culture - being interdependent. The specific features of the region contribute to the creation of an identity which requires a super-national protection.

Further information about the Convetion and its implementation is available at http://www.convenzionedellealpi.org/index and http://www.cipra.org/en/alpenkonvention