We have recently received the good news that Peter Rupitsch will be speaking at the Susainable Summits Conference.

Peter is the managing director of Hohe Tauern National Park, the largest National Park in the European Alps. He started his career in 1984, shortly after the National Park was established and now is the longest serving National Park manager in Austria. Peter is member of various national and international conservation boards, such as Alparc (Alpine Network of Protected Areas) an National Parks Austria. He also is engaged as a lecturer at the Alpen-Adria-University Klagenfurt, Department of Geography and Regional Sciences.

Peter has a deep relationship to mountains. His father, grandfather and uncle were well recognized mountain-guides in the Grossglockner Region. The family of his mother was operating Austria´s highest alpine refuge (Erzherzog Johann Hütte, 3.454m) for more than 30 years. As a former member of the Austrian Ski Team, Peter nowadays prefers ski touring in the Alps.
There is a very strong historical link between the National Park and the Austrian Alpine Club (Oesterreichischer Alpenverein). As the Austrian Alpine Club is the biggest land-owner in the national park, including 42 alpine huts and some hundred kilometers of alpine trails, Peter Rupitsch permanently has to deal with issues like sustainable use of the landscape. The Alpine Club plays a key role in the park management.
Based on a long-term partnership-agreement in the past 25 years a number of common projects have been realized to promote sustainable activities concerning visitor management, safety and mobility. This cooperation is known as a best practice example for conservation and sustainable tourism.