MMV 2006 - Rapperswil, Switzerland

September 13-17

Hosting Institution

University of Applied Sciences, Rapperswil/St. Gall
Prof. Dr. Dominik Siegrist
dominik.siegrist@hsr.ch

Background

The first MMV conference was held in Vienna, Austria, in winter 2002 and the second in Rovaniemi, Finland, in spring 2004. MMV conferences are motivated by the growing concern that increasing recreational use of protected areas is approaching the limits of ecological and social carrying capacities in many parts of the world. The conferences in Vienna and Rovaniemi were great successes, and provided strong support for continuation in Switzerland. MMV-3 will help to meet the urgent need for scientists and managers to share current experiences and know-how for managing proteced areas.

Conference Topics

The overall purpose of the conference is to provide an opportunity for constructive discussions related to the following topics:

Visitor information and visitor management
Visitor monitoring methods, modeling and data management
Causes of leisure mobility and tourism
Economic and social effects of recreation and nature tourism
Visitor/user confl icts and other behavior studies
Sustainability and carrying capacity studies in recreational settings
Recreational impacts on park ecosystems
Nature tourism: concepts and experiences in recreational and protected areas
Park tourism in protected areas and poverty reduction

Keynote Speakers

Wolfgang Haider, Canada: School of Resource and Environmental Management Simon Fraser University
Andreas Muhar, Austria: University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences
Harini Nagendra, India: Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environmental Change (CIPEC) and the Environment (ATREE)
David Sheppard, Switzerland: IUCN Programme on Protected Areas

International Steering Committee

Arne Arnberger - University of Natural Resources & Applied Life Sciences, Austria
David Cole - Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, USA
Terry Daniel - University of Arizona, USA
Don English - United States Department of Agriculture - Forest Service, USA
Wolfgang Haider - Simon Fraser University, Canada
Robert E. Manning - School of Natural Resources, University of Vermont, USA
Andreas Muhar - University of Natural Resources & Applied Life Sciences, Austria
Ulrike Pröbstl - University of Natural Resources & Applied Life Sciences, Austria
Jarkko Saarinen - University of Oulu, Finland
Dominik Siegrist - University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil, Switzerland
Tuija Sievänen - Finnish Forest Research Institute, Finland
Seija Tuulentie - Finnish Forest Research Institute, Finland