The Conference of the Parties
1. welcomes the establishment of the "Science for the Carpathians" initiative as a platform of researchers for and in the Carpathians for the implementation of Article 12 of the Carpathian Convention;
2. thanks the European Academy, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, the Joanneum Insitute and the Mountain Research Initiative for having supported the process since the very beginning;
3. welcomes the intention of the European Environment Agency (EEA) to undertake, as part of its overall efforts to improve the knowledge base regarding ecosystem functioning and services in Europe, a comparative analysis of ecosystem services rendered by the Alpine and Carpathian mountain regions, as a basis for a systematic valuation of these services for policy setting and decision making in these regions;
4. invites Parties and other stakeholders to actively participate and support the above mentioned processes and requests the interim Secretariat to report back to the Carpathian Convention Implementation Committee.