Access Commission meets in Baku

The Access Commission meeting comprised the following participants:

–  Juan Jesus Ibáñez Martin (Chair), Spain

–  Milos Jodlowski, Poland

–  Lode Beckers, Belgium

–  Jack Berguin, Ireland

–  Joerg Eberlein, expert, Germany

The Access Commission’s objective is to protect access to our mountains under best practice while respecting nature and local traditions. As a UIAA commission, the Access Commission supports the role of national access commissions sharing the knowledge of all club members and supporting the discussion of any problems which may arise.

After the opening President’s report, the list of expert members of the commission (provided by the national clubs) was checked and the participants listened to a presentation made by Jack Berguin regarding the draft results from Mountaineering Ireland’s study regarding the access situation in Europe – a good vision of the access situation in Europe that will become clearer with the involvement of more national member federations to provide a broader vision of the issues faced.

A discussion about the listing of documents about best practices and regulations to be shared by categories followed the meeting. A folder of good agreements of regulation made after initiatives from environmental authorities and clubs.

This initiative will be followed up by raising positive awareness about access and conservation activities through more articles shared by the UIAA across its communication channels. This includes the ongoing Climber’s Manifesto project.

With the feedback from national federations about the access situation in their respective countries the meeting finished with a look at future initiatives.

The Commission will continue to meet via Skype throughout the year. Details related to the joint UIAA Access-Mountain Protection meeting will be posted in due course.