Rocky Mountain National Park (photo by: glenharper / flickr.com)

As the world celebrates Earth Day, National Park experts from Poland, Slovakia and the US have come to Zakopane to map out cooperation programmes. 

Click on the audio icon to listen to the report by Michał Kubicki
 
The three parks represented at the conference in Zakopane are the Tatra National Parks in Poland and Slovakia and the Rocky Mountain National Park in the United States. In 2007 they concluded a cooperation agreement which provides for an exchange of experts and the organization of joint conferences and seminars.

The one which is now in its final day in Zakopane focuses on renewable sources of energy. Solar energy programmes are under way in both the Tatras and the Rocky Mountains but, generally speaking, the use of alternative sources of energy in national parks is in its infancy.

We hear from Vaugh Baker, the director of the Rocky Mountain National Park, Paweł Skawiński, the director of the Tatra National Park and Susan Parker-Burns, Public Affairs Officer at the US Consulate in Krakow, a co-organizer of the conference.