The scope of application of the CC must delimited in such a way as to promote a successful implementation of the convention. The proposed perimeter must facilitate sustainable development in the Carpathian mountains, as well as protect natural treasures. Furthermore, the perimeter finally approved must be acceptable for all envolved parties, and comprehensible for the local population.

The research questions derived from these considerations is: What criteria can be derived from the CC-objectives as input for the delimitation process, and how can they be brought into spatial relationship with the specific local situation in the Carpathians? A further challenge consisted in finding comparable and transnational data material with which these criteria can be illustrated.

The approach for the delimitation of the CC (Fig. 1) is based on the character and the main concern of the CC, from which, in turn, the main goals and principles are derived. In a second step, these goals are to be further developed in order to assign them a spatial dimension. To this end the basic laws and recommendations of the EU, and other international conventions are examined in relationship to the main themes of the CC (mountain laws, water framework directives, and so forth), in order to obtain valid spatial criteria.

By using international conventions and European legal instruments to derive the spatial criteria, synergies between the implementation of the CC and the implementation of other measures can be created. A further aim of this research was the detailed representation of the territory in order to capture the local characteristics, which in mountain areas are particularly pronounced. The information necessary for this distinction had to be collected at LAU level 2 (municipalities; former NUTS level 5) whereever possible. This level forms a central factor in the area of local sustainable development (structural aid, Agenda 21, and so forth).

The essential aspects of the Convention (e.g. mountain area, structurally weak areas, protected areas, river basins) are given a spatial dimension by means of the Geographic Information System (GIS). These aspects, then, are used in comparing the discussed delimitation approaches, National Proposals (NP) and Carpathian Ecoregion, and in the analysis of their strengths and weaknesses.

In the last step, a course of action is developed, which features a step-by-step approach to delimit the CC, based on transnational criteria. In the last fine-tuning, local characteristics are added, for the exact definition of the perimeters.