Welcome to Kranjska Gora and Slovenia Since ten years the ForumAlpinum has been organised in five different alpine countries as an independent conference of the International Scientific Committee on Research in the Alps (ISCAR). The meeting in Kranjska Gora (Slovenia) entitled "The Alps of the Next Generation" represents a break-up with the tradition. During the Forum 2002 in Alpbach (Austria) the idea emerged that the next Forum should extend beyond pure academic discussions and include also the search for solutions of actual problems. Finally, three important organisations active all over the Alps – CIPRA International, the community network Alliance in the Alps and the Alpine Network of Protected Areas – agreed to organise in common with ISCAR such a new international conference. The programme of the meeting aims to build bridges between the points of view of researchers, the local people and politicians. The title of this conference – "The Alps of the Next Generation" – includes the question: How and in which state will we leave the Alps to our children? To answer this question, conclusions generated from all three groups and particularly their mutual recognition and understanding of each are of crucial importance. The meeting in Kranjska Gora (Slovenia) in 2004 has a special position also from a geographical and temporal point of view, both within the Alps and within Europe. Kranjska Gora is located only few kilometres from the point where three big cultures and linguistic groups meet - German, Roman and Slavic. Co-existence of three different cultures within the Alps could be a promessing experience for the future of the EU enlarged in 2004. ANTON BRANCELJ President of the Organising Scientific Committee National Institute of Biology, Ljubljana