Articles
Visiting “Utopias” all over the Alps
In 2024, the Via Alpina Youth project inspired young people across the Alps for social, cultural and everyday utopias of sustainability – but above all for shared adventures in the mountains.
Italy to chair Alpine Convention in 2025
Italy is preparing to chair the Alpine Convention for the period 2025-2026, while Liechtenstein and Austria will co-chair the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP) in 2025. Sustainability and cross-border cooperation are the focus of both initiatives.
Sustainable traffic management, not lawsuits
CIPRA representatives along the transport axis over the Brenner Pass are calling for sustainable traffic management instead of populist grievances. Now Switzerland is facing a renewed increase in traffic.
International Glacier Caravan
Six stages through three Alpine countries: this year’s international campaign by the Italian environmental organisation Legambiente, with the participation of CIPRA, condemned the retreat of the glaciers and thus raised awareness of climate change.
Too much, too loud, too crowded
From the tunnel blockade in Hallstatt/A to the protest rally on the Sella Pass/I: civil society is protesting against overtourism in the Alpine regions – and demanding relief for people and the environment.
Lawsuits and laws for climate protection
Climate protection laws define clear climate targets, but for many the measures set out are insufficient. Climate lawsuits are increasing political pressure in the Alpine countries.
Mountain forests and climate change
The consequences of climate change are also becoming apparent in the forests of the Alps. In South Tyrol/I and East Tyrol/A this year has seen an explosive spread of pests. What looks like frightening devastation might present a long-term opportunity, however.
Alpine towns – key to sustainable development
The ninth Report on the State of the Alps, entitled “Alpine Towns”, was presented as part of the Swiss presidency of the Alpine Convention. It sheds light on how the Alpine settlement system hinders – or helps – the sustainable development of the Alps.
Truck promotion instead of ecology
The European Parliament has shown no understanding. Even the last rescue attempts by three parliamentarians were shot down. The new toll regulation for road haulage on European motorways will lead to the one-sided promotion of hydrogen and electric engines. This will lead to a massive disadvantage for freight transport by rail and to even more trucks.
Do you speak Alps?
A different dialect in every community: the linguistic diversity of the Alps is fascinating and constantly changing, which also makes it interesting for linguists. Using modern methods such as crowdsourcing, a research project is collecting dialect words across the Alps for a digital, living lexicon.
Under the magnifying glass
What treasures and resources are hidden in the Alps? How do we deal with them as sustainably as possible? These and similar questions are posed in the August 2021 issue of SzeneAlpen.
Mobile in the Alps
By rail, by road, by mountain path: numerous CIPRA projects show just how diverse sustainable mobility can be.
Climate crisis makes mountains crumble
Rockfalls and rockslides are nothing new in the Alps, but dwindling permafrost is making the situation even worse – for mountaineering and for villages.
Where pesticides do not belong
On children’s playgrounds, in schoolyards and at the marketplace: researchers from Italy, Austria and Germany detect 32 different agricultural poisons in public places in South Tyrol.
Pesticides trial opens
No criticism of pesticides wanted: a South Tyrolean provincial council, along with over 1300 farmers, has accused pesticide critics of libel.
The key to local development
Pluralism as a strength of the Alps: ten organisations have committed themselves to this as part of the PlurAlps project. They presented their findings at the final conference held in Bolzano/I, including an innovation toolbox for integration together with policy recommendations.
Poisoned playgrounds
A study proves the presence of pesticides on children's playgrounds in South Tyrol. The provincial government has taken up a defensive posture.
Pesticides: a tug of war
Pesticides damage the environment, threaten useful species like bees, pollute the water in the Alps, while some are suspected of causing cancer. They nevertheless appear to be indispensable in conventional agriculture.
Reliable partnerships right across the Alps
CIPRA Austria, CIPRA Germany, CIPRA South Tyrol. Right now the cable car industry is all about superlatives. Indeed, the “world’s greatest glacier ski area” is to be created by linking up the ski resorts in the Austrian Pitztal and Ötztal valleys.
Spray-painting for environmental protection
CIPRA South Tyrol. Urban Green – How does the young generation imagine its city of the future?
Better protection for natural spaces
Resistance is growing across the Alps against construction activities in pristine or largely unspoilt areas. CIPRA is making an appeal for integrative spatial planning to the Alpine states meeting this week in Murnau, Germany.
Point of view: He who sows infrastructure, reaps more traffic
At the end of February 2016 Swiss voters will decide on the building of a second road tunnel at the Gotthard Pass. The CHF 4 billion project will torpedo Switzerland’s modal shift policy, believes Barbara Wülser, CIPRA International’s communications manager.
Hot topic: mountain biking
Like hikers, mountain bikers are now part of the mountain landscape, often using the same paths. The result: conflicts between the two groups are on the increase.
Better protection for Alpine rivers
A European legal ruling has strengthened the protection of Alpine rivers. Derogations for hydro plants or snow-making facilities are now more difficult to obtain. The politicians are up in arms.
Victory for landscape protection
The controversial application to build a wind farm on the Sattelberg near the Brenner Pass was rejected in a final appeal heard by the Italian Council of State in Rome.
No breathing space in the Alpine regions
As CIPRA South Tyrol has flagged up, EU limits for nitrogen oxides are being massively exceeded in the region. There is an acute need for action, both in South Tyrol and in other Alpine regions.
South Tyrol commits itself to the common good
The “economics of the common good” represents a growing trend, including in the Alps. South Tyrol is now putting this into practice.
Strange but true...
…We now have a new hero factory, Trentino, that is “bearing” heavily on the Alps.
CIPRA's Annual Conference: "The Alps as a Water Trough"
The "blue gold" of the Alps is limited in quantity and thus in high demand for use as drinking water, snow or electricity. At its Annual Conference in Bozen/Bolzano in October 2013, CIPRA will be asking who has the right to this elixir of life and who has responsibility for it.
Bolzano sent the proposal for FP7-Smartcities-2013
The participation to the FP7 call for proposals might represent an opportunity to further enhance the activities of Bolzano towards carbon neutrality.