Search

Rejuvenation of mountain farms

Fewer and fewer young people want to become farmers. If no one is willing to inherit and take on the running of a farm, it will close. There is a lack of both recognition and incentives – from EU policy through to searching for partners.

Between the desire for relaxation and the pressure for development

Few topics provoke such heated debates as Alpine tourism. At the end of May 2018 CIPRA International and the «Alliance in the Alps» network of municipalities will be providing an opportunity to exchange ideas and opinions in Bled, Slovenia.

Departure time for helicopters

At a time of declining winter tourism, heli-skiing brings in extra income. While sports enthusiasts might pay a few hundred euros, nature pays a high price.

Strange but true...

The Alpine Lab. The experience carried on by CIPRA in the Susa Valley

Kaspar Schuler: new strength for the Alps

Kaspar Schuler is taking over the leadership of CIPRA International in Schaan, Liechtenstein. A native of Switzerland, he brings with him many years of experience and numerous skills in the environmental field, most recently as interim director of Greenpeace Switzerland.

Examples of social innovation

Social Innovation in the Alps

Bogs – a way out of the climate swamp

One hectare of bog can store as much CO2 as a car produces in a year. The Alps suffer from some of the world’s heaviest traffic – yet fewer and fewer intact bogs remain.

How intact ecosystems improve our quality of life

Nature provides us with enormous benefits. The AlpES project draws on the concept of ecosystem services in order to record these in the Alpine regions and increase their appreciation.

Solutions for borderless commuter mobility

Traffic jams, convoy controls, fine dust pollution and the Brenner base tunnel: while the problems of transit and goods traffic accumulate on political agendas, commuter cars remain stuck in queues.

What now for the Alpine strategy?

Since January, the Austrian federal state of Tyrol has been chairing the European strategy for the Alps. This year will see a decision on how the strategy will be implemented in practice.

Prospects for young people

Like many other rural areas, the Koroška region of northern Slovenia also has to battle against depopulation. Various measures and ideas now aim to persuade young people to stay.

Oh...

Alpine Politics

Alpine Convention

CIPRA Sounding Board

Alpine Partnership for Local Climate Action (ALPACA)

[Project completed] Rising temperatures, rockfalls, lack of snow: global warming is clearly noticeable in the Alpine region. The «Alpine Partnership for Local Climate Action» has the intention to bring together cities, municipalities and networks in order to work together for more climate protection. With this initiative, CIPRA International, «Alliance in the Alps» and «Alpine Town of the Year» want to strengthen the transregional exchange of knowledge and experience. The goal of positioning the Alps as a model region for climate protection is also in line with the Alpine Convention.

Climate

Nature

People

Mountain Research and Development Vol 37, No 4: Migration and Sustainable Development in Mountains

This focus issue on implications of out- and in-migration for sustainable development in mountains offers papers on asylum seekers, amenity migrants, young in-migrants, depopulation, the elderly, the structurally poor, and resettled migrants; they analyze social, environmental, and economic impacts of migration in mountains in Europe, Chile, Georgia, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Tibet, and Ethiopia. Further topics are vegetation, wildfire observation, and hydro-sociology.

The Alps as the focus of climate policy

Temperatures in the Alps are rising faster than the global average. The search for solutions is not limited to the World Climate Conference being held in Bonn, Germany.

Point of view: Skiing, adieu!

Winter is here and in many ski resorts the snow cannons are running at full blast. Yet the number of skiers is in decline, making it hard to justify the immense investments made with the aim of expanding ski areas. It is time to realise that skiing is not a business model with a future, says Katharina Conradin, President of CIPRA International.

Awards for attractive, well-built constructions

At the end of October 2017 in Bern, Switzerland, Constructive Alps crowned the winning projects, demonstrating that Alpine architecture can not only be pleasing on the eye, but sustainable too.

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.

Partnership of Alpine communities for climate protection

CIPRA International presented the idea of a Climate Partnership of Alpine Communities at the opening day of the 2017 World Climate Summit in Bonn, Germany. In partnership with the “Alliance in the Alps” and “Alpine Town of the Year” networks, as well as the support of the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, CIPRA International wants to actively strengthen the role of towns and cities in the Alpine region in increasing climate protection in the coming years.

Alpine crossing “whatsalp” successfully completed

Starting 3rd of June 2017, a group of Alpine experts were hiking through Austria, Switzerland, France and Italy from Vienna to Nice in the course of the project “whatsalp”. They documented the current state of the Alps and exchanged experiences with different people on-site and on the way. Another objective was to draw a comparison with the results of the "TransALPedes”crossing of the Alps in 1992 and to take a look into the future. The main partners of the project were the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA) and the Swiss Alpine Initiative, in addition to numerous other partners such as the Alpine Convention, for instance. On the 29th of September 2017, the whatsalp group arrived in Nice and reported on the results.

Society’s demands mark the landscape

Conflicting needs and exaggerated expectations collide when it comes to spatial planning. Its role needs to be rethought, with a move away from overall planning and a shift towards guidance and awareness-raising. This was the tenor of the CIPRA Annual Conference held on 29 and 30 September 2017 in Innsbruck, Austria.

Underestimated soil

We cannot breathe it, we cannot drink it, and yet it forms the very basis of our lives: soil feeds us, is home to us, protects us. Why has its importance hardly been recognised until today?