Articles
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.
Transit traffic: a partial success on the Gotthard Pass
The Gotthard Pass has seen a historic low in transalpine goods traffic since the adoption of the law governing the modal shift. In contrast, the number of trucks crossing the Brenner Pass continues to increase.
Economic activity in mountain areas
What can – and cannot – mountain areas do? Two new studies from Germany and Switzerland show the opportunities and weaknesses of regional economies and demonstrate that mountain areas can help in determining their own economic 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.
One river, numerous desires: disagreements about the Alpine Rhine
A current bone of contention between different interest groups is the priority to be given to the various uses made of the Alpine Rhine: as a farming area, as a habitat for the little ringed plover and the German tamarisk, or as a drinking water reservoir. SPARE, a new European Union project for the Alpine region, will offer assistance for the holistic management of watercourses.
How much protection for protected areas?
The Alps are a bastion of biodiversity, a function that will become even more important in the future as rising temperatures endanger the survival of many species at lower altitudes.
Energy and nature in the Alps: a balancing act
How do we manage the balancing act between renewable energy production and nature conservation in the Alps? The final conference of the recharge.green project can provide the answers. Organised by CIPRA, it will take place from 20 to 21 May 2015 in Sonthofen, Germany.
Stange but true!
…everything out of the ordinary in the Alps has a label.
Strange but true...
... a white complexion, slim, almost dainty – truly a feast for the eyes. And, most important of all, very well developed.
Ski tourism: an insatiable hunger
Gigantic artificial lakes, myriads of snow cannons, secret forest clearances. Ski areas are continuing to expand in all Alpine countries, often using questionable methods and concepts. Below are three examples.
Point of view: the enlightened Olympics-free Alps
The referendum decisions against "Munich 2022" and "Graubünden 2022" prove that the Olympic spirit is dead. Simply not everyone has yet noticed.
Salmon coming to the Rhine
From the Atlantic to the Alps: by 2020 the Rhine will once again be a home to salmon. These migratory fish will then be able to swim unhindered all the way to Basel -short-term by unconventional means where necessary.
CIPRA viewpoint: for an environmentally friendly and participative energy transition
The energy transition is one answer to the threat of global warming and the explosive risks of nuclear energy. Erwin Rothgang, President of CIPRA Germany, speaks about the minimum requirements for the Bavarian Alps.
Winter Olympics in Munich 2022? No comment
In just two months the citizens of several Bavarian municipalities will be deciding on their candidacy for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, four days before the official deadline for applications. People seem reluctant to discuss the candidacy openly - does anyone actually want the Winter Olympics?
Energy discussed between mountain and lake…
The Alpstar mid-term conference took place from April 25th to 26th 2013, in the city of Grassau in the beautiful region of the Achental.
Youth Parliament at the Alpine Convention adds its voice
YPAC, the Youth Parliament at the Alpine Convention, met in Sonthofen in mid-March to agree ten demands for the "Alpine Town of the Future", generating valuable publicity in the process.
Next generation to bear risk of Winter Olympics
The Swiss canton of Graubünden wants to hold a "sustainable" Winter Olympics in 2022. While the many open questions regarding the candidacy have stirred passions in Switzerland, Munich's candidacy is not quite so controversial. But time is pressing.
The northern bald ibis - welcome back to the wild!
Jazu is back. Last autumn he became the first wild northern bald ibis for 400 years to leave his breeding ground near Burghausen, Bavaria: in summer he found his own way back from Tuscany.
Financial boost to Bavaria's Ecological Network
2 million Euro will help to further develop the ecological network in Bavaria, "BayernNetzNatur". The environment Ministry gives this additional funding to at least one new nature protection project in each of Bavaria's seven provinces for 2013 and 2014.
CIPRA's point of view: Torino 2006: a hard lesson - but nothing learned
The Olympic Winter Games 2006 have left a burdensome legacy. The idea is thus to close the loss-making bobsleigh and replace it with an indoor ski slope. Is Turin simply throwing good money after bad?
Bavaria: Alpine Convention makes court appearance
The constitutional court of Bavaria has received a complaint against the classification of land for development demanding, for the first time, compliance with the Alpine Convention. The court ruling could significantly change how the Alps are protected in Bavaria.
Power plant expansion on the Lech at the expense of nature conservation?
The Lech river in Bavaria/D is already being used on a massive scale for electricity generation, and only the stretch at Augsburg/D remains undeveloped. But even this section of the river could very soon become the site of a hydroelectric power plant. The expansion plans are not an isolated case; rather, they reflect a trend throughout the Alps, and one that is gathering momentum.
ECONNECT photo contest: clicks beyond borders
The partners in the Econnect project invite amateurs and professional photographers to make a pictorial record of ecosystem fragmentation in the Alps. The photo contest "Clicks beyond the borders" aims to visualize the importance of ecological links in the Alps in powerful images.
Nature abhors borders: Ecological Continuum and Econnect
CIPRA sees itself as something of a networker. And this applies to nature conservation as well. It brings officials, local authorities and scientists together, regardless of national borders. After all, animal and plant migrations don’t stop at border barriers either.
Linking-up the German roads for animals and for a better traffic safety
The German Government is developing a National Connectivity Programme which foresees to build wild animal crossings at the most important sites of migrating corridors. This year the first systematic research on ecological corridors in Germany has been finished, representing an important scientific groundwork for the implementation of the Programme.
Berchtesgaden - Salzburg: Improving the ecological network of extensive grasslands
Extensively cultivated grasslands are important landscape elements for ecological connectivity in the pilot region Berchtesgaden - Salzburg. Improving these habitats will help to safeguard species such as butterflies, dragonflies or grasshoppers. This is one of the tasks of the subprojects within ECONNECT which are currently being finalised.
"Cool heads in the hothouse!": Interview with a cc.alps award winner
"Everyone wants to do their bit!" On 6 November 2008 CIPRA rewarded the seven best measures submitted to the cc.alps competition. The Oberallgäu municipality of Wildpoldsried/D won one of the three main prizes for its activities in the area of energy efficiency. Andrea Skiba from the cc.alps team spoke to the Mayor of Wildpoldsried, Arno Zengerle, about their success.
The "Allgäu Moor Alliance" wins the German Government's Competition for Large-Scale Nature Conservation Projects
The winners of the German government's "idee.natur - Large-scale Nature Conservation Projects and Rural Development" competition were announced at the end of June 2009. Five regions came out on top with their concepts for new large-scale nature conservation projects. Over € 50 million will be invested in these regions over the next ten years. The "Allgäu Moor Alliance" was the winner in the Moors Category.
Sylvia Hamberger awarded Bavaria's Nature Conservation Medal
On 12 March 2009 the German environmental organisation Bund Naturschutz awarded Bavaria's Nature Conservation Medal to Sylvia Hamberger in recognition of her exceptional contributions to the protection of the Alpine region.
Alpine Crossing
The "Alpine Pearls" co-operation venture is organising a "softly mobile" winter trip through the Pearls of the Alps between 19 and 30 January 2009 - specially for members of the press.