Successes

2022: CIPRA celebrates 70 years of Alpine protection

Connecting people, overcoming borders, protecting the Alps: For 70 years CIPRA has been working for a good life in the Alps. What might the Alps of the future look like? On the occasion of its birthday on 5 May, CIPRA also takes a fresh look at itself and presents various visions of the future in the current SzeneAlpen themed issue "The Alps of Tomorrow". More

2020: “Netzwerkstatt Alpen” opened

An international competence centre in Liechtenstein that strengthens the idea of sustainable development in the Alps: with the newly renovated “Netzwerkstatt Alpen”, CIPRA has made this vision a reality. The house located in Schaan/LI is over one hundred years old and offers space for work, new ideas, meetings and exchanges between committed people from the entire Alpine region. In addition to CIPRA International, the LGU (Liechtenstein Society for Environmental Protection) and the VLGST (Association of Liechtenstein Charitable Foundations and Trusts) work under its roof. More

2020: Erasmus+ Award for CIPRA International

CIPRA International receives the Liechtenstein Erasmus+ Award for the project "European Voluntary Service for Social Innovation" in the field of youth. Over the past seven years, Erasmus+ has funded numerous projects in Liechtenstein that promote non-formal learning, social skills and team spirit among young people. The association aha - Youth Information Liechtenstein and the Agency for International Educational Affairs (AIBA) have presented and awarded the leading projects of the past years in a brochure. More (de,fr,it,sl)

2019: Youth participation is a must-have – not a nice-to-have

In the Alps-wide project GaYA (Governance and Youth in the Alps), CIPRA International worked together with other partner organisations to promote more youth participation in the Alps. The project partners developed a toolbox for youth participation, a study on participatory democracy, political demands and organised an international conference. More

2018: Youth Alpine Interrail

Travelling climate friendly by train, getting to know the Alps, living sustainability instead of preaching. In summer 2018, 100 young people travelled with the first Youth Interrail Pass for the Alps. The CIPRA Youth Advisory Council, co-inventor of the pilot project, made it possible. More

2017: Award for CIPRA youth project

Supporting young people on their way to a sustainable life? "Youth Alpine Express" makes conscious, mindful travel an adventure and has been awarded the Energy Globe Award for it. More (in german)

2016: Youth at the AlpWeek in Grassau

The 2016 AlpWeek was characterised by a high level of participation by young people. As active participants, they enriched the various events with new ideas, questions and perspectives and enabled a fruitful exchange between generations. More

2015: Windfarm near the Brenner pass rejected

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. This represents a major victory for the environmental protection associations like CIPRA South Tyrol and the Alpine clubs on both sides of the Brenner, who took the matter to court. More

2015: Quiet area in Austria saved

The Tyrolean parliament decided against the development of the quiet area "Kalkkögel". The two Tyrolean ski areas Schlick and Axamer Lizum were planned to be connected by a cable car. CIPRA Austria has campaigned for the protection of this area since 2010 and has stated that the construction project is unconstitutional and against the Alpine Convention. More

2014: Slovenian climate protection project goes to school

In 2010 four Slovenian communities applied to join dynAlp-climate, the climate protection programme designed for municipalities by CIPRA. Their project idea for forestry education was a success and can now be found in schools throughout Slovenia. A network of schools and kindergartens are today teaching specific ways of ensuring climate and nature conservation in Slovenian forests. More (de/fr/it/sl)

2014: Alpine Rhine Valley wins mobility prize

In the last three years Vorarlberg, Liechtenstein and the canton of St. Gallen have shown with the Alpstar project what it takes to convince commuters to switch to using the train, bus or bike. Their efforts have now been rewarded with the mobility prize of the Austrian Traffic Club (VCÖ). The activities were co-ordinated by CIPRA International and the Vorarlberg Energy Institute. More (de/fr/it/sl)

2014: CIPRA embarks on a long-distance walk

Since 2014, CIPRA International has taken over the co-ordination, with the aim of continuing the development of this offer while also enriching it with the topics of sustainable development.

2013: CIPRA goes youth

On 10 October 2013 eleven young women from every Alpine country submit their ideas to delegates in Bozen/Bolzano, Italy as founding members of the CIPRA Youth Advisory Council. New prospective members are constantly being added and together they are developing ideas and solutions for the challenges facing the Alps, advising CIPRA bodies and engaging in networking and communications work. More

2013: Long-standing partnership with Alpine cities

CIPRA has for ten years now been managing the affairs of the “Alpine Town of the Year” association. The feedback from municipal administrators is highly enthusiastic: “Thanks to our work with CIPRA, we have changed from being an ‘amateur’ association into a network of cities”, says Colette Patron, former Chairwoman and Deputy Mayor of Gap in France. More

2012: Youth Parliament takes off with CIPRA

Since 2012 CIPRA and the Youth Parliament of the Alpine Convention (YPAC) have been on the same path. CIPRA supports the teaching staff responsible for staging YPAC events as well as young people in public relations work, while introducing them to Alpine political representatives. Another important task is to show young people how they can use the Youth Parliament to transform their concerns into political action and thus help shape sustainable development in the Alps.

Initial successes have been seen, such as frequent invitations from political forums to send delegations to present their concerns. A group of former Youth Parliamentarians have also founded the PEGNA organisation in Austria, a platform for the upkeep of collective natural spaces in the Alps. More

2012: AlpWeek - Orchestrated teamwork pays dividends

Attended by around 400 participants, the second AlpWeek event held in the Swiss region of Valposchiavo was a resounding success. CIPRA staged this international conference together with six other organisations – and also brought 120 or so young people to Poschiavo from every Alpine country. These youngsters played an active role, expressing their views on the conference theme of “Renewable Alps” through music, videos, theatre sketches, public statements and personal discussions. More

2012: BergsportAward 2012

CIPRA received an award from the Netherlands: The largest Alpine Club outside of the Alps elected the CIPRA as the most sustainable organization of the year 2012. The members of the Royal Dutch Climbing and Mountaineering Association (NKBV) chose CIPRA in an online voting. The award recognizes the long-term effort to shape the life in the Alps in a way that people and nature can live happily together. Every year over one million tourists from the Netherlands come to the Alps. The NKBV has 55,000 members. More

2011: Seven regions build on an alpine ecological network

With the completion of the Econnect project, which CIPRA participated in, the idea has finally gained a foothold in the Alps, that biological diversity can be obtained not only in protected areas – it also requires the exchange between the protected areas. Supported by a broad consortium and a jointly developed approach seven pilot regions implemented measures that link habitats beyond protected areas. Efforts of the CIPRA to get the Econnect project and the Ecological Continuum Initiative off the ground show first results and offer room for further activities on the subject.

2011: climalp – watch, learn and build!

How does a passive house work? What’s it like living and working in one? Where do the materials come from? Local councillors, architects and architecture enthusiasts are guaranteed to get all the answers to these questions on CIPRA’s climalp field trips. Since the project first began in 2005, lots of people from right across the Alps who attended these conferences and field trips have found out that energy-efficient construction using regionally sourced time is not just beneficial to the environment but gentle on their wallets, too; what’s more, it also boosts the regional value added. Thereafter several participants felt encouraged to play an active role themselves. Take the French municipality of Saint Martin de Belleville, for example, which built its new day-care centre for children according to the Minergie standard, with the most rational possible use of renewable energies – motivated by the climalp field trip to the federal province of Vorarlberg in Austria. More

2010: Architectural award “Constructive”

In the spring of 2010 the government of the principality of Liechtenstein praised out the architectural award “Constructive”, which was co-initiated by the CIPRA and endowed with 50,000 euros. The three winners were determined by an international jury. A total of 200 projects were submitted, from which 25 emerged winners and recognition awards. This broad collection of sustainable buildings in the alpine region is presented to the public with a traveling exhibition. The magazine "Hochparterre" also published a special multilingual issue portraying all the winners and nominees. The publication reaches over 60,000 readers across the Alps. More

2009: Climate conference in Bolzano had signalling effect for public and politics

The international conference «Cool heads in the hothouse»  that CIPRA and the city of Bolzano have organized on 2 and 3 April 2009 in Bolzano (IT) was attended by approximately 200 participants from several countries. The presentations and examples illustrated, how climate change can be handled consciously. The conference took place in the scope of CIPRA's climate project "cc.alps". More

2008: successful implementation of knowledge

Two large independent projects have emerged from the CIPRA-project "Future in the Alps", dealing with the issues and knowledge of that project: DYNALP², a support program for communities, and NENA, an Interreg-project for building a network of companies.

2006: CIPRA calls for the Alps as Climate Model Region

In 2006, at CIPRA’s suggestion, the parties to the Alpine Convention (i.e. the Alpine states and the EU) decided at the 9^th Alpine Conference in Alpbach, Austria to draw up an action plan for climate protection. CIPRA critically followed the drafting process, submitting proposals and promoting ideas. But the climate action plan adopted in 2009 at the 10^th Alpine Conference held in Evian, France failed to live up to expectations, notably lacking in concrete specifications, timing and financing details.

The idea was however taken up elsewhere: under the Alpstar project from 2011 to 2014, 13 partners tested out how CO₂ emissions in the Alpine region could be effectively reduced. On behalf of St. Gallen and Liechtenstein, CIPRA, together with the Vorarlberg Energy Institute, co-ordinated activities in the pilot area of the Alpine Rhine Valley. Since 2010 the Constructive Alps architectural prize has also been awarded as a way of widening knowledge of exemplary restoration and construction works.

2003: Foundation of the Alliance of Central Asian Mountain Communities

The „Central Asian Mountain Town Alliance“ was established on 22 June in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, on the model of the “Alliance in the Alps” community network. After the meeting held in September of the previous year in the Kirgiz capital Bishkek, this event was the second conference of mountain communities in Central Asia. The alliance was set up in collaboration with CIPRA. More 

2003: Alp Web Award of the Club Alpino Italiano

With the alpMedia website, CIPRA has received the "Alp Web Award 2002". The prize was given by the "Cervignano del Friuli Giusto Gervasutti" section of the Italian Alpine Association. The prize slogan is "Mountains on the Internet". The winning websites were suggested by Internet users. After a first selection, an expert jury selected the winners in the fields of Communication, Marketing, Design, Art and Technique.