Articles

Freight traffic in Europe: costs and alternatives

The European Commission has just released a handbook on the internationalisation of external costs in the transport sector. The handbook features proven methods for estimating and monetising the costs caused by air pollution, noise, climate change, congestion and accidents. Read More…

Conference on climate change in mountain regions

An international workshop on climate change and sustainable development in mountain regions is being held in Innsbruck/A from 7 to 9 April. The aim is to identify future research work necessary in connection with sustainable development in mountain regions. Read More…

New publication on alpine landscapes

The December 2007 issue of the bilingual La revue de géographie alpine / Journal of Alpine Research focuses on the Forum Alpinum held in April 2007, which was dedicated to the topic of landscape development in mountain areas. Read More…

Agricultural genetic resources of the Alps

The final report of the project "Continuous Monitoring of Agricultural Genetic Resources of the Alps: The Alpine Delphi" was published at the end of 2007. The project was conducted by the Monitoring Institute for Rare Breeds and Seeds in Europe in co-operation with the SAVE Foundation. Read More…

Swiss Mountain Award 2008

The Swiss Mountain Award is to be presented this year for the fourth time in a row by the Government Conference of the Mountain Cantons. Read More…

Onto the slopes by plane

More and more low-cost airlines are flying to the Alps in winter. More than twenty of these "ski destinations" are being offered to winter air travellers. With the offer of connecting flights, air passengers are now able to travel directly to the ski slopes from Salzburg/A, Innsbruck/A, Klagenfurt/A, Zurich/CH, Friedrichshafen/D, Munich/D and, most recently, from Grenoble/F and Memmingen/D. Read More…

Economic and ecological effects of artificial snow

A new study by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) highlights the effects of technical snow-making systems on the regional economy, the use of resources and the environment. Read More…

A network of sensors for climate forecasts

Environmental scientists and IT and communication engineers have got together as part of the Swiss Experiment Project to try and assess the impact of climate change in the Alps at the earliest possible stage. Read More…

Snow levels depend on more than just altitude

New results by the Austrian research project STRATEGE show that snow levels do not necessarily depend on altitude. In precipitation scenarios relating to climate change, researchers found that other factors such as the micro climate, relief and exposure of the locations concerned also had to be considered. Read More…

Alpweek 2008 - Innovating [in] the Alps

The second edition of the Alpweek is being held in the Pays des Ecrins/F from 11 to 14 June 2008, with players from throughout the Alpine region discussing issues of sustainable development. After the positive experiences of the 2004 Alpweek in Kranjska Gora/SI the major Alpine networks ISCAR, CIPRA, Alliance in the Alps, ALPARC and Club Arc Alpin decided to repeat the event in 2008. Read More…

EU warming to the idea of an Alpine transit exchange

For some time now Switzerland's Bundesrat [Federal Council] has been wanting to push ahead with relocating freight-related transit traffic from the road to the rail by creating an Alpine transit exchange. Transit quotas for freight on the road could then be auctioned from the exchange. Read More…