Political positions of CIPRA International

Alps without Olympics: CIPRA’s demands concerning Olympic Winter Games
CIPRA International believes that, given the present situation, the Olympic Winter Games should no longer be held in the Alps. The Alps should remain the Olympic-free zone they have been since 2006. As they currently stand, the Olympic Winter Games are neither environmentally nor socially acceptable. CIPRA is therefore opposed to the Winter Olympics being staged in the Alps – or anywhere else – in their current form. Developments in recent decades show that the mountain regions are no longer suitable venues for these environmentally harmful and ruinous major events. Referendums held in the Canton of Grisons and in Munich prove that large segments of the population of the Alps are no longer willing to shoulder the burden of Olympic Winter Games.

Transport sufficiency: Towards a new sustainable mobility culture
CIPRA Position on the mobility of goods and people in the Alps

CIPRA International
Appeal: Climate change mitigation now!
An appeal from the Alpine municipalities and their inhabitants to the participants of COP 21
News on Alpine Politics

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Alpine municipalities strengthen youth participation
If municipalities wish to introduce policies that will meet the expectations of coming generations, they have to be able to offer their young people something. The YSAM project has shown how youth participation can be strengthened in Alpine communities. A new label is being used in Switzerland to mark youth-friendly municipalities.

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Alpine regional strategy on the starting blocks
The European strategy for the Alps is ready. There nevertheless remain some challenges to its effective and sustainable implementation.

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No pardon for crimes against the environment
Damaging the environment in Italy can henceforth be punished with a jail term of up to fifteen years. Environmental legislation was also a concern of CIPRA co-founder Wolfgang Burhenne. A biography is now dedicated to him.

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Point of view: Making the Alpine Convention more interactive
The effectiveness of the Alpine Convention is often called into question. A new approach could help reposition it as an engine of co-operation and sustainable development in the Alpine regions, says Claire Simon, Executive Director of CIPRA International.
Standpunkte der CIPRA

Kaspar Schuler, CIPRA International
Point of view: Water will not tolerate resistance
Extreme weather conditions are also increasingly affecting the Alps. The climate crisis is driving this development. Can more and more dams, barriers or power stations solve the problem and at the same time satisfy the growing hunger for energy? We must work with the power of water rather than against it, says Kaspar Schuler, CIPRA’s Executive Director and co-author of CIPRA’s new position paper on hydropower.

Rok Brišnik, CYC
Point of view: We need an Alpine Ticket for public transport
Homeschooling, no public transport and closed borders: the corona crisis has revealed some aspects of life that people did not previously appreciate so much. An Alps-wide ticket for public transport could tackle all of these issues, as Rok Brišnik explains. He studies Geography and History at the University of Ljubljana/SI and is a member of the CIPRA Youth Council (CYC).

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Point of view: For a cultural change in transit traffic
Trade has been the driving force behind cultural and social development in the Alpine region. Transit traffic in its current form, on the other hand, mainly benefits regions away from the Alps. To ban noise and exhaust fumes from the Alpine valleys we need more than a watered-down EU directive, says Stephan Tischler, President of CIPRA Austria.