News
Working together for the future of the Alps
On the 22nd of January the Slovenian Presidency of the Alpine Convention hosted the Alpine Conference in Brdo/SI. A central theme was the quality of life in the Alpine region, which is also the subject of the tenth Report on the State of the Alps.
Point of view: Let’s plan the energy transition and restoration together!
Alpine spatial planning can help to resolve the contradictions between restoration and the expansion of renewable energy. This requires joint efforts involving the interests of the population and environmental organisations, says Paul Kuncio, Executive Director of CIPRA Austria.
Italy to chair Alpine Convention in 2025
Italy is preparing to chair the Alpine Convention for the period 2025-2026, while Liechtenstein and Austria will co-chair the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP) in 2025. Sustainability and cross-border cooperation are the focus of both initiatives.
The battle for Alpine water
A revival of the hydropower boom: 70 years ago, many Alpine rivers were dammed for the benefit of power stations, while valuable high valleys were built over. Today, new requirements are threatening their ecological functions. In view of the dwindling glaciers and increasing utilisation demands, a distribution battle is looming.
Protecting Alpine biodiversity
In September 2024, CIPRA launched two innovative Interreg projects: LiveAlpsNature and AlpsLife. These projects are helping to protect biodiversity in the Alps and meet the growing challenges posed by the climate crisis and intensive tourism.
Point of view: Let’s prioritise youth over tourism
We want young people to stay on the land, but the demands of tourism, high property prices and the landscape as an object of speculation make this difficult. We talk about the fight against the climate and biodiversity crisis, all while shopping centres and business parks are being built in the countryside. Environmental protection and solutions to the housing crisis should be prioritised, as this would also be in the interests of young people, says Dijana Čataković from CIPRA Slovenia. She asks: Who else will be able to live in the Alps and afford to live there?
AlpWeek 2024: time for action
A look back, a look forwards: twenty years after the first AlpWeek, the eighth edition of the international conference brought over 200 people to Nova Gorica/SL to discuss what is important in the development of the Alpine region.
New faces at CIPRA
CIPRA's delegates elected Uwe Roth from Germany as the new President. The Board is becoming younger and more female.
Alpine huts: the first victims of the climate crisis?
Water shortages, disintegrating mountains and renovation needs: managing Alpine huts has always been difficult, but the climate crisis is making the situation even worse. The Austrian Alpine Association has already issued an “Emergency call from the Alps”.
AlpWeek 2024 in Nova Gorica
Two decades ago, “AlpWeek” was held for the first time in Slovenia as an international event organised by Alpine organisations. It will return there from 23 to 25 September 2024.
Sustainable traffic management, not lawsuits
CIPRA representatives along the transport axis over the Brenner Pass are calling for sustainable traffic management instead of populist grievances. Now Switzerland is facing a renewed increase in traffic.
New Alpine reservoirs to combat water shortages
Frequent droughts, thirsty agriculture: Italy is discussing the construction of additional reservoirs to supply drinking water and energy. More ecologically sound solutions are in danger of falling by the wayside.
Point of view: European elections 2024: why a Swiss citizen would also like to vote
Switzerland’s referendum-based democracy has pitfalls of its own when it comes to environmental and climate policy. There needs to be an overarching corrective, such as neighbouring countries have in their constitutional courts and through the legal institutions of the EU, says Kaspar Schuler – as a Swiss citizen and Executive Director of CIPRA International.
Climate protection becomes a human right
A legal milestone for climate protection: on 9 April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that Switzerland is violating the human rights of older women because the country is not doing what is necessary to combat global warming.
The Youth Parliament to the Alpine Convention campaigns for Alpine protected areas
A limited number of entrance tickets for protected areas, the designation of infrastructure-free zones and an excursion to protected areas anchored in the curriculum: the 18th Youth Parliament to the Alpine Convention (YPAC) focused on Alpine nature reserves. For the first time, there was also an exchange with the CIPRA Youth Council.
The urban exodus and the climate
Many mountain regions in the Alps are affected by out-migration. However, climate change is also causing some people to migrate – at least temporarily – from the cities to the mountains, as an Italian research project shows.
Point of view: Mountains for everyone? Not a chance!
Access to the mountains and mountain sports is often unfair, exclusive, segregating and discriminatory. Henriette Adolf, Deputy Executive Director of CIPRA Germany, argues in favour of equal participation in mountain sports.
2030 Winter Olympics in Nice
Switzerland’s idea of decentralised, sustainable games has been rejected by the IOC. Instead, the French Mediterranean city of Nice is very likely to be awarded the contract.
Controversial railway tunnel between Turin and Lyon
In mid-June 2023, hundreds of people gathered in the French border town of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to protest against the construction of a high-speed rail tunnel between Lyon and Turin. In a public statement, CIPRA France and Mountain Wilderness also criticised the project.
Point of view: Avoiding transport collapse together
As regards the growing volume of individual and transit traffic, it can be stated that neither regional nor national perspectives will lead to solutions. We have to find them together, because the Alps lie in the midst of Europe. This geographical truism is central to an understanding of transport policy problems in the Alps so as to avoid transport collapse, says Kaspar Schuler, Executive Director of CIPRA International.
Lawsuits and laws for climate protection
Climate protection laws define clear climate targets, but for many the measures set out are insufficient. Climate lawsuits are increasing political pressure in the Alpine countries.
Hidden CO2 emitters
Climate protection measures are expensive, which is why they are regularly criticised and rejected. How then can it be that at the same time the Alpine states are spending billions on environmentally harmful subsidies?
Alpine Policy 2023: the Slovenian-Swiss year
This year, Slovenia and Switzerland will play a decisive role in shaping international cooperation between states and regions in the Alps: Slovenia is taking over the presidency of the Alpine Convention, while Switzerland is the first non-EU country to chair the Eusalp, the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region.
No glacier marriage in Tyrol
Finally it’s official: the plans for the world’s largest glacier ski area are history. In November 2022, the Tyrolean federal state government rejected the planned merger of the glacier ski areas in Austria’s Ötztal and Pitztal valleys.
Unsuitable landscapes for energy production
The results of a recent survey from Switzerland are clear: no to energy production in almost unspoilt mountain areas. Intensively used areas around ski resorts or existing power plants would be better suited to the expansion of renewable energy.
Alpine towns – key to sustainable development
The ninth Report on the State of the Alps, entitled “Alpine Towns”, was presented as part of the Swiss presidency of the Alpine Convention. It sheds light on how the Alpine settlement system hinders – or helps – the sustainable development of the Alps.
Alliance for climate-neutral Alpine transport
Seven of eight signatory states to the Alpine Convention today signed a progressive action plan for climate-neutral mobility by 2050 in Brig/CH. CIPRA International contributed to the almost two-year development of the action plan with proposals for the “Simplon Alliance”.
Making change possible
Inspirational inputs, heated discussions, fruitful exchanges and excursions into the impressive Valais region in and around the Alpine town of Brig-Glis/CH: AlpWeek 2022, held in early September in Brig-Glis/CH, was all about “Change in the Alps”.
Point of view: Let’s create an “Alpine Plan” for all Alpine regions!
The Bavarian Alpine Plan celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2022. Alpine spatial planning has proven here that it is predestined to find solutions to the pressing issues of the day. Similar planning instruments are lacking in many Alpine regions, although we need them more urgently than ever, claim Paul Kuncio, Executive Director of CIPRA Austria, and Uwe Roth, Executive Director of CIPRA Germany.
Bad atmosphere in the Soča Valley
Slovenia’s largest cement plant is located in the Soča Valley: it is facing criticism for endangering the health of the local population through air pollution. This criticism has now also been confirmed by the UN Special Rapporteur David Boyd after his visit to Slovenia in autumn 2022.