Austria

News, publications, press releases, positions... on this page you find current and alpine-relevant information from Austria.

Articles, publications, press releases, CIPRA positions - here you find relevant information on alpine topics from Germany. Please check the other language versions in german, french, italian and slovene for more content.

alpKnowhow knowledge base

The alpKnowhow knowledge base is now available here. For each of the six topics a work report, examples of best practice and a range of publications are provided in English. A cross-topic synthesis report complete with two appendices has also been compiled. Read More…

New publication on the Eurovignette directive

The EU's revised Eurovignette directive, which is to harmonise the rules governing road tolls for lorries, has been in force since June 2006, and a new publication takes a detailed look at it. Read More…

Sondrio is the 2007 Alpine Town of the Year

In August Sondrio/I was officially awarded the title of 2007 Alpine Town of the Year. The award pays tribute to Sondrio's commitment to enhancing the municipality's ecological, cultural and tourist status. Read More…

Ice-free Alps just a matter of decades?

A new study by the Glaciology and Geomorphodynamics Research Group led by glaciologist Michael Zemp of the Department of Geography at the University of Zurich/CH provides real figures on the past, present and potential future glacier cover in the Alps. Read More…

Switzerland: NEAT costs have doubled

More than 600 participants from all over Europe recently convened in Lucerne/CH for this year's Swiss Tunnel Congress to find out more about the state of progress with the New Alps Transversal Route, or Neat. Read More…

Know-how for the Alps online

Within the project "Future in the Alps" of the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps CIPRA, experts have collected, prepared and put on the web exhaustive knowledge about sustainable development in the Alps. With this, the part of the project called "alpKnowHow" has been completed, and the extensive knowledge base is online at www.cipra.org/zukunft . Read More…

Biodiversity in Europe's mountains

At what point is Europe on the way to halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010? With respect to this issue, the European Environment Agency has drafted a report in English, in which a chapter is devoted to biodiversity in mountain ecosystems. Read More…

Brain Drain and Brain Gain in peripheral regions

The focus of the 2003 - 2007 "Brain Drain - Brain Gain" Project is the development, introduction and evaluation of action plans that reduce the migration of skilled labour from peripheral regions and instead favour migration into these areas. Read More…

Negotiable land use certificates

Through the tool of the land use certificate (FNZ) the growing land consumption in Switzerland shall be limited. With the brochure "Recovering land - land use certificates in land planning" the environmental organisation Pro Natura wants to bring the discussion about this tool in the public arena. Read More…

Mountain Convention: Cohesion towards growth

The fifth European Mountain Convention will take place on 14 and 15 September in Chaves in Portugal. It is organised by Euromontana, the European Association of Mountain Territories and its slogan is "Cohesion for growth - mountains as natural ingredients for Europe's competitiveness ". Read More…

Is mountain milk more valuable?

For the first time in Switzerland, the price that consumers are ready to pay for milk from mountain areas was determined based on customer surveys. Read More…

Management and Winter sport resorts

A new volume from the series "Journal of alpine research" was published in March. It deals with the management and governance of winter sport resorts. Read More…

New CIPRA resolution for climate protection

CIPRA, the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps, adopted a resolution on "Climate Protection and Climate Change Adaptation Strategies" at its Assembly of Delegates in Bad Hindelang/D on 18th May. Read More…

Co-operation in the mountains of Europe

The Pro Monte final conference to be held in Chambéry/F on 8 and 9 June is entitled "Mountain Massifs and Territorial Co-operation in Europe". The Pro Monte Project launched as part of the EU Interact Initiative assists and networks players from European mountain regions looking for answers to urgent issues relating to environmental policy, regional planning and social matters. Read More…

Resolution: Climate Protection and Climate Change Adaptation Strategies

The Alpine region is particularly affected by global climate changes, many of which are the result of man’s impact. The Alps are a particularly sensitive region and are affected all the more by the forecast changes such as the rise in annual average temperatures, the increase in extreme meteorological events, summer droughts and melting glaciers. It is CIPRA’s view that climate change represents one of the 21st century’s greatest challenges. Given the above it calls upon the European Union, the bodies of the Alpine Convention, all the Alpine states, the federal provinces, regions and cantons as well as all governmental and non-governmental authorities .. to intensify their climate protection efforts in order to reduce the greenhouse effect; .. to draw up sustainable strategies for dealing with the growing repercussions of climate change. Read More…

Slovenia: plans for a series of hydraulic power plants

Slovenia has granted concessions for the planning of a series of power plants along the Mura, Drava and Sava rivers. The International Committee for the Protection of the Mura River Unsere Mur - Nasa Mura, founded in spring 2006, is opposing this threat to precious river landscapes of the Alps and pre-Alps. Read More…

US ski resort to tackle climate change

The well-known winter sports resort of Aspen in the Rocky Mountains plans intends to cover its entire energy requirements from renewable sources by 2015, a move prompted first and foremost by the realisation that climate change poses a genuine threat to winter tourism in Aspen. Read More…

Alpine Convention shows solidarity with other mountain regions

The keynote event of the 32nd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Alpine Conference focused on international mountain partnerships. In future the Alpine Convention is aiming to co-operate first and foremost with players from the mountain regions of Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Carpathians and the Balkans. Read More…

CIPRA to attend Green Week 2006 in Brussels

CIPRA, the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps, has just received confirmation from the EU Commission that it has been allocated a stand at Green Week 2006, one of the world's largest annual discussion forums on environmental policy. Read More…

International events on "Water in the Mountains"

The 2nd "Water in Mountains" International Congress on "Integrated Management of High Watersheds - Implementing the European Water-Framework Directive" is to be held in Megève/F from 20 to 22 September 2006. Read More…