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.
Kick-off for a new alpine media house
The "Las-Alps Infoteca" project was launched at the end of April in Chur/CH. In the coming five years, a competence centre will be established for media products that are relevant to the Alps. The project will be realized in two phases: in the first phase the focus will be on the provision of media products, in the second the centre will also produce and market its own products. Read More…
New web page with information on visitor centres throughout the Alps
A new page has recently been added to the web site of alparc - the network of protected areas in the Alps - for those who want an overview of the many visitor centres in the Alps. Read More…
Linking-up the German roads for animals and for a better traffic safety
The German Government is developing a National Connectivity Programme which foresees to build wild animal crossings at the most important sites of migrating corridors. This year the first systematic research on ecological corridors in Germany has been finished, representing an important scientific groundwork for the implementation of the Programme. Read More…
Towards happy shrinking
Always more - the world will become better and better as long as material well-being grows. Nobody asks what this costs…until the system collapses. The present financial and economic crisis is giving us a taste of it. The Alps are now among the losers, but could be among the winners if they rise to the challenge. Must growth in principle be rejected? Read More…
Fire for the flowering meadows
In 2010, the "Fire in the Alps" campaign once more draws our attention to a burning issue with its signal fires during the second week of August. This year, the imposing fires on the heights will burn "for the protection of the alpine flowers", as a contribution to the Year of Biodiversity 2010. Read More…
Uphill with solar energy
The village of Tenna in the Safien valley of the Swiss canton Graubünden is working hard on a world premiere. The Skilift Tenna cooperative has decided to replace an ancient ski lift by the first solar-powered ski lift ever. Read More…
Maps and data on ECONNECT available online
The "GeoPortal" which is the central project repository for all spatial data and map products of ECONNECT is now online on http://gis.eurac.edu. Furthermore, the working group "Implementation strategy and data needs" has met to discuss the data situation at the current stage of the project. Read More…
Sharing connectivity knowledge within and beyond the Alps and visualising corridors and fragmentation
100 persons from eight European countries followed the invitation to the workshop in Grenoble, France, in November and used this opportunity for active knowledge transfer on ecological networks. The workshop discussions have helped the ECONNECT partners to agree on the appropriate methods which they are now using for modelling habitats and corridors for the whole Alps and for visualizing barriers. Read More…
Alpine riverine landscapes: connectivity, barriers and fragmentation
How strongly is a river landscape fragmented? What are the most important barriers and obstacles in Alpine rivers? These questions are in the focus of the Institute of Ecology from University of Innsbruck within its ECONNECT activities. The results will be visualized with the help of GIS and contacts to regional watershed authorities established for the reduction of barrier impacts and restoration. Read More…
Ecological Connectivity and the Law: from barriers to instruments
Entering the second year of the ECONNECT project, the activities on legal barriers (Work Package 6) are steadily progressing. The two major fields of action are at the moment a comparative analysis of the legal frameworks of ecological connectivity in the Alps and the analysis of the legal situation in the pilot regions. Read More…
Understandable and visualised ECONNECT website
The ECONNECT website www.econnectproject.eu has recently been translated into the four project languages (French, German, Italian and Slovenian) and will soon be updated with maps. Read More…
Berchtesgaden - Salzburg: Improving the ecological network of extensive grasslands
Extensively cultivated grasslands are important landscape elements for ecological connectivity in the pilot region Berchtesgaden - Salzburg. Improving these habitats will help to safeguard species such as butterflies, dragonflies or grasshoppers. This is one of the tasks of the subprojects within ECONNECT which are currently being finalised. Read More…
Rhaetian Triangle: new online tools and support for local initiatives
The Swiss National Park (SNP) is currently developing a web based tool to analyze barriers and corridors of the large pilot region Rhaetian Triangle. Furthermore, two local initiatives are concretely acting for the restoration of ecological connectivity. The new map application will allow comparing a freely defined area with other areas in the neighbourhood and identifying the fields with high need of action according to selected indices. Read More…
Alpi Marittime: Ecological corridors preventing car accidents
In the Italian Alpi Marittime Natural Park car crashes which involve ungulates are very common. In most cases those accidents, besides being hazardous for drivers' life, could have been avoided with a better territorial planning, a more careful infrastructure planning and a warier use of existing technologies. The Alpi Marittime natural park will make use of the new ways to help the passage for animals across busy roads, which have been tested in the Pilot region of Isère. Read More…
Northern Limestone Alps: Involving local population
In the three provinces of Upper and Lower Austria and Styria interviews with 170 stakeholders were held. People were asked about their knowledge, experience and ideas concerning the connectivity of habitats and possible barriers by using a questionnaire. These interviews aimed at receiving an overview of opinions on this theme as well as information on planned or ongoing projects dealing with ecological connectivity in the region. Read More…
Isère Department: Tearing down the barriers
The French Isère Pilot Region is very active in the field of ecological connectivity. Besides ECONNECT, since February 2009 the region is engaged in another EU Project named "Paths of life". This project will last six years and has a budget of nine million Euro. Read More…
Austria: pressure caused by exploitation rose at the highest altitudes
All across Austria the tendency to build cableways and other skiing infrastructures inside the boundaries of protected areas and other high-value zones can be observed. The Austrian Alpine Club (OeAV) warns against the destruction of landscape and recreational resources in the Alps and demands a framework for a well-balanced territorial planning, in order to preserve the typical Alpine landscape. Read More…
New compacts on Transport and Spatial Planning now online
The assessments of climate response measures for the areas of Transport and Spatial Planning have been available online since the end of February. Both background reports (or "compacts") can be downloaded from www.cipra.org/en/cc.alps (de, en). Read More…
Regions tackle climate change
The participants at the start-up meeting for a transnational LEADER project held in Mäder/A on 20 and 21 January 2010 went one step further. The 20 or so representatives from five interested project regions in different Alpine countries met up with CIPRA staff in Vorarlberg to get to know one another and come up with a joint project design. Read More…
CIPRA actively involved in the transfer of know-how
Several events have been scheduled as part of the cc.alps project in 2010. At a workshop entitled "Building with a Future" to be held in Bolzano/I on 22 and 23 April following a field trip, participants from towns and municipalities are to exchange views on energy-efficient construction. For more information visit www.cipra.org/de/alpmedia/veranstaltungen (de/it/sl). Read More…
Communities committed to an improved climate
The international climate conference entitled "Municipalities and the climate - Putting mitigation measures to the test" was held in Mäder/A on 21 and 22 January. Around 130 participants from all the Alpine states responded to the invitation of the Alliance in the Alps network of municipalities and CIPRA International to discuss sustainable climate response measures. Read More…
cc.alps on the international climate stage
In 2009 the cc.alps project team attended a wide range of international events where it presented the results of the project. Read More…
"Cool heads in the hothouse!": Interview with a cc.alps award winner
"Everyone wants to do their bit!" On 6 November 2008 CIPRA rewarded the seven best measures submitted to the cc.alps competition. The Oberallgäu municipality of Wildpoldsried/D won one of the three main prizes for its activities in the area of energy efficiency. Andrea Skiba from the cc.alps team spoke to the Mayor of Wildpoldsried, Arno Zengerle, about their success. Read More…
Energy-efficient Alpine communities and Alpine towns
At the end of February the Vorarlberg communities of Langenegg, Mäder and Zwischenwasser received the European Energy Award® (eea) - Gold. These communities spearhead the international award for energy-efficient communities, which evaluates some 600 towns and communities across Europe. Read More…
Green light for deer and lynx in the Alpine-Carpathian Corridor
In future, wild animals will be able to move more easily between the Alps and the adjoining Carpathian Mountains. That is the objective of the recently initiated cross-border project Alpine-Carpathian Corridor. The EU is providing approximately 2 million Euros for it. Read More…
The new CIPRA compacts Traffic and Spatial Planning are on-line
The results of the climate protection measures taken in the areas of 'Traffic' and 'Spatial Planning' are now accessible on-line. At www.cipra.org/en/cc.alps (de/en) both of the background reports - so-called 'CIPRA compacts' - 'Traffic and Climate Change' and 'Spatial Planning and Climate Change' can be downloaded. Read More…
Restoring the web of life: a new brochure designed to help you understand ecological networks
What is an ecological network? How can you create one and who does it involve? What are their roles? These are just some of the questions to which the recently published brochure Restoring the web of life: ecological network for more biodiversity in the Alps provides answers. Read More…
Conference searching solutions to adapt to climate change
The Berchtesgaden National Park and the Alpine Network of Protected Areas (ALPARC) organised an international conference on ecological networks and climate change. The conference "Alpine Ecological Network: a response to climate change that will preserve biodiversity?" took place in Berchtesgaden, Germany, on 15th and 16th October 2009. Read More…
International workshop on connectivity methods
More than 80 experts from all over Europe followed the invitation by the ECONNECT project to share and compare their individual experiences of fieldwork and innovative research methods regarding ecological connectivity in Grenoble, France, from the 4th to 6th of October 2009. Read More…
ECONNECT Project – Working full speed for implementing ecological networks
The ECONNECT project has completed half time of its project life. In the pilot regions the teams are highly committed with preparing the implementation of ecological networks on the ground. Read More…