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.
Fourth meeting of the Platform
The Ecological Network Platform of the Alpine Convention held its fourth meeting on 1st December 2009 in Chamonix, France. The French Presidency presented the Platform work programme for the next two years. Read More…
Updated brochure and new eye-catcher posters on ecological networks in the Alps
Just in time for the International Year of Biodiversity, the Ecological Continuum Initiative has printed an updated version of the brochure on Ecological Networks in the Alps. With a new design, the brochure "Restoring the web of life - Ecological networks for more biodiversity in the Alps" illustrates the ecological connectivity topic and makes it understandable to a wide public. Read More…
Think tank: Bundling the Alps-wide expertise on ecological networks
As the Continuum Initiative decided to focus on further connectivity activities with long-term issues, the Continuum partners are now aiming at the preparation of follow-up projects beyond ECONNECT to ensure that the fundaments built up during this project can be used for further concerted implementation projects. Read More…
The Ecological Continuum Initiative in the International Year of Biodiversity
The International Year of Biodiversity, declared by the United Nations, represents even more encouragement for the Ecological Continuum Initiative to further develop its activities in preventing biodiversity loss in the Alps. Read More…
Harnessing expertise for ecological networks in the Alps
The Ecological Continuum Initiative has brought international experts together as part of a think tank whose long-term objective is to setup up an alpine-wide ecological network. The think tank provides the experts from the fields of science and practice with a framework for developing new projects to complement and follow up on existing activities such as the ECONNECT project. Read More…
How do people perceive food products from European mountain regions?
The EuroMarc project looked at this very question from February 2007 to January 2010 and it has now published its findings. Ten teams carried out surveys among consumers, retailers and local initiatives in six European countries (France, Norway, Austria, Romania, Scotland and Slovenia). Read More…
Keeping water-related projects flowing - Awards for a precious resource
Two awards are now up for grabs for projects in the water sector. The International ReSource Award for Sustainable Watershed Management aims to promote innovative projects with regional measures aimed at protecting water as a resource. The Award is open to projects that have a pioneering character in the local context (cultural, institutional or technological). Read More…
Publication: mountains and climate change
The English-language Mountains and Climate Change was published recently and focused on mountains around the world and the effects of climate change. It documents the latest findings on climate change in the mountains of the world and its impact on water, glaciers, natural hazards, biodiversity, food security and migration. Read More…
Global warming increases frequency and extent of flood catastrophes in the Alps
In an article published in the magazine Geophysical Research Letters researchers at Italy's Politecnico University in Turin recently confirmed that more frequent and more extensive floods in mountain areas were one of the consequences of global warming. Read More…
Low-carbon travel from the UK to the ski slopes
Taking the train from London to go skiing in Sestriere/I sounds like a nightmare scenario. But, as a new specialist website proves, it's not. For a number of weeks now, avid skiers can go to www.snowcarbon.co.uk/ (en) to find the most convenient train journeys to take them from London/UK to the Alps or the Pyrenees to go skiing. Read More…
Turin/I: Olympic sports facilities left to waste away
Since the close of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin many of the sports facilities and installations have been left abandoned. The five ski jumps in Pragelato, for example, for which the building costs exceeded 34 million Euros, are now closed off and unused. Read More…
Warmest decade for at least 130 years
The last ten years will go on record as by far the warmest in the alpine region since systematic records began. In Germany even the "cool" year 2004 with an average temperature of 9.0 degrees centigrade was well above the climatological mean for Germany, at 8.2 degrees. Read More…
Hiking right across the Alps
The recently published book Via Alpina - 2500 kilometres from one coast to another (Via Alpina - 2'500 kilomètres d'une mer à l'autre) recounts the adventure of crossing the entire Alpine range. In 2007 Vincent Tornay followed the Via Alpina Red Trail for a total of 119 days in search of the people and landscapes that make up the Alps of today. He covered 2500 km and 124,000 metres of difference in altitude as he hiked through the eight Alpine states, from the Adriatic coastline to Monaco. Read More…
Tourism in mountain areas put to the test
The new December 2009 issue of Revue de géographie alpine / Journal of alpine research looks at mountain tourism and sustainability. Six articles examine the sustainability of current practices in tourism and take a closer look at the experience gained with sustainable tourism. Read More…
Club Arc Alpin makes a stand on climate change, the expansion of fixed rope routes, and motorised offroad traffic
On September 12 the Club Arc Alpin (CAA) held its members' meeting in Innsbruck at which it formulated political demands on climate change and adopted a number of policy documents on fixed rope routes and motorised offroad traffic. On the subject of climate change the CAA called for a reduction in CO2 as well as a move away from a dependency on fossil sources of energy. It specifically addressed the issue of traffic, to which it suggested a number of measures. Read More…
New issue of the Eco.mont magazine
The latest issue of eco.mont - Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research is now available. It features scientific articles from European mountain regions and the Himalayas, with articles on amphibians, visitor monitoring, information management, resource utilisation, and the perception of biodiversity changes. Read More…
Alpine Convention's climate portal now online
The Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention has gone online with its climate portal, in time for International Mountain Day and the climate negotiations in Copenhagen. The climate portal collates and disseminates information on events, activities and developments relating to climate change in the Alps. Climate-related information from throughout the Alpine region can be submitted to the portal for publication. Read More…
The construction industry as a key to the problem of climate change
The information provided through cc.alps is now available in the form of focussed background reports called Compacts, which can be downloaded from the CIPRA website at www.cipra.org/de/cc.alps/ergebnisse/compacts . The first three Compacts - on Energy, Nature Protection, and Construction and Refurbishment - address their subjects with reference to climate change in the Alpine context. The authors list and analyse activities relating to climate change mitigation and adaptation, assessing them for sustainability, explaining the conflicts of interest involved, and presenting examples of good practice. Read More…
New content for www.cipra.org/cc.alps
The cc.alps website now offers additional in-depth content in the form of Compacts. Regular updates and additions are planned. For each topic, CIPRA has drawn up a list of demands, which can be downloaded separately from its website at www.cipra.org/de/cc.alps/ergebnisse (de/fr/it/sl). Read More…
cc.alps to continue in 2010
The cc.alps project continues in 2010 with a focus on more in-depth research and dissemination of the knowledge generated, above all by promoting specific projects at the municipal level, and also by organising and participating in international events. Read More…
cc.alps: CIPRA Demands on Spatial Planning
The Alps are different. The Alpine range is characterized by special features that need to be taken into account in spatial development and climate protection. Read More…
New builds to meet tough climate requirements by 2020
From 2020 new builds in the EU will have to comply with tough energy balance requirements. Last week representatives of the European Parliament and EU states agreed that new builds should in future have virtually zero greenhouse gas emissions. Any remaining energy requirements should also be met essentially from renewable sources. These stipulations are to come into force two years earlier for public buildings. Read More…
Extremes of climate affect spread of tree species
In a recently published study scientists at the WSL (the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape) working with an international research team demonstrated for the first time that the disappearance of tree species in certain regions is due not just to the higher mean temperature but also to extremes of climate-related events. Read More…
New builds to meet tough climate requirements by 2020
From 2020 new builds in the EU will have to comply with tough energy balance requirements. Last week representatives of the European Parliament and EU states agreed that new builds should in future have virtually zero greenhouse gas emissions. Any remaining energy requirements should also be met essentially from renewable sources. These stipulations are to come into force two years earlier for public buildings. Read More…
New alpMedia dossiers now online
The alpmedia dossiers on energy and nature conservation are now available in German and English on the CIPRA web. Besides a report the dossiers consist of more detailed information such as news items, publications, events and examples of best practice. Read More…
AlpHouse combines traditional trades & crafts and energy efficiency
The new three-year Alpine Space Project entitled AlpHouse was launched in early October. AlpHouse strives to enhance the competitiveness of SMEs, especially in the area of trades & crafts, by providing them with the knowledge, skills and tools for top-quality renovations of old buildings in the Alpine region. Read More…
Climate check-up for the Alps
What sort of impact and side effects do climate response measures have? CIPRA's latest issue of AlpsInsight entitled In the Name of Climate Protection looks at how climate change issues are being addressed in the Alps and points the way towards sustainable action. Read More…
Toxic glacier melts
A new study has confirmed that melting glaciers release chemical substances that have long been banned and are not longer produced by industry. Researchers from Swiss education institutes took frozen sediment core samples from the Oberaar reservoir in the Grimsel area in Switzerland and used the layers to reconstruct the history of the lake back to when it was first established in 1953. Read More…
Alpine Convention acts as a guide for the Dinaric Alps
CIPRA Slovenia has successfully completed its project entitled "Knowledge transfer in the area of sustainable development from the Alpine Convention to the municipality of Mojkovac in Montenegro". The project provides a good starting point for the comprehensive promotion of nature conservation and sustainable development in the Dinaric mountain range. Read More…
The 2009 Climate Winners
The winning municipalities of the 2009 Climate Star were presented with their awards in Melk in Lower Austria on October 22, under the motto of "Fast Track to Climate Protection". The proud winners from the Alpine region were the local authorities of Lustenau in Austria and Sand in Taufers in South Tyrol/I. The record participation of 444 municipalities from eleven European countries, with a very strong showing by local authorities in the Alps, highlights the importance now attached to climate protection. Read More…
