Germany

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

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.

Eurovignette III: no HGV toll for the Alps

In the future haulage companies in the EU could have to pay for environmental damage. The EP Transport Committee has agreed to the proposal. But environmental organisations feel the proposal does not go far enough - especially in the Alps. Read More…

Common Agricultural Policy for the Alps

A new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is being negotiated in Brussels/BE. And as the CAP is also to take account of the particular conditions of agriculture in the Alps, in April the ministers of the Alpine states drew up a declaration at the International Mountain Region Conference in Oberammergau/D. Read More…

The spectacle of a new Mont Blanc cable car

Ground-breaking ceremony for Courmayeur/I's new cable car up to the Pointe Helbronner: Over a four-year construction period the glass and steel colossus, which is set to cost over EUR 100 million, is to replace the installation built in the 1940s and 1950s - and showcase the Mont Blanc even more magnificently. Read More…

New tool for custom-made connectivity solutions

Do you want to facilitate the migration of animals within and between their habitats? There are many different ways to do this. Whether you are a farmer, a mayor or leading a tourist company: the detailed search of the new online "measures catalogue" shows you possible activities to improve ecological connectivity that are adapted to your individual situation. Read More…

The sense and sensuality of contemporary buildings

CIPRA has many years of experience with energy-efficient construction and renovation. It also has many years of experience networking people and publicising information. Which is why it is ideally placed to pass on expertise on contemporary buildings – throughout the Alps and beyond. And that is what CIPRA’s 2010 Annual Report titled Building for the Future is all about. Read More…

Youth Parliament of the Alpine Convention convened in Herisau

The outcome of the event held from March 29 to April 1 is a 13-page resolution catalogue. It illustrates how important young people feel about being able to shape a viable future for the alpine region. "Transport and Transit" was the theme of this year's meeting. Read More…

Loss of biodiversity in the mountains particularly severe

A study carried out across Europe using new measurement methods has shown that climate change impacting particularly heavily on plants in mountain regions. The vastly different mountain ecosystems are being recorded on a very small and accurate scale using special computer models. Read More…

Alpine Convention: Sense and Sensuality

Climate change mitigation in construction and renovation is tantamount to providing for the future; it also makes economic sense. Better still, the Konstruktiv architecture award shows how sustainable construction can also become a sight for sore eyes. CIPRA co-initiated the award in order to publicise exemplary solutions. Imitations expressly permitted! Read More…

Climalp/“Alliance in the Alps”: Infected with good ideas

Ideas spread like viruses. They infect someone, who in turn infects someone else, and if they are good and strong, they spread like an epidemic. Energy-efficient construction is one such viral idea. On 14 September 2009 one could observe how it leapt from Vorarlberg to the French department of Savoie. Austria’s westernmost federal province is widely regarded as a centre for innovative timber construction. Concentrated here are a strikingly large number of architects, sawmills and carpenters who use wood as a traditional building material but in an ecologically advanced way – a large-scale workshop for creating a forest-sourced living environment. Read More…

Alliance of Central Asian Mountain Communities: Bridges across mountains

Sometimes the toughest challenges can be presented in the most tender way. On the plate in front of Antonio Zambon is a sheep’s head, braised for hours so that the meat is lovely and tender, eyes included. Expectantly, the Kyrgyz hosts watch their visitor from distant Italy. Quite a quandary. This rustic delicacy is not exactly to his taste; then again, the gesture is intended to honour him as the delegation’s oldest member. Read More…

cc.alps climate project: win-win with science

Swiss economic geographer Bruno Abegg has been working with CIPRA for three years. A scientist and a political organisation – how can that work? “It is a clash between two ways of thinking,” says the 45-year-old, which is precisely what he finds so exciting. As the scientific director of the cc.alps project he examines the way in which regions, communities and businesses in the Alps are responding to climate change. CIPRA campaigns to ensure that climate response measures are sustainable. “My research work has always been application-oriented,” says Abegg, “which is why it’s important to me that my findings flow into practical work for the environment.” Read More…

Only climate-friendly tourism is sustainable: cc.alps - CIPRA’s demands for tourism in climate change

Climate change is a major challenge to Alpine tourism. It has to adapt to climate change and at the same time become more climate-friendly. There is a particularly large potential for reduction of CO2 emissions in the key areas of traffic and energy. Tourism is a branch of the economy which is heavily subsidized. Therefore public policy can and must direct developments towards sustainability through the support given to tourism. The present discussion about developments in the tourism industry is dominated by the large chair lift companies which are essentially fixed on ski tourism and the maintenance of the status quo. But focusing only on snow and skiing means promoting a capital-intensive, highly technological form of Alpine tourism and a monoculture. This is neither climatologically nor environmentally sustainable. Read More…

Sustainable Alps: Architecture Prize Awarded

Constructive, the Alpine-wide architecture award for sustainable construction and renovation has been presented to three architects and developers. Three further projects are euqally to be commended. Read More…

The bear's about!

Clearly the big omnivore feels at home in the Trentino/I. A total of 27 bears were counted there last year, compared with a mere three or four in the 1990s. Meanwhile ten Slovenian bears have settled in the Adamello-Brenta Nature Park as part of the "Life Ursus" campaign. Read More…

Changing forests

The seminar titled Forestry and Climate Change - Thinking One Step Ahead! looks at the consequences of global warming on the timber industry, forestry and its functions. What sort of strategies are needed to ensure the sustainable development of the forest within the context of regional development? Read More…

Methodological guide of the hierarchical ecological networks

The pilot region Isère has published a guide presenting various experiences they led since ten years in different areas and the methods being used. The publication "Methodological guide of the hierarchical ecological networks - Ten years of experiments in Isère" is available in English and French. Read More…

Idrija is the Alpine Town of the Year 2011

The label for sustainable development was awarded to the Slovenian town of Idrija for its commitment to climate protection among other initiatives. The "Alpine Town Year" was ceremoniously inaugurated in February. Read More…

Publication: The Alps in 2010

The new publication titled The Alps by the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention provides a comprehensive overview of the Alps, including a wealth of cartographic material. For over a thousand years the Alpine landscape has been used as a cultural landscape. Read More…

Publication: land management in mountain areas

The current issue of the bilingual Journal of alpine research is running a feature on land management. It is a subject on which scientific research is sparse, even though it is of increasing concern for Alpine local authorities. Read More…

Powerline poles: a serious danger for the eagle-owl

Whereas populations of eagle-owl in many parts of Europe slightly increase, they stagnate or slightly reduce in Switzerland. The situation is especially critical in Valais, where only approximately ten breeding pairs are living. In the last twenty years this population has barely changed. According to a new study only ten percent of eagle-owls in Valais survive the first year of their lives. One fourth dies of electric shock when trying to sit on obsolete powerline poles, which do not correspond to current security standards. Read More…

Wild cat back in Austrian forests

After more than fifty years, the wild cat returned to Austrian forests. To contribute to protection and a better acceptance of this shy animal among people, the Platform on Wildcats was founded in 2009. Read More…