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.

AlpWeek: Innovation and the Alps - yesterday, today, tomorrow

11 - 14 June 2008 are the dates of one of this year's most important events in the Alps, involving no fewer than five major networks of the Alpine region (CIPRA, Alpine Network of Protected Areas, Alliance in the Alps, Iscar and Club Arc Alpin). Read More…

Climate protection: are we doing the right thing?

Future in the Alps was a success! But CIPRA is moving on and, with fresh energy and new competence, is this time addressing one very important and equally complex topic. The climate is changing. Read More…

EU funds for fifty harmful projects

At the end of February Friends of the Earth Europe and CEE Bankwatch published a list of 50 environmentally damaging and economically dubious infrastructure projects in Central and Eastern Europe, which are either financed or planned to be financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and EU regional development funds. Read More…

Alpine ski resorts melting away

A quick demise looks to be on the cards for two ski resorts in the Ticino/CH. Indeed the ski station at Abondance/F did not even go into operation this season. Read More…

EU Green Paper on Mountain Regions

The EU is planning to begin work on drawing up a Green Paper on EU policy on mountain regions this September. In doing so it accedes to a demand expressed by mountain regions over many years and takes an important step towards acknowledging the special status of mountain regions. Read More…

Freight traffic in Europe: costs and alternatives

The European Commission has just released a handbook on the internationalisation of external costs in the transport sector. The handbook features proven methods for estimating and monetising the costs caused by air pollution, noise, climate change, congestion and accidents. Read More…

Conference on climate change in mountain regions

An international workshop on climate change and sustainable development in mountain regions is being held in Innsbruck/A from 7 to 9 April. The aim is to identify future research work necessary in connection with sustainable development in mountain regions. Read More…

New publication on alpine landscapes

The December 2007 issue of the bilingual La revue de géographie alpine / Journal of Alpine Research focuses on the Forum Alpinum held in April 2007, which was dedicated to the topic of landscape development in mountain areas. Read More…

Agricultural genetic resources of the Alps

The final report of the project "Continuous Monitoring of Agricultural Genetic Resources of the Alps: The Alpine Delphi" was published at the end of 2007. The project was conducted by the Monitoring Institute for Rare Breeds and Seeds in Europe in co-operation with the SAVE Foundation. Read More…

Swiss Mountain Award 2008

The Swiss Mountain Award is to be presented this year for the fourth time in a row by the Government Conference of the Mountain Cantons. Read More…

Onto the slopes by plane

More and more low-cost airlines are flying to the Alps in winter. More than twenty of these "ski destinations" are being offered to winter air travellers. With the offer of connecting flights, air passengers are now able to travel directly to the ski slopes from Salzburg/A, Innsbruck/A, Klagenfurt/A, Zurich/CH, Friedrichshafen/D, Munich/D and, most recently, from Grenoble/F and Memmingen/D. Read More…

Economic and ecological effects of artificial snow

A new study by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) highlights the effects of technical snow-making systems on the regional economy, the use of resources and the environment. Read More…

A network of sensors for climate forecasts

Environmental scientists and IT and communication engineers have got together as part of the Swiss Experiment Project to try and assess the impact of climate change in the Alps at the earliest possible stage. Read More…

Snow levels depend on more than just altitude

New results by the Austrian research project STRATEGE show that snow levels do not necessarily depend on altitude. In precipitation scenarios relating to climate change, researchers found that other factors such as the micro climate, relief and exposure of the locations concerned also had to be considered. Read More…

Alpweek 2008 - Innovating [in] the Alps

The second edition of the Alpweek is being held in the Pays des Ecrins/F from 11 to 14 June 2008, with players from throughout the Alpine region discussing issues of sustainable development. After the positive experiences of the 2004 Alpweek in Kranjska Gora/SI the major Alpine networks ISCAR, CIPRA, Alliance in the Alps, ALPARC and Club Arc Alpin decided to repeat the event in 2008. Read More…

EU warming to the idea of an Alpine transit exchange

For some time now Switzerland's Bundesrat [Federal Council] has been wanting to push ahead with relocating freight-related transit traffic from the road to the rail by creating an Alpine transit exchange. Transit quotas for freight on the road could then be auctioned from the exchange. Read More…

Green Paper on urban mobility

The European Commission's new Green Paper entitled "Towards a new culture for urban mobility" looks at the mobility and ecology of European towns and cities. In Europe a good 60% of the population lives in urban areas. Just under 85% of the EU's gross domestic product is generated in those areas. Read More…

New issue of the Journal of Alpine Research

The latest publication in the series Journal of Alpine Research features four specialist articles addressing different issues. However they all focus on the landscape and the way in which it is changing. Read More…

Strengthening mountain forests

The Interreg IIIC project Network Mountain Forest (NMF), which was launched in 2003, has come to a close with the signing in Lindau/D on 29 October 2007 of a Memorandum aimed at strengthening mountain forests in Europe. Read More…

Werfenweg has Austria's longest solar-powered street

The Municipality of Werfenweng in Salzburg is saving €38,000 by using solar lighting. 17 recently installed solar streetlights have proved to be the cheapest way of lighting a path some 700 m long on the town's outskirts. This makes it currently Austria's longest solar-powered street. Read More…

Interreg III B projects MONITRAF and ALPNAP

Transport across the Alps is at the centre of the Final Conference of the Interreg III B projects MONITRAF and ALPNAP, which have been running since 2005. The Conference is entitled "Transport across the Alps. Approaches and common measures for sustainable transport development in the Alpine region". Read More…

Call for a more strategic approach to mountain area development

At a meeting of the Adelboden Group held in Rome on 3 October over 60 representatives from governments, civil society and international organisations from mountain countries across the globe called for a more coherent approach to sustainable development in mountain areas. Read More…