South Tyrol
News, publications, press releases, positions... on this page you find current and alpine-relevant information from South Tyrol.
Alpine Protected Areas - from co-operation to ecological network
The Alpine Network of Protected Areas is celebrating its 10th anniversary as part of the international conference on "Alpine Protected Areas: Between History, Development and Challenges". Read More…
Via Alpina via the internet
Via Alpina, the project for a network of long-distance hiking trails, now features a new internet website at www.via-alpina.org . The Trails heading provides an opportunity to travel all 341 stages of the Via Alpina virtually, using interactive maps of different scales. Read More…
MARS and FUNalpin examine sustainability in the Alpine region
As part of the MARS Interreg IIIB project (Monitoring the Alpine Region's Sustainability) 22 partners from six countries (A, CH, D, FL, I, SI) worked on drawing up a set of indicators for measuring and evaluating sustainable development in the Alpine region. Read More…
Plug-in IT services for small and medium-sized businesses
The Alise project (Alps IT Service Network) is designed to provide those small and medium-sized businesses for which IT operations have become a burden with all the IT services they require directly from the Network. Read More…
CIPRA's Future in the Alps competition - 570 projects online
The Future in the Alps competition being held across the Alps has been very well received. By the July 20 submission deadline individuals and organisations from all eight Alpine countries had submitted more than 570 projects. Read More…
Climate protection measures for a hot Bavaria
Representatives of Bavaria's Ministries of the Environment, Economic Affairs, Agriculture and the Interior, and of the Bund Naturschutz have agreed on around a dozen climate protection measures in a further step in implementing the Climate Protection Alliance they concluded in 2004. Read More…
Space observation to assist risk management in the Alps
Satellites are to be used in a bid to improve the risk management of landslides, avalanches, mudslides and floods in Alpine regions. This is the objective of the latest ASSIST (Alpine Safety, Security and Informational Services and Technologies) research project, which is currently being launched as part of the European "Global Monitoring for Environment and Security" (GMES) initiative. Read More…
Exchange of know-how on hydrogeological disruptions
The CATCHRISK project (mitigation of hydro-geological risk in alpine catchments) is in its end phase. Read More…
New publication: Mountaineering villages to enjoy
The latest brochure of the Austrian Alpine Association (ÖAV) features hiking and mountaineering regions in Austria which actively implement the Alpine Convention's Tourism Protocol. Read More…
Berchtesgaden National Park in a wheelchair
The model project "No Barriers at the Berchtesgaden National Park" is to get underway in Berchtesgaden/D in July 2005. The project is to look at ways in which people with physical disabilities or restricted mobility can gain access to unspoilt natural environments. Read More…
Red deer a tasty treat for Italian wolves
Italian researchers have been analysing the excrements of two packs of wolves roaming Italy's Alpine region. Read More…
Partnership between the Alps and the Carpathians
On 16 June UNEP, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the WWF launched a new partnership between the Alps and the Carpathians in Montecatini/I. Read More…
Why wait? Pull down those unused mountain installations now!
Anyone who comes across unused installations or buildings while out hiking or mountaineering in the Swiss Alps should take part in the Wilderness Olympics 2005 and notify Mountain Wilderness (MW) of their "find". Read More…
Trading emissions to achieve "zero emissions" target at the Olympic Games
Turin/I is aiming to maximise the reduction in the output of greenhouse gases during the forthcoming Winter Olympics with the aid of its HECTOR (Heritage Climate Torino) programme launched in 2004. Read More…
Nepalese Sherpas in Tyrol
27 Sherpas from Nepal are currently attending training courses at refuges in Austria's Tyrol province. Read More…
Insufficient snowfall a cause of recessive glaciers
Lower winter precipitation has been one of the causes, along with global warming, behind melting glaciers over the past 150 years. These are the main findings of a study by researchers at the Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de Grenoble/F and the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich/CH, published in the Geophysical Research Letters. Read More…
Alpine transit exchange - a feasible, efficient and cost-effactive solution
An Alpine transit exchange is seen as a viable option for promoting a shift from road to rail for transalpine heavy goods vehicle traffic. A report commissioned by the Swiss Ministry of Transport has confirmed the technical feasibility and economic acceptability of such a solution. Read More…
Dolomites of Peace - debating peace today at yesterday's scenes of war
"Dolomites of Peace" is the name of a series of nine events devoted to the subject of peace to be run by writers, philosophers, actors, church representatives and experts between 1 July and 24 August. Read More…
Fewer glaciers, more earthquakes?
According to the results of research carried out by the Universities of Münster/D and Berne/CH, the advance and retreat of glaciers and lakes can trigger earthquakes. Read More…
2005 European Solar Prize announced
Eurosolar is again awarding the German and European Solar Prizes in 2005, with 31 August as the deadline for submissions. Read More…
France ratifies all Alpine Convention protocols
Following the decision taken by the Chamber of Deputies on 10 March, the French Senate approved ratification of the remaining protocols to the Alpine Convention in a unanimous vote with just one abstention on 12 May. Read More…
2005 Junior Ranger Camp - Protected areas and cross-border co-operation
From 31 July to 6 August the Gesäuse National Park in Austria is hosting an International Junior Ranger Camp. Junior Ranger is the name of a European pilot project co-ordinated by EUROPARC which is targeted at young people from the affiliated protected areas and the regions bordering on them. Read More…
Snowcats and man-made snow as a threat to plant diversity
The number of plant species growing on mountain slopes used for ski trails in Switzerland is eleven percent lower than on adjoining sites. The reduction is especially striking in the case of woody and early flowering plants. Read More…
Research into environmental impacts along the main Alpine traffic arteries
This spring saw the launch of ALPNAP, a new project in the framework of the EU's Interreg IIIB Alpine Space Programme. Read More…
Italy: mountain peak to be illuminated during the 2006 Winter Olympics
During the 2006 Winter Olympics the local authority for Valli Po, Bronda e Infernotto plans to illuminate the summit of Monviso, the mountain that is the hallmark of the Piedmont. Read More…
Breakthrough in the Lötschberg railway tunnel
28 April saw the breakthrough right in the middle of the almost 3-kilometer-long Lötschberg rail tunnel under the Swiss Alps. Read More…
Conference to mark the 70th anniversary of Passo Stelvio National Park
This year marks the seventieth anniversary of Passo Stelvio National Park in Italy. To celebrate the occasion the management of the National Park is organising a big weekend event with three scientific conferences on 8-11 September 2005. Read More…
New book: the good alpine air
A new publication in the series "Revue de géographie alpine/journal of alpine research" is devoted to the subject of the air in the Alps. The mountain air has played a major role in the history of the Alps since the end of the 18th century. Read More…
Ski area for the Himalayas
The highest ski slopes in the northern hemisphere are shortly to be built in Gulmarg on the slopes of Mount Afarwat in the Indian part of Kashmir. With a budget of 2.5 million euros, a French company is planning to build ski lifts and a 2.5-kilometre-long ski run at an altitude of over 4500 meters above sea-level. Read More…
NEGST- New Generation of Solar Thermal Systems
The overall objective of this project is to introduce more cost-effective solar thermal systems, particularly for domestic hot water preparation and / or space heating, to the market in order to contribute to the European Union's Action Plans with regard to the reduction of CO2 – Emissions and the cost effective supply of renewable energies. Read More…