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CIPRA's point of view: Torino 2006: a hard lesson - but nothing learned

The Olympic Winter Games 2006 have left a burdensome legacy. The idea is thus to close the loss-making bobsleigh and replace it with an indoor ski slope. Is Turin simply throwing good money after bad?

Bavaria: Alpine Convention makes court appearance

The constitutional court of Bavaria has received a complaint against the classification of land for development demanding, for the first time, compliance with the Alpine Convention. The court ruling could significantly change how the Alps are protected in Bavaria.

Winter tourism: lateral thinking in Savoy

The skiing area of Biot/F sees ever less snow, and the resort is deep in debt. The local mayor now wants to get rid of the lifts and develop other forms of tourism. A visionary decision in the western Alps.

Climate and Conservation

Liechtenstein‘s Fifth National Communication under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol

Wohn Raum Alpen/Abitare le alpi/Living in the Alps

Les régions de montagne comme référents de l'action collective / Mountain regions as referents for collective action

The Commitments of the Cities and Territories of Italy for the Climate

La Revue de géographie / Journal of alpine resarch

Knowing how to shape the climate

Climate protection is possible. It's just that lots of people don't know how to go about it. CIPRA is demonstrating how we can protect the climate and save money at the same time. The whole idea is being trialled in two pilot regions in the Alps

Young, climate-conscious, and thirsting for action

Young people from five Alpine nations campaigned as part of the My Clime-mate Project to make the Alps a carbon-neutral region. At the end of October they took stock - and forged new plans.

"We'll keep at it."

Virtually everyone was there. Idrija's festival hall was packed to the rafters, and the youth symphony orchestra summoned specially for the occasion was in full flow. There was plenty of drama, and the TV people were there, too. A murmur went through the 1,000-strong audience as they got to their feet and began clapping. Then a large burly man in a dark suit walked onto to the stage. Deep creases bracketed his laughing mouth like waterfalls, stretching up to his white temples. Bojan Sever, the major of the small Slovenian town in the alpine foothills, held aloft the certificate confirming their status as Alpine Town of the Year 2011. Cameras flashed and the applause redoubled. That was just over a year ago.

"CIPRA is a both a mainstay and a cornerstone"

Chris Walzer, lead partner of Econnect, on ecological networking, psychological barriers and a continuous landscape.

Joint action on climate change

The forests of the Alps will only be able to cope with climate change if the findings from all the various specialist fields are pooled together. And that requires new forms of co-operation and communication.

Think Tank workshops on stakeholder integration & follow-up projects and new projects implementing ecological networks beyond ECONNECT: Reports

EU transport in figures

CircUse: Land Use and Environmental Effects

Towards low carbon transport in Europe

Alpine regions demand joint strategy

The Conference of the Alpine Regions has decided on an initiative paper for the development of a macro-regional strategy for the Alpine arc. It declares that the need is for greater innovation and economic strength within an intact environment, as well as more co-operation and the bundling of development funds. There is just one thing that is not mentioned: the Alpine Convention.

Fewer Alpine pastures

It is not the number of Alms (mountain pastures) that is in decline: rather it is the area of pastureland being worked, according to the preliminary results of the work on the "Alm Atlas".

New Immigration Into the European Alps: Emerging Research Issues

Exploring the Local Sustainability of a Green Economy in Alpine Communities

The Facilitation of Mini and Small Hydropower in Switzerland: Shaping the Institutional Framework (with a Particular Focus on Storage and Pumped-Storage Schemes)

Effects of climate change on water resources and watercourses (Summary)

Arthropod colonisation of trees in fragmented landscapes depends on species traits

New vehicle tunnels for goods traffic: a dead end

Traffic chaos in the Alps: this summer the most important transit axes are being closed to rail traffic. Haulage associations are thus again demanding new road tunnels. But the Alpine regions have decided that the solution to the traffic problem lies elsewhere.

Alp Week: a place for youth

Politics, science, NGOs. All the usual suspects are there at the 2012 AlpWeek in Poschiavo. This time, however, there is a special place for young people. Here is an overview of the programme.

The future of farming in the mountains

The European Union is negotiating the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). If the "Alliance for Agriculture and Nature Protection in the Alpine Regions" has its way, farming in the mountains will be given particular consideration. The alliance has now submitted its catalogue of demands.

In summer cool, in winter warm

The European Union Directive on the energy performance of buildings takes effect from July. Low-energy buildings will be mandatory as from 2021. The community centre of Saint-Jean-d'Arvey already meets these criteria. The building, made of regional wood, will open at the end of June - a first.

Oh! ...

… the bears in Trentino have finally gone too far.