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Time to shelve the growth model

Yearly Symposium 2009 Gamprin/FL “Growth come hell or high water?”. Andreas Götz, Director OF CIPRA International, on declining growth and its repercussions for the Alps.

CIPRA prepares a seed bed for new ideas in the Alpine region

CIPRA addressed a broad range of issues at its Yearly Symposium entitled “Growth come hell or high water? The Alps in search of happiness” in Gamprin/FL in September. A look at the global cycles and modes of action provided the framework for the topic. CIPRA also looked at the close ties with the Alps, where those global cycles have an impact, and promoted dialogue at various levels. The Symposium was very favourably received by more than 200 participants from all the Alpine countries.

PER ALPES

Leisure: car-free mobility

Leisure activities that do not involve the use of cars are now "in", as the increasing number of information packs clearly shows. The Alpine Club South Tyrol (AVS) for instance recently published five new brochures, each featuring 15 to 20 hiking routes whose starting and finishing points can all be reached by public transport. In the series Hiking Without Cars the Alpine Club has compiled a total of some 300 hiking tips for the whole of South Tyrol. As the AVS remarks in a press release, "It should be a priority for tourist regions to adopt measures that promote the use of public transport for travel both to and from destinations as well as for activities at the holiday destination itself".

The "brain drain": an opportunity for the Alps?

Highly qualified people are also leaving alpine regions to move to other regions or countries. But according to a study by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Alpenländer (ARGE ALPE) Working Group the Alps can put this brain drain to a positive use. Indeed these brilliant minds are also multipliers and image carriers for their homeland around the globe, a fact that should be capitalised on.

International projects on the impact of climate change in mountain regions

The results of the CIRCLE MOUNTAIN Call are now available. The financing of four translational projects has been approved. The projects are to run for a period of two years and have a volume of approximatively EUR 300'000 each. The four funded projects are ARNICA, EURAS-CLIMPACT, ChangingRISKS and CAMELEON.

Dear colleagues,

One of the main challenges in the process of implementing the Alpine ecological network is involving all the relevant stakeholders. The Ecological Continuum Initiative supports this goal in different ways. On the one hand with printed information material (fact sheets and the brochure), on the other hand by organizing meetings that offer a chance for personal interactions and exchange among stakeholders. Such a workshop on stakeholder integration took place in Dobbiaco/I this April.

Spatial planning in climate change

Biodiversity protection after 2010: time to launch the ultimate rescue plan

Planning for biodiversity as climate changes

News from TransEcoNet - transnational ecological networks in Central Europe

Similar as ECONNECT, the Platform Ecological Network and the Ecological Continuum Initiative in the Alps, in Central Europe the TransEcoNet project strives for a better connection of protected and less or unprotected landscapes across national borders. One major goal of the project is to reveal local people's perception and relation to their surrounding landscape in form of a survey of oral history. This is being carried out in the form of interviews in selected project regions.

Linking-up the German roads for animals and for a better traffic safety

The German Government is developing a National Connectivity Programme which foresees to build wild animal crossings at the most important sites of migrating corridors. This year the first systematic research on ecological corridors in Germany has been finished, representing an important scientific groundwork for the implementation of the Programme.

5th meeting of the Ecological Network Platform

The 5th official meeting of the Ecological Network Platform of the Alpine Convention was held in Dobbiaco/Toblach (I) on 21 April 2010. The main topic at the meeting was progress made to date in nominating a number of pioneering Alpine regions as Pilot Regions of the Alpine Convention. It is hoped that the first regions will receive official recognition at the next Alpine Conference to be held in March 2011.

Less barriers, more nature!

Every day we build new obstacles on the migrating routes for animals and we prevent plants to spread freely. In most of the cases we are not even aware of this problem. How would it feel and look like, if our living spaces would suddenly get fragmented by obstacles we cannot easily overcome?

Think tank workshop Dobbiaco/Toblach: Elaborating recommendations for stakeholder integration

Local connectivity projects can only be implemented if stakeholders are integrated into these activities. Potential difficulties and supportive tools were in the centre of an exchange of experiences between representatives of the ECONNECT pilot areas and other stakeholders carrying out connectivity activities. The discussions were facilitated by the Ecological Continuum Initiative in the frame of a workshop.

Graphical material: Annual report 2009

ECONNECT photo contest: clicks beyond borders

The partners in the Econnect project invite amateurs and professional photographers to make a pictorial record of ecosystem fragmentation in the Alps. The photo contest "Clicks beyond the borders" aims to visualize the importance of ecological links in the Alps in powerful images.

CIPRA goes facebook

CIPRA has now joined the popular platform facebook with a profile of its own. At www.facebook.com/CIPRA.org facebook users can network with our organization and will be informed about novelties, events and actions. Videos and photos provide additional interest and visualize our motto "Life in the Alps".

Annual European Union greenhouse gas inventory 1990 – 2008 and inventory report 2010

The changing face of land use

Austria’s Annual Greenhouse Gas Inventory

Transport at a crossroads

Climate for a transport change

Carbon payback times for crop-based biofuel expansion in the tropics: the effects of changing yield and technology

Alpine Waters, The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry

Journal of alpine research

Swiss research into sustainable water use

Melting glaciers create new lakes in the Alps. This creates new tourism potential and new risks, such as floods and landslides, for the inhabitants of the valleys. Where and when are such lakes created? Who owns them and who is responsible for them?

What do the Julian Alps/Sl and the mountain La Salève/F have in common?

Both are examples of protected areas in the alpine bio-geographical region and are presented in the new publication of the European Commission "Natura 2000 - Protection of Biodiversity in Europe". A double page spread shows readers which animal and plant species are particularly in need of protection, how the areas are protected and what their condition in terms of preservation is.

New on-line portal for biodiversity in mountain areas

Recently, an on-line portal has been set up where those who are interested can find information on the many animal and plant species in mountain areas on an interactive digital map.

Landscape diversity: