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Interactive Internet portal for sustainability in South Tyrol

In a research project lasting several years, a sustainability monitor has been developed for South Tyrol, Italy and is now on-line.

Rail tunnel ground water to heat a tropical greenhouse

In the future, the ground water that drains from the Lötschberg Base Tunnel at a temperature of 20°C will be piped into a tropical greenhouse which is to be built at the northern portal in Frutigen/CH to produce fish and tropical fruit, and also to heat the administration building.

Obligatory rentals for planned Swiss resort

The Egyptian entrepreneur Samih Sawiris does not want the resort he is planning in Andermatt/CH to become a ghost town. His solution: anyone who purchases a house or apartment as a second home must sign a contract agreeing to rent the property whenever they are not in residence.

A Significant Upward Shift in Plant Species Optimum Elevation During the 20th Century

Knowledge transfer: experience and proposal

Buildings and climate change

Details for Passive Houses

How wood helps to protect our climate

CEPHEUS - Living Comfort without heating

Biodiversity and climate change as subjects for transnational co-operation

The Alpine Space Programme established in the framework of the INTERREG IVB European Community Initiative Programme is being used to fund a dozen new projects.

Knowledge transfer - new pillar of regional development?

The latest issue of the bilingual (fr/en) Revue de Géographie Alpine (RGA) deals with the subject of knowledge management and knowledge transfer in the regional context.

Modifications to Alpine plant communities

A recent French study into 171 woodland plants in temperate regions shows how plant species have already adjusted to climate change, with a significant upward shift in species optimum elevation averaging 29 meters per decade in response to rising global temperatures.

EU: Legally enforceable right to clean air

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that citizens have a legally enforceable right to clean air. Individuals affected by high concentrations of particulate matter can now call on the courts throughout the EU to ensure that effective measures are taken to improve the quality of the air.

New World Heritage sites in the Alps

In July the UNESCO World Heritage Committee added another 27 cultural and natural sites to the World Heritage List, including three located in the Alpine region, namely the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona with the Glarus overthrust, the cross-border (CH/I) Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Landscapes and the fortifications of Vauban in France.

Database on municipal development in the Alps

How do my town and region perform in terms of employment, demographics, structural diversity, agricultural and near-natural land use, structural change in agriculture, and landscape fragmentation in the Alpine space?

EU Greening Transport Package

On 8 July the Commission of the European Union presented a package comprising various initiatives for environment-friendly and sustainable transport. The package includes a strategy for internalisation of external costs in the transport sector, a proposal for a Directive on road tolls for lorries, and proposals for reducing the perceived noise from rail freight trains.

European regions calling for a green paper for mountain regions

The Committee of the Regions (CoR) is calling for the European Commission to deliver a green paper on development for the mountain regions, with such fields as economic and structural funds, employment policy, nature protection, civil defence, the environment and energy policy, and also transport and agricultural policies combined in an integrated approach that does justice to the special character of the mountain regions.

Climate Pact for the Alps - criteria for innovation

Some 350 attendees came to Argentière-la-Bessée/F for this year's AlpWeek from 11 - 14 June to discuss the question of innovation in and for the Alps under the title of "Innovating (in) the Alps".

2009 Alpine Town of the Year award for Bolzano

On 9 June Bolzano/I was officially declared the 2009 Alpine Town of the Year. The decision was taken in recognition of the South Tyrolean town's contribution to climate protection and a sustainable planning policy designed to provide a good quality of life for residents and an attractive destination for visitors.

Alps and Carpathians pulling together for biological diversity

On 29 May, the representatives of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the Alpine Convention and the Carpathian Convention agreed to intensify collaboration in the field of nature protection and signed a memorandum of co-operation to that effect.

New publication: "Mapping the Alps"

With its international data sets and maps, this recently published atlas of the Alps provides a solid and up-to-date basis for a wide range of questions relating to the Alpine region. The editors see their work as a tool for studying the differences and the rapid pace of change in terms of place and society, which is so typical of the Alpine region in particular.

More winter passengers handled by France's Alpine airports

Passenger volumes at the airports in Grenoble-Isère/F and Chambéry-Savoie/F increased by 7% and 20% respectively in the 2007/2008 winter season. In the last two years, Grenoble-Isère has had the highest rates of growth in passenger totals of all French airports.

Mapping the Alps

The other driving force of the economy "The role of women in development across the alpine region"

Anthropology of small comunities. Demographic movements. Women's condition. Development perspectives.

New look for the Via Alpina website

Via Alpina fans can now go the organisation's revamped website with additional functionality for planning and preparing for a walk. The officially designated routes of the Via Alpina, with descriptions of the walks available in several languages, are the ideal way to discover the Alpine Arc.

EU Structural Fund with negative environmental impacts

More than two thirds of the projects financed with the help of the European Union's Structural Fund have effects that are contrary to EU environmental policy objectives.

Geotourism Challenge - public voting for the winning projects

This year the American National Geographic Society launched the "Geotourism Challenge: Celebrating Places/Changing Lives", a new competition designed to find and promote pioneers in the field of geotourism.

The Climate in the Alps is much prized - CIPRA Competition cc.alps: win prizes worth up to €20,000 each

Prizes worth a total of €100,000 await the best measures aimed at a sustainable approach to the consequences of climate change in the Alpine region. CIPRA, the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps, has just launched this competition as part of its cc.alps Project.

Alps Know How