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Fréjus: end of the road for the “Alpine motorway on rails”

After an 18-month closure caused by a landslide, the beginning of April 2025 saw the first passenger trains once more running through the Fréjus railway tunnel connecting Italy and France. The transport of trucks on freight trains has not been resumed, however.

Voices along the Via Alpina

The Via Alpina has been connecting people, cultures and landscapes across the Alps for 25 years now. A podcast series tells the story of the project, highlights the challenges and opportunities of long-distance hiking and raises awareness of sustainable tourism in the Alps.

GOVQoL – Empowering Alpine communities to improve their quality of life

Alpine communities’ quality of life (QoL) is currently facing several challenges such as the depopulation of remote areas, reduced provision of services of general interest, the impacts of climate change, and mistrust of governance. These issues are not only reshaping the Alpine territories but also impacting the daily lives of its inhabitants. Despite the urgent need for responsive and inclusive governance, there is currently a significant gap in understanding and addressing QoL at the local level which our project aims to address.

OUT4INGOV: Shaping youth migration

The emigration of young people poses major challenges for many Alpine regions. The OUT4INGOV project is working with local organisations to develop innovative approaches to better manage youth migration and raise awareness of the issue in society.

Visiting “Utopias” all over the Alps

In 2024, the Via Alpina Youth project inspired young people across the Alps for social, cultural and everyday utopias of sustainability – but above all for shared adventures in the mountains.

Italy to chair Alpine Convention in 2025

Italy is preparing to chair the Alpine Convention for the period 2025-2026, while Liechtenstein and Austria will co-chair the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP) in 2025. Sustainability and cross-border cooperation are the focus of both initiatives.

Agorà on large carnivores

Challenges in managing large carnivores and the role of large carnivore centers

CultureAlps

When art and culture give climate protection a fresh lick of paint: the Erasmus+ project “CultureAlps: connect, share, act!” opens up new ways of climate communication and collaboration.

Webinars for cities and municipalities

Alarming findings of the Glacier Caravan 2024

Italy's Alpine glaciers are disappearing at a disturbing rate: this is the alarming finding of the Glacier Caravan 2024, organised by the environmental organisation Legambiente in collaboration with CIPRA Italy and the Italian Glaciological Committee.

Paths to sustainable agriculture

The first Utopia hike organised by the umbrella organisation for nature and environmental protection in its function as CIPRA South Tyrol took place on Wednesday, 7 August 2024. On this occasion, the functioning utopia of organic vegetable cultivation in the Puster Valley was visited on two farms.

Alpine huts: the first victims of the climate crisis?

Water shortages, disintegrating mountains and renovation needs: managing Alpine huts has always been difficult, but the climate crisis is making the situation even worse. The Austrian Alpine Association has already issued an “Emergency call from the Alps”.

Sustainable traffic management, not lawsuits

CIPRA representatives along the transport axis over the Brenner Pass are calling for sustainable traffic management instead of populist grievances. Now Switzerland is facing a renewed increase in traffic.

Reading Mountains Festival 2024

Celebrating Alpine cultural heritage in the scope of International Mountain Day - 11 December. The Reading Mountains Festival is a way to connect people who love books and mountains, even if they are physically apart. Book lovers and authors, mountaineers and artists throughout the Alps (and beyond) have a chance to discuss similar issues and evaluate the meaning, impact, and purpose of Alpine literature. Some of these discussions are captured in the film “People, Books and Mountains - The Quest for Alpine literature” that was produced as a follow up to the first editions of the Reading Mountains Festival.

Ars vivendi

[Project completed] How can the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) be learned and taught? In the project «ars vivendi» a didactic tool for the Global Agenda 2030 is being developed.

The next unused bobsleigh run

The controversial Olympic bobsleigh run in Cortina is being built after all. Despite organisational concerns, Italy’s Infrastructure Minister, Matteo Salvini, has pushed construction through.

New Alpine reservoirs to combat water shortages

Frequent droughts, thirsty agriculture: Italy is discussing the construction of additional reservoirs to supply drinking water and energy. More ecologically sound solutions are in danger of falling by the wayside.

Challenges for alpine agriculture

Loss of biodiversity, climate change, migration: just some of the problems affecting the Alpine region. The concept of agroecology offers sustainable solutions - but we have to implement them together.

Natural diversity through stones

What do the large woolly bee, the protected fire-bellied toad, the busy ant and the white stonecrop have in common? They all feel right at home in and around cairns, which CIPRA’s “StoneRich” project is creating in seven pilot regions.

The urban exodus and the climate

Many mountain regions in the Alps are affected by out-migration. However, climate change is also causing some people to migrate – at least temporarily – from the cities to the mountains, as an Italian research project shows.

Olympic bobsleigh track at any price

With two years to go until the Olympic Games, construction work on the new bobsleigh track in Cortina/I has not yet begun. No company wants to build it. In the meantime, the IOC is desperately looking for candidates for the 2030 Olympic Games, including Switzerland.

International Glacier Caravan

Six stages through three Alpine countries: this year’s international campaign by the Italian environmental organisation Legambiente, with the participation of CIPRA, condemned the retreat of the glaciers and thus raised awareness of climate change.

Too much, too loud, too crowded

From the tunnel blockade in Hallstatt/A to the protest rally on the Sella Pass/I: civil society is protesting against overtourism in the Alpine regions – and demanding relief for people and the environment.

Ground:breaking

Soils are among the most important resources we have. CIPRA's new Ground:breaking project shows why desealing land benefits everyone and what is needed at political, legal and local level in the Alpine region to achieve this.

Controversial railway tunnel between Turin and Lyon

In mid-June 2023, hundreds of people gathered in the French border town of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to protest against the construction of a high-speed rail tunnel between Lyon and Turin. In a public statement, CIPRA France and Mountain Wilderness also criticised the project.

Experience the last of the glaciers

Recharge your batteries, go cycling, visit the glaciers: the Alpine Climate Camps project combines mountain sports with climate protection, further encouraging young climate activists. A bicycle tour in Austria at the beginning of September 2023 and other activities in Switzerland and Italy will draw attention to the disappearing glaciers.

Wanted: innovative ideas for the Alps

Young and committed people can now apply for the second “Alpine Changemaker Basecamp” in July 2023, where they can further develop and optimise their project ideas in a professional environment.

IOC favours bobsleigh solution abroad

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has formally notified the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA) that there is no need to build a new bobsleigh track for the Winter Olympics.

Via Alpina Youth – walking the change

The Via Alpina long-distance-trail has been connecting all of the Alpine countries for over 20 years now. The project “Via Alpina Youth – walking the change” spreads knowledge, ideas and opportunities on sustainable lifestyles, inclusion, environmental protection and climate change along the trail.

Mountain forests and climate change

The consequences of climate change are also becoming apparent in the forests of the Alps. In South Tyrol/I and East Tyrol/A this year has seen an explosive spread of pests. What looks like frightening devastation might present a long-term opportunity, however.