News
More sustainable living thanks to corona?
Pop-up cycle paths in cities, an organic food boom – corona promotes the trend towards more sustainable lifestyles in the Alpine countries as well. A trend that may be here to stay.
Bees: small in size, big in effect
Why we need honey, pollinators and biodiversity: This question is the subject of the themed issue of SzeneAlpen, to be published in March 2020.
Sabbatical in the Alps
Take a longer break and give something back: The "Alpine Sabbatical" in Switzerland offers a meaningful alternative way of spending your free time.
Wanted: pioneering renovations and new buildings
The fifth edition of the international architecture prize, "Constructive Alps", has been launched. Renovations and new buildings that set an example for sustainable construction in the Alps can be submitted until 14 March 2020.
Point of view: For glaciers without a circus
The largest glacier ski resort in the Alps is to be built in Tyrol, Austria - on already melting glaciers. The planned connection of the ski areas in Pitztal and Ötztal goes against all reason, says Kaspar Schuler, Co-Manager of CIPRA International.
Mountaineering recognized as world cultural heritage
Unesco now lists alpinism as an intangible world cultural heritage. Alpine associations from France, Switzerland and Italy submitted the application.
Two regions, one Nature Park
Nature protection across borders. The Veglia-Devero Nature Park in Italy and the Binntal Landscape Park in Switzerland have together been certified as a “Transboundary Park”.
Solemn vigils for dying glaciers
Many Alpine glaciers have already disappeared due to global warming. In September 2019, vigils in Italy and Switzerland drew attention to this fact.
Bogs – a way out of the climate swamp
One hectare of bog can store as much CO2 as a car produces in a year. The Alps suffer from some of the world’s heaviest traffic – yet fewer and fewer intact bogs remain.
How intact ecosystems improve our quality of life
Nature provides us with enormous benefits. The AlpES project draws on the concept of ecosystem services in order to record these in the Alpine regions and increase their appreciation.
Salvation for the bees?
The European Commission is discussing the use of neonicotinoids. The damage caused by these insecticides also strongly affects bees.
The Alpine Rhine fête
CIPRA Liechtenstein. Taming Europe’s biggest torrent began some two hundred years ago. Today, the Alpine Rhine is a canal, its course lined for the most part by intensively used farmland and residual pockets of wetland forest.
“A picture speaks a thousand words” - SPARE Project communicating through multimedia
With a brand new collection of infographics and photo books the SPARE Project partners aim at visually communicating the current river management processes in each of the project’s five Pilot Case Study sites.
Point of view: Biodiversity Conservation: less talk, more action
May 22nd marks the International Day for Biological Diversity, an initiative brought into life by the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2000. Martha Dunbar, Project Manager for Biodiversity and Landscape, fears that now in 2017 we are still treading water.
Paddling for the “blue heart” of Europe
The end of March saw the start of the Balkan Rivers Tour in Slovenia, the largest water protection action in Europe. The aim is to protect its last unspoilt rivers.
The wandering classroom
Young people spend the majority of their school time indoors. The new “whatsalp youth” project moves the classroom into the mountains and learning into the great outdoors.
Foundations laid for Triglav National Park
It has taken 16 years, but the management plan for Slovenia’s only national park is now ready. The participatory process has ensured that it is broad-based in nature.
New project financing ensures a sound basis
Migration, youth participation, mobility, spatial planning: CIPRA International has recently received assurances for the financing of projects in these areas. Here is an overview.
Wolves once more in the firing line
Downgrading the protected status of the wolf, control, even wolf-free zones: these are some of the demands of the Alpine farming federations in the Alpine regions as part of the fitness check conducted on the Fauna Flora Habitat (FFH) directive. Nature conservation organisations respond.
The Alps are losing their snow
A recently published study shows that winters are ever shorter and the amount of snow is decreasing. The main reason for long winters becoming more and more a thing of the past is the earlier spring thaw.
Rock ptarmigan may continue to nest
No ski lifts or pistes may be built on the mountain slopes of the Vallaccia Valley in Italy. This decision of the Lombardy Administrative Court now overturns the authorisation granted by the Italian Council of Ministers.
Chemicals in the Alps– unwanted souvenirs
Not only particulates are causing problems for people and animals: chemicals too are accumulating in the Alps. As one of the causes the outdoors industry is only gradually moving to remedy matters.
Victory and defeat for new protected areas
New protected areas are valuable for biodiversity, with many also intended to boost the local economy. There are nevertheless frequent reservations.
Traditional nature conservation in crisis
The European Union is pushing for better implementation of its biodiversity strategy. At the same time protected areas in the Alps are being broken up, weakened or downgraded. Where is the problem?
Crying wolf?
The protected status of the wolf is being ever more vehemently called into question. French sheep farmers have fuelled the debate further by taking hostages. Those living in the mountains meanwhile remain divided.
No pardon for crimes against the environment
Damaging the environment in Italy can henceforth be punished with a jail term of up to fifteen years. Environmental legislation was also a concern of CIPRA co-founder Wolfgang Burhenne. A biography is now dedicated to him.
Strange but true...
Alpine glaciers are a skiing venue in the middle of summer, they supply villages and towns with drinking water and even provide a habitat for glacier fleas.
Initiating change for a good life in the Alps
What does it take to ensure a good life in the Alps? What social and political changes are necessary? Answers will be provided at the annual CIPRA Conference to be held on 25 and 26 September 2015 in Ruggell, Liechtenstein.
Getting the modal shift moving
Austria gives the green light for the construction of a controversial rail tunnel. At the same time, the Swiss Federal Office for Transport has published two reports that suggest that the modal shift of goods onto rail can succeed even without large infrastructure projects.