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Strange but true…

Digital and creative: climate strike despite Corona

Global #digitalstrike, climate strike in Switzerland, climate corona deal in Austria, mailbombing in Italy: how climate activists in Alpine countries deal with the initial restrictions and what they take away from the corona crisis.

Point of view: A building plan for a resilient society

The corona crisis has broken our lives into pieces: relationships, working models, leisure and consumerism are loose building blocks. It is still unclear how we will reassemble them. We now have the chance to draw up a new building plan that is fit for the future, says Barbara Wülser, Co-Executive Director of CIPRA International.

Via Alpina: 20 years of long-distance hiking

For 20 years, the cross-border long-distance hiking trail known as the “Via Alpina” has connected all eight Alpine countries from Trieste to Monaco. It connects people, living spaces and natural areas along five routes, not only physically but also symbolically.

The landscape that moves CIPRA

From a Slovenian mountain pass, via a dying glacier in Switzerland, to a French shepherd's path: in its Annual Report 2019 CIPRA International shows how landscapes and their stories move people.

Point of view: Water needs no borders – do we?

So far, sufficient water is available in the Alpine regions. If there is to be enough for everyone in the future, despite climate change, water must be treated as a common Alpine resource across national borders, says Marion Ebster, Project Manager at CIPRA International.

Tourism after the ski lift

Milder and milder winters are forcing ski resorts to invest in expensive snowmaking and lift facilities – an arms race in which many are no longer able to compete. Some places in the Alps have already found alternatives to skiing.

Harmful transit traffic

Priority for health and the environment along the Brenner axis: this is what CIPRA Italy and other environmental associations are demanding of the Italian Minister of Transport.

Re.sources

[Project completed] Water, soil, bees, ideas, motivation, time: the Alps contain a wide range of resources. A large part of the natural capital is under threat, while the social potential for more sustainable solutions still slumbers in many places. What are my resources and what are yours? Which ones are in danger and which ones are our lives dependent on? What resources does it take to make a change towards sustainable development in the Alps?

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.

Fit for work

Change to bus, train, bike or e-bike: pilot companies in the Alpenrhein-Bodensee-Hochrhein region are testing healthy ways to work in the three-year Interreg project Amigo.

How diversity is lost

Intensive agriculture and climate change: a recent study from Austria shows how much influence both have on the loss of biodiversity in Alpine regions.

Strange but true...

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.

"We Stay on the Ground"

Explore the Alps by train: For the "Youth Alpine Interrail" participants, flight-free travel is a varied adventure.

Mountain Research and Development Vol 39, No 2: Adaptation to Climate Change and Sustainable Mountain Development

Papers focus on scenario planning in Iceland; risk awareness in Austria; alpine pasture assessment in France; the role of different knowledge sources in adaptation in Venezuela and Colombia, Ecuador, and the Indian Himalaya; local adaptations to water scarcity in the Hindu Kush–Himalaya; declining glacier water in the Mongolian Altai; national glacier monitoring worldwide; and adaptation initiatives in African mountains. The issue was guest-edited by Carolina Adler.

Alpine Spheres: Natural limits - Infinite possibilities

Conference documentation CIPRA Annual Conference 2017

A top combination: From road to rail

It is technically and politically possible to shift freight traffic through the Alps onto rail. The AlpInnoCT project shows how it could work.

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”.

To work by car? No thanks!

There are well developed public transport systems and cycle paths in the Alpine Rhine valley, yet the majority of commuters – who number up to 50,000 a day – travel to work by car. A CIPRA project is looking for solutions in this international quadrangle.

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Point of view: Equal opportunities for trains and trucks!

224 million tonnes of goods rolled through the Alps last year, a new record – more than two thirds of it on trucks. To decrease the pressure on nature and humans along the transit axes, railways and roads have be on the same level playing field, says Jakob Dietachmair, Project Manager at CIPRA International.

The key to local development

Pluralism as a strength of the Alps: ten organisations have committed themselves to this as part of the PlurAlps project. They presented their findings at the final conference held in Bolzano/I, including an innovation toolbox for integration together with policy recommendations.

The Alps as cultural laboratory

Inspiration, shared experiences and participation: the annual CIPRA conference saw over 100 attendees from every Alpine country meet in Altdorf/CH at the end of October 2019 to discuss the “Alpine Cultural Workshop”. The event was organised by CIPRA International and CIPRA Switzerland.

Alpine Refugees. Immigration at the core of Europe

This collection of essays highlights how given Alpine territories in Austria, Italy, and Switzerland are currently facing challenges imposed by migration, the barriers and limitations they are encountering, and the extent to which migration triggers policy and territorial innovations that can generate beneficial impacts for both migrants and local inhabitants.

Budding ideas and flourishing projects

Building raised plant beds, converting parking spaces, replacing plastic bottles: at the end of the local project, young people from Schaan/LI travelled by train to Maribor/Sl and presented their actions aimed at a more sustainable lifestyle.

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.