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Make the Alps energy self-sufficient! CIPRA-demands - Energy self-sufficient regions
Not having to depend on energy imports: this vision holds great fascination for many regions. Self-sufficiency is "in." There are already many very positive approaches and examples of attempts to go down this road. At the heart of all the concepts is the idea of meeting demand through regional renewable sources of energy, saving energy and using energy more efficiently. Anyone who systematically takes this approach in an attempt to create an energy self-sufficient region changes the face of their region and its structures - to the benefit of their own economy, society and the environment.
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cc.alps: CIPRA's demands for agriculture
The agricultural sector is directly affected by climate change impacts but it also contributes to the release of greenhouse gases (GHG) and rising concentrations of GHG in the atmosphere. A sustainable climate response strategy in the field of agriculture involves anticipating, planning and long-term thinking from farm level to transnational level. Prominent fields of activity are sustainable land and soil management, sustainable water management, managing manure and soil carbon as well as organic agriculture as an overall strategy. As agriculture is a highly subsidized economic sector, subvention policy can be used as a lever to guide the sector to sustainability and climate neutrality.
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The Alpine Region as a macro-region?
The EU already has a macro-region strategy for the Danube Region and the Baltic Sea. So why not also for the Alpine Region? At the beginning of July, the Arge Alp Working Group advocated a resolution calling for a "macro-region for the Alps".
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Climate plan for South Tyrol
The Province of Bolzano wants to become more energy efficient by 2050. Every inhabitant of the Province currently produces around five tonnes of carbon dioxide. The aim is to cut that figure to a mere 1.5 tonnes over the next forty years.
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From road to rail - getting it to work
Crossing Exchange, emissions trading or a differentiated toll system for the Alps: these transport policy instruments could ensure that in future there are fewer HGVs trucking through the Alps - providing the instruments apply to the Alpine region as a whole.
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First solar-powered bus now on the road
Since July Europe's first ever electric bus powered exclusively by solar energy has been operating in Perchtoldsdorf/A. The public transport bus seats up to 35 passengers.
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Respite for the "king of the Alpine rivers"
It looks like no gravel is to be extracted from the Tagliamento for the time being. The company that was planning to extract more than a million cubic metres of ballast between Cimano/I and the Arzino tributary has withdrawn its project.
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Eurovignette III: no HGV toll for the Alps
In the future haulage companies in the EU could have to pay for environmental damage. The EP Transport Committee has agreed to the proposal. But environmental organisations feel the proposal does not go far enough - especially in the Alps.
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Common Agricultural Policy for the Alps
A new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is being negotiated in Brussels/BE. And as the CAP is also to take account of the particular conditions of agriculture in the Alps, in April the ministers of the Alpine states drew up a declaration at the International Mountain Region Conference in Oberammergau/D.
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The spectacle of a new Mont Blanc cable car
Ground-breaking ceremony for Courmayeur/I's new cable car up to the Pointe Helbronner: Over a four-year construction period the glass and steel colossus, which is set to cost over EUR 100 million, is to replace the installation built in the 1940s and 1950s - and showcase the Mont Blanc even more magnificently.
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Belgian support for the protection of the Alps
Established in Belgium at the start of the year, the ALPY Association "Alpen en Pyreneeën, Ontdekken en Ondersteunen" is committed to sustainable development in the Pyrenees and the Alps.
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New tool for custom-made connectivity solutions
Do you want to facilitate the migration of animals within and between their habitats? There are many different ways to do this. Whether you are a farmer, a mayor or leading a tourist company: the detailed search of the new online "measures catalogue" shows you possible activities to improve ecological connectivity that are adapted to your individual situation.
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The sense and sensuality of contemporary buildings
CIPRA has many years of experience with energy-efficient construction and renovation. It also has many years of experience networking people and publicising information. Which is why it is ideally placed to pass on expertise on contemporary buildings – throughout the Alps and beyond. And that is what CIPRA’s 2010 Annual Report titled Building for the Future is all about.
Press/Media release
Youth Parliament of the Alpine Convention convened in Herisau
The outcome of the event held from March 29 to April 1 is a 13-page resolution catalogue. It illustrates how important young people feel about being able to shape a viable future for the alpine region. "Transport and Transit" was the theme of this year's meeting.
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Dinaric Alps Conference: laying the foundations for the protection of the Dinaric Alps
The countries of the Dinaric Alps met in Brdo near Kranj, Slovenia, on March 8 and 9 for the first ever Dinaric Alps Conference. Concurrently the ministers of the Alpine states convened at the 11th Alpine Conference.
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Loss of biodiversity in the mountains particularly severe
A study carried out across Europe using new measurement methods has shown that climate change impacting particularly heavily on plants in mountain regions. The vastly different mountain ecosystems are being recorded on a very small and accurate scale using special computer models.
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Five Econnect pilot regions officially rewarded at the Alpine Conference
On 8 March 2011 the Alpine Conference has officially recognised and rewarded eight Alpine regions - among which five Econnect pilot regions - for their exemplary work aiming at the creation of an alpine ecological network.
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Alpine Convention: Sense and Sensuality
Climate change mitigation in construction and renovation is tantamount to providing for the future; it also makes economic sense. Better still, the Konstruktiv architecture award shows how sustainable construction can also become a sight for sore eyes. CIPRA co-initiated the award in order to publicise exemplary solutions. Imitations expressly permitted!
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Climalp/“Alliance in the Alps”: Infected with good ideas
Ideas spread like viruses. They infect someone, who in turn infects someone else, and if they are good and strong, they spread like an epidemic. Energy-efficient construction is one such viral idea. On 14 September 2009 one could observe how it leapt from Vorarlberg to the French department of Savoie. Austria’s westernmost federal province is widely regarded as a centre for innovative timber construction. Concentrated here are a strikingly large number of architects, sawmills and carpenters who use wood as a traditional building material but in an ecologically advanced way – a large-scale workshop for creating a forest-sourced living environment.
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Alliance of Central Asian Mountain Communities: Bridges across mountains
Sometimes the toughest challenges can be presented in the most tender way. On the plate in front of Antonio Zambon is a sheep’s head, braised for hours so that the meat is lovely and tender, eyes included. Expectantly, the Kyrgyz hosts watch their visitor from distant Italy. Quite a quandary. This rustic delicacy is not exactly to his taste; then again, the gesture is intended to honour him as the delegation’s oldest member.
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cc.alps climate project: win-win with science
Swiss economic geographer Bruno Abegg has been working with CIPRA for three years. A scientist and a political organisation – how can that work? “It is a clash between two ways of thinking,” says the 45-year-old, which is precisely what he finds so exciting. As the scientific director of the cc.alps project he examines the way in which regions, communities and businesses in the Alps are responding to climate change. CIPRA campaigns to ensure that climate response measures are sustainable. “My research work has always been application-oriented,” says Abegg, “which is why it’s important to me that my findings flow into practical work for the environment.”
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Alpine Town of the Year Association: “No town can afford to ignore climate change mitigation”
Hubert Buhl talks about towns that are pioneering climate change mitigation, environmental role models, and an award capable of changing entire communities.
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Use "The Wall" at your events to emphasize the importance of ecological connectivity
Are you organizing an event which aims at raising awareness on the problem of habitat fragmentation? Then borrow one of the six colourful installations the "Ecological Continuum Initiative" created for its action "The Wall".
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Only climate-friendly tourism is sustainable: cc.alps - CIPRA’s demands for tourism in climate change
Climate change is a major challenge to Alpine tourism. It has to adapt to climate change and at the same time become more climate-friendly. There is a particularly large potential for reduction of CO2 emissions in the key areas of traffic and energy. Tourism is a branch of the economy which is heavily subsidized. Therefore public policy can and must direct developments towards sustainability through the support given to tourism. The present discussion about developments in the tourism industry is dominated by the large chair lift companies which are essentially fixed on ski tourism and the maintenance of the status quo. But focusing only on snow and skiing means promoting a capital-intensive, highly technological form of Alpine tourism and a monoculture. This is neither climatologically nor environmentally sustainable.
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Sustainable Alps: Architecture Prize Awarded
Constructive, the Alpine-wide architecture award for sustainable construction and renovation has been presented to three architects and developers. Three further projects are euqally to be commended.
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The bear's about!
Clearly the big omnivore feels at home in the Trentino/I. A total of 27 bears were counted there last year, compared with a mere three or four in the 1990s. Meanwhile ten Slovenian bears have settled in the Adamello-Brenta Nature Park as part of the "Life Ursus" campaign.
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Changing forests
The seminar titled Forestry and Climate Change - Thinking One Step Ahead! looks at the consequences of global warming on the timber industry, forestry and its functions. What sort of strategies are needed to ensure the sustainable development of the forest within the context of regional development?
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Methodological guide of the hierarchical ecological networks
The pilot region Isère has published a guide presenting various experiences they led since ten years in different areas and the methods being used. The publication "Methodological guide of the hierarchical ecological networks - Ten years of experiments in Isère" is available in English and French.
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Idrija is the Alpine Town of the Year 2011
The label for sustainable development was awarded to the Slovenian town of Idrija for its commitment to climate protection among other initiatives. The "Alpine Town Year" was ceremoniously inaugurated in February.
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Olympic bid by Annecy: repercussions underestimated
French environmental protection agencies have said that the "impact of the Olympic Games on the environment are widely underestimated in the application documents".