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Mountains for All: Embracing Inclusion in Mountains and Outdoor Activities

My Travel Diary - Walking. Thinking. Feeling. Sharing.

Your travel diary for slow travel

Dialogue on Alpine Spatial Planning: Proceedings of the CIPRA Annual Conference 2025

How can Alpine Spatial Planning mitigate conflicts between the energy transition and nature restoration? This question was addressed at the CIPRA Annual Conference 2025 in Salzburg, which brought together more than 160 participants. The proceedings show key insights and recommended actions – not in a concluding way, but as part of an ongoing learning process and as an impulse for further debates. They underline the shared understanding that the energy transition in the Alpine region must be approached and implemented in a cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary, and transboundary manner.

Expert Workshop "State of the Territory"

The Alpine region is facing crucial challenges: How do we shape spatial development so that nature, society, and the economy are in harmony? How do we address growing challenges such as climate change, land use conflicts, and the energy and mobility transition in an integrated manner? The workshop brings together experts and stakeholders from administration, science, civil society, planning, and practice.

Alpine Spatial Planning: Spatial planning perspectives for overcoming conflicts of use in the context of the energy transition

The proceedings of the CIPRA Annual Conference 2025 summarise the participatively developed results, conclusions, and normative policy and planning recommendations on the role of Alpine spatial planning in the context of current EU requirements for nature restoration and the expansion of renewable energies.

Inclusive youth camp in the Dolomites

Opening alpine horizons for young people with fewer opportunities: As the school year came to an end and most students set aside their academic responsibilities, a group of nine young people embarked on a unique adventure as part of the Via Alpina Youth project. Accompanied by a mountain guide and educators with a deep passion for the outdoors, we set off into the majestic Dolomites.

A journey through the endangered ice world of the Alps

The glaciers of the Alps are melting silently and inexorably. Since 2019, the “Glacier Caravan” has been making this loss visible, documenting the dramatic consequences of the climate crisis and calling for action. A guest article by Vanda Bonardo, President of CIPRA Italy and Head of Legambiente in the Italian Alps.

When mountains break away: living with danger

The collapse of the Birch glacier in the Swiss canton of Valais at the end of May 2025 buried a mountain village beneath it. What solutions are there for dealing with such devastating natural events in the Alpine region?

Green instead of white: the new face of glaciers

The melting of glaciers is creating new habitats: glacier forefields. According to a recent study in Italy’s Gran Paradiso National Park, both vegetation cover and biodiversity are increasing on glacier forefields. However, species that are specialised for cold conditions are at risk.

Controversial dams

New dams for electricity and water supply are being planned across the Alpine region. Environmental organisations are warning of irreversible damage to the Alpine environment and calling for a rethink in favour of nature-friendly alternatives.

When research aids biodiversity

Researching and strengthening natural diversity across the Alps: with this goal in mind, the Interreg project AlpsLife brought together science, practice and politics in summer 2025 – in the Swiss National Park and at the meeting of the Alpine Biodiversity Board of the Alpine Convention in Liechtenstein.

Responsible bivouacking

Bivouacking is becoming increasingly popular, but spending the night outdoors can be problematic, especially in sensitive Alpine regions. A new, free handbook from CIPRA provides guidance on environmentally friendly behaviour along the Via Alpina.

Point of view: Climate protection requires clear legislation!

Glacier melt, disappearing permafrost, more frequent rockfalls and mudslides: temperatures in the Alpine region are rising faster than the global average – with dramatic consequences for nature and people. That is why decisive climate protection laws are now needed at regional and national level, demands Elisabeth Ladinser, chair of the South Tyrolean Umbrella Organisation for Nature and Environmental Protection and president of CIPRA South Tyrol.

„State of the Territory”: Expert Workshop on Alpine Territorial Development

The Alpine region is facing crucial challenges: How do we shape spatial development so that nature, society, and the economy are in harmony? How do we address growing challenges such as climate change, land use conflicts, and the energy and mobility transition in an integrated manner?

Fire in the Alps 2025

On the second weekend in August, mountain-top fires will burn again throughout the Alpine region, symbolising solidarity for protecting the Alps’ natural and cultural heritage. These fires of solidarity burn every year as emblems for the preservation of the Alps’ natural and cultural heritage.

Climate crisis: solutions from nature

A recent report with CIPRA involvement shows how nature-based solutions can help to tackle the climate crisis across the Alps.

A heat record for June at 5,000 metres

For the first time ever, above-freezing temperatures in June were recorded at over 5,000 metres in the Alps – a new heat record with symbolic significance. At the same time, the new climate report for Austria confirms that the Alpine region is particularly affected by climate change.

Discover Mountain Jobs with the Action Group 3 in Trentino

Apply to the Discover Mountain Jobs 2025 edition: Forestry and Timber by 31 July 2025!

EUSALP Action Group 6: 2nd Landscape Conference

Organised by EUSALP Action Group 6, the event will take place on 30 September 2025 at Eurac Research in Bolzano/Bozen, Italy. This year’s conference will focus on the conflicts, challenges, and opportunities related to the use of water resources, which are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The discussions will explore how these dynamics are shaping and transforming the Alpine landscape.

Towards synergies in nature restoration in the Alpine Region

The Alpine Biodiversity Board (ABB) of the Alpine Convention is committed to supporting the Convention’s contracting parties and observers in exchanging knowledge, experiences, and plans related to nature restoration. The goal is to foster meaningful and effective restoration efforts across the Alpine region. In this spirit, the ABB, with the support of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), will host a dedicated online workshop, promoting and enabling synergies in restoration action across the Alpine region.

MultiBios

[Project completed] In addition to well-known natural hazards such as mudslides and floods, heatwaves and droughts are increasingly affecting the Alpine region. The international project MultiBios is working together with biosphere parks to explore how affected communities and regions can better prepare for multiple climate risks.

Climate Innovation Festival

Discover. Connect. Transform.

Alpine water: who gets the last drop?

Climate change, increasing soil sealing and pollution are all threats to water in the Alps. At the second Liechtenstein FutureForum Alps in Schaan, held at the end of June 2025, around 160 participants from various Alpine countries discussed the future of the water supply.

RECHARGE EUROPE

The European Forum Alpbach 2025 will take place from 16 to 29 August 2025 under the annual theme 'Recharge Europe'.

Quality of life in the Alps

Report on the state of the Alps - by the Alpine Convention

Climate and small water cycles (FR)

Solutions for the new water paradigm

Position: Transport and mobility in the Alps

In its new 40-page position paper, CIPRA outlines sustainable mobility in the Alpine region with the least possible negative impact of transport on the environment and people. In addition to travel, the paper also addresses commuter traffic, long-distance traffic and freight transport - supplemented with facts, concrete measures and good examples.

Filme für die Erde: A Pop-up Cinema Evening in Schaan

CIPRA International and Con.voi / Verein Neuraum

Alpine glaciers in a changing climate: Effects, challenges and solutions

Glaciated areas are particularly sensitive to climate changes causing cascading effects. On regional and local scales, glacier meltwater is an important contributor to and modulator of river flows. Some of the main consequences of glacier retreat and permafrost thaw include reduced slope and rockface stability, loss of habitats for highly specialized species and changes in seasonal melting patterns, which can increase the risk of water scarcity, affecting many people and economic activities (e.g. agriculture and hydroelectric power production).

Report: Nature-based Solutions and their Governance Structures for Climate Action in the Alpine Region

This report analyses the potential of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in the Alpine area to tackle challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss while simultaneously addressing societal challenges.