The Alpine Region as a macro-region?

The Alps are renewed in Poschiavo

Soca valley soon under water?

Climate plan for South Tyrol

From road to rail - getting it to work

First solar-powered bus now on the road

Miscellaneous

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that was planning to extract more than a million cubic metres of ballast between Cimano/I and the Arzino tributary has withdrawn its project. More »

Green electricity for Liechtenstein
As of next year the electricity flowing out of Liechtenstein's power sockets will be sourced exclusively from renewable energies, but only in private households that do not insist on the previous mix of nuclear energy and fossil fuels. More »

Eight new nature parks in Switzerland
The first national park in the Alps was established in the Engadine in 1914. Since then there have been very few efforts in Switzerland to create other protected areas. More »

Annecy is the Alpine Town of the Year 2012
For years now the French town of Annecy has been pursuing a policy of sustainability. As a reward for its efforts the principal town of the Haute-Savoie département and its 53,000 inhabitants have been nominated as the Alpine Town of the Year 2012. More »

Agenda

Conference / Congress: 7th European Conference on Green Power Marketing 2011 . 6.10.2011 – 7.10.2011. Zürich. Language: de, en. Organisation: Green Power Marketing GmbH, Zürich/CH.
Info: www.greenpowermarketing.org/GPMC_11_Programme_EN.pdf.

Conference / Congress: Lucerne World Mountain Conference. 11.10.2011 – 12.10.2011. Lucerne. Language: en. Organisation: Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft, DEZA - Direktion für Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit, Bern/CH.
Info: mountainslucerne2011.mtnforum.org/.

Workshop / Seminar: PhenoALP Project Final Meeting. 12.10.2011 – 14.10.2011. Torgnon. Language: en. Organisation: ARPA Valle d'Aosta, Saint-Christophe (AO)/IT.
Info: www.phenoalp.eu/workshop/.

Conference / Congress: 4th European Biennial Event of Highland Regions. 13.10.2011 – 14.10.2011. Gérardmer. Language: en, fr. Organisation: Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie des Vosges, Epinal/FR.
Info: www.biennale-euro-montagne.eu.

Workshop / Seminar: ALPSTAR: Toward Carbon Neutral Alps - Make Best Practice Minimum Standard. 27.10.2011 – 28.10.2011. Chambéry. Language: de, fr, it, sl. Organisation: Verein Alpenstadt des Jahres, Schaan/FL.
Info: www.alpine-space.eu/projects/running-projects/?tx_txrunningprojects_pi1[uid]=40&tx_txrunningprojects_pi1[view]=singleView.

Strange but true!

… for the past 58 years mountaineers have struggled their way to the top at 8848 m, shlepping around 50 tonnes of rubbish with them either at the cost of unimaginable exertions or payments to the sherpas - not to mention their own lives in some cases.
And now a few dedicated environmentalists, researchers and climbers have gone and simply gathering up all the evidence that proves that a few mountaineers really did make it to the top of the world's highest summit. Those high achievers would certainly have had the strength to bring all the oxygen cylinders, tents and human waste back down with them. But how else would posterity know that they had made it onto the roof of the world? It's a good job that, on the anniversary of the first ascent, the people of the Everest Clean-up Project only managed to bring back just over eight tonnes of waste to the valley. In other words, there is still plenty of evidence of these heroic deeds left lying about.
Source: www.savingmounteverest.org