The landscape in the Alpine region is undergoing profound change, states Katharina Conradin, President of CIPRA International: from an environment to which people can link personal stories, to an exchangeable resource. «For us to identify with and relate to the landscape around us, it has to have a face and tell a story», she says – a story that must be individual and unique. «Neither the built-up valley floors, nor the identikit motorway service stations nor the interchangeable shopping malls can tell us individual stories», Conradin continues. This landscape has been irretrievably destroyed, she believes.

Using stories, images and experiences, CIPRA intends to return the landscape to the centre of our attention and strengthen our relationship with our surroundings. Voices, information, good examples and activities are all embedded in the interactive Alpine map which can be viewed at map.cipra.org. The map is being constantly updated and will in future be adding further topics alongside landscape. This map of the Alps will allow CIPRA to offer an ever-expanding and diverse overview of major longer term developments in the Alps.

Sources and further information:

The «Re-Imagine Alps» map forms part of the alpMonitor project and illustrates the field of «Nature and People». A web dossier (de, fr, it, sl) of the same name provides background knowledge on the subject of landscape. The latest issue of AlpsInsight, «Landscape is negotiable», includes in-depth interviews, essays, reports and commentaries. Issue no. 104 of AlpsInsight can be ordered in German, French, Italian and Slovene free of charge via +423 237 53 53, [email protected] or www.cipra.org/szenealpen (de, fr, it, sl).