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The Alps as Commons

Nov 23, 2020 / alpMedia
How does ecologically sustainable management in the Alpine region contribute to a better quality of life? Answers and food for thought are provided by the themed booklet SzeneAlpen, published in November 2020.
Image caption:
Building blocks for an economy in transition: CIPRA's current issue shows what is needed for social and ecological restructuring. (c) Caroline Begle, CIPRA International

From the commons to the commons: community-based economic activity has a long tradition in the Alps. In her introductory guest article, economist Irmi Seidl shows that we are better able to master crises economically if we rely on cooperation and smaller structures. The “face of the Alps” in the current issue is Alenka Smerkolj. After an international career in business, she helped shape Slovenia's long-term development strategy and Agenda 2030. As Secretary General of the Alpine Convention, she has been pursuing sustainability goals throughout the Alps since 2019: “We should no longer focus only on the growth of gross domestic product, but beyond that on the well-being of society”.

More social justice, climate and environmental protection: for Christian Felber, an obligatory balance sheet for banks setting out the common good would be an important step in this direction. “I would like to be informed exactly about what the bank does with the money at its disposal. I want 100 percent transparency”, says the Austrian author and activist in an interview. Why places in the Italian Alps that were thought to be lost are coming back to life, whether recycling management works with wood and how trout cottage cheese helps a Slovenian mountain region – these and other questions are addressed in CIPRA's current issue of “The Alps as Commons”. SzeneAlpen no. 107 was published in November 2020. Subscription is possible free of charge at www.cipra.org/en/subscriptions/alpsinsight and each issue is also available in digital form at www.cipra.org/szenealpen (de, fr, it, sl).