Germany

The German Government is developing a National Connectivity Programme which foresees to build wild animal crossings at the most important sites of migrating corridors. This year the first systematic research on ecological corridors in Germany has been finished, representing an important scientific groundwork for the implementation of the Programme.

Extensively cultivated grasslands are important landscape elements for ecological connectivity in the pilot region Berchtesgaden - Salzburg. Improving these habitats will help to safeguard species such as butterflies, dragonflies or grasshoppers. This is one of the tasks of the subprojects within ECONNECT which are currently being finalised.

"Everyone wants to do their bit!" On 6 November 2008 CIPRA rewarded the seven best measures submitted to the cc.alps competition. The Oberallgäu municipality of Wildpoldsried/D won one of the three main prizes for its activities in the area of energy efficiency. Andrea Skiba from the cc.alps team spoke to the Mayor of Wildpoldsried, Arno Zengerle, about their success.

The winners of the German government's "idee.natur - Large-scale Nature Conservation Projects and Rural Development" competition were announced at the end of June 2009. Five regions came out on top with their concepts for new large-scale nature conservation projects. Over € 50 million will be invested in these regions over the next ten years. The "Allgäu Moor Alliance" was the winner in the Moors Category.

On 12 March 2009 the German environmental organisation Bund Naturschutz awarded Bavaria's Nature Conservation Medal to Sylvia Hamberger in recognition of her exceptional contributions to the protection of the Alpine region.

The "Alpine Pearls" co-operation venture is organising a "softly mobile" winter trip through the Pearls of the Alps between 19 and 30 January 2009 - specially for members of the press.

The final conference in Laufen/D on 12 March 2008 marked the end of the Interreg IIIB Alpine Space Project "ClimChAlp" (Climate Change, Impacts and Adaptation Strategies in the Alpine Space).

In the 1990s four storms in the Alpine regions caused quite a stir: in February 1990 Vivian and Wiebke, and in December 1999 Lothar and Martin. What they all had in common was the devastation they caused; what was also remarkable was the short time span between them. The Dossier's background report, which is available only in German, outlines the extent and causes of the damage caused in the forest areas and the way in which the storm areas were addressed depending on the different interests governing the use of those areas. Additional relevant material on the issue can be found in other language versions of this page.

As part of the EU-sponsored research project FloodScan the German Land of Bavaria is to be photographed and surveyed from the air using laser scanners.

In the view of the project's initiators the opening of the Memmingerberg regional airport in the Allgäu/D on 28 June represents the "opportunity of the century". Bavaria subsidised the project to the tune of €7.3 m, with total investments amounting to €20 m.