Alpine Rhine Valley Green Belt
If cross-border co-operation does not function, even very expensive conservation actions can prove futile. The “Alpine Rhine Valley Green Belt” project has helped change the situation. The Swiss cantons of St. Gallen and Graubünden, the Austrian federal state of Vorarlberg and the principality of Liechtenstein have exchanged ideas during the project on how they can mutually co-ordinate actions and thus properly implement them across borders. This represents an important step towards the long-term strengthening of the ecological network in the Rhine Valley and thus realising the vision of the “Alpine Rhine Valley Green Belt”.
Thanks to the generous support of the Paul Schiller Foundation, CIPRA was able to carry out the first phase of the “Alpine Rhine Valley Green Belt” project in 2014. These activities were integrated into the Alpine-wide greenAlps project, in which CIPRA was financially supported by the principality of Liechtenstein.
CIPRA will continue its activities with regard to the Alpine Rhine Valley Green Belt in co-operation with stakeholders from the tri-border region (CH, FL, A). The focus is on the development of long-term cross-border activities on open-space planning and pilot activities to promote ecological connectivity. In 2015/2016, CIPRA will implement the reconnection of the Tentschagraben and Binnenkanal, with financial support from the Future Foundation of the Liechtenstein Landesbank. The pilot project is carried out in collaboration with the Liechtenstein Agency for Environmental Protection and the Liechtenstein Fishing Association.