A limited number of entrance tickets for protected areas, the designation of infrastructure-free zones and an excursion to protected areas anchored in the curriculum: the 18th Youth Parliament to the Alpine Convention (YPAC) focused on Alpine nature reserves. For the first time, there was also an exchange with the CIPRA Youth Council.
Alps / Europe
Frequent droughts, thirsty agriculture: Italy is discussing the construction of additional reservoirs to supply drinking water and energy. More ecologically sound solutions are in danger of falling by the wayside.
Loss of biodiversity, climate change, migration: just some of the problems affecting the Alpine region. The concept of agroecology offers sustainable solutions - but we have to implement them together.
Media releases
Trucks weighing up to 60 tonnes and 25 metres long: the European Parliament’s Transport Committee voted in favour of so-called gigaliners in mid-February 2024 – despite the serious concerns expressed by CIPRA.
What do the large woolly bee, the protected fire-bellied toad, the busy ant and the white stonecrop have in common? They all feel right at home in and around cairns, which CIPRA’s “StoneRich” project is creating in seven pilot regions.
What role will forests play in the future in the face of climate change? At the end of 2023, CIPRA Slovenia co-organized a meeting of various interest groups on this topic. Experts agreed on the need to designate more areas where forests are left unmanaged.
Many mountain regions in the Alps are affected by out-migration. However, climate change is also causing some people to migrate – at least temporarily – from the cities to the mountains, as an Italian research project shows.
In December 2023, UNESCO added the “Alpine season” to its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Known for centuries in Switzerland and neighbouring countries, the Alpine season remains alive and well thanks to its many different forms.
Access to the mountains and mountain sports is often unfair, exclusive, segregating and discriminatory. Henriette Adolf, Deputy Executive Director of CIPRA Germany, argues in favour of equal participation in mountain sports.
At the end of November, a new Alpine-wide research centre presented itself to the public at the Schneefernerhaus, the German environmental research station below the Zugspitze peak: the “TUM Alpha – Centre for Alpine Hazards and Risks” will coordinate, on an international basis, the prediction of extreme climate events in the mountains.