Alps / Europe

The “Mountaineering Villages” initiative unites small communities in the Alpine region that focus on gentle tourism and nature conservation. Now there are six new members from Italy, Austria and, for the first time, Switzerland.

Creative ideas, fresh impulses and innovative projects for sustainable development in the Alpine region: at the “Alpine Changemaker Basecamp”, young, motivated people will have the opportunity to develop new future perspectives for a good life in the Alps with like-minded people.

Spiked rue, glacier buttercup, saxifrage: the habitat of such alpine plants is shrinking with the glaciers, as a recent study shows. In addition to climate change, mountain plants are also suffering from nitrogen deposition.

On children’s playgrounds, in schoolyards and at the marketplace: researchers from Italy, Austria and Germany detect 32 different agricultural poisons in public places in South Tyrol.

Artificial ice cones and “snow ropes”: Swiss glaciologists want to save glacier ice as a water reservoir and make ski resorts more environmentally friendly. The idea comes from the Indian Himalayas.

Switzerland has chaired the Alpine Convention since the end of 2020. One of the main topics for the next two years will be climate protection.

Stephan Tischler is the new Chairman of CIPRA Austria, Elias Kindle takes over as Executive Director of CIPRA Liechtenstein. At CIPRA International Wilfried Marxer becomes Treasurer and Sofia Farina is Youth Representative on the Board, while Co-Director Barbara Wülser says goodbye.

Trade has been the driving force behind cultural and social development in the Alpine region. Transit traffic in its current form, on the other hand, mainly benefits regions away from the Alps. To ban noise and exhaust fumes from the Alpine valleys we need more than a watered-down EU directive, says Stephan Tischler, President of CIPRA Austria.

Travelling through the Alps by train in a climate-friendly way: young adults campaigned for more sustainable mobility at the online workshop “Youth Alpine Interrail” in December 2020 at the “AlpenWoche Intermezzo”. They discussed with representatives from politics how nature experiences can motivate more climate protection and which political measures are necessary.

Outdoor lessons, a sustainably organised music festival, workshops on waste prevention: young people from Italy, Liechtenstein and Slovenia presented their ideas for a more sustainable future at the kick-off of the Alps2030 project on 9 December 2020.