Alps / Europe

The authorities of the département of Haute-Savoie/F is presenting an award for the most sustainable tourist project as part of the 6th Tourism Summit of Chamonix Mont-Blanc.

At the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne/CH the doctoral candidate Rita Bütler has looked at the question of how much dead wood is enough for biodiversity conservation in managed forests.

The European Land and Soil Alliance (ELSA e.V.) is holding its 3rd Annual International Conference under the motto "Erosion and Soil Protection - The Challenge of Soil Erosion for Local Authorities". The Conference is being held in Bolzano/I on 23 - 24 September, with simultaneous interpreting available in German, English and Italian.

The Ukrainian project at Bukovel reflects the global trend towards developing increasingly vast ski areas:

Europe's mountains are the topic of a new publication in the series Revue de géographie alpine / Journal of Alpine Research. Six essays in French and in English by renowned scientists such as Werner Bätzing have been compiled under keywords such as "Stakeholders, legitimization, delineation".

During a six-year experimental series Reynold Delaloye, geographer at Fribourg University/CH, has found that permafrost reacts less sensitively to warming than was previously assumed, with no change noted in soil temperature at greater depths. He attributes his findings to a cooling ventilation mechanism that sets in in winter.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has opened a new office in Vienna: as of July the UNEP office is to act as the Interim Secretariat of the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians.

On July 8 the German town of Sonthofen officially launched its preparations for the 2005 Alpine Town of the Year with an impulse workshop followed by a press conference. An international jury is to award Sonthofen the title of "2005 Alpine Town of the Year" for its past services on behalf of sustainable development in particular.

This year once again Swiss Re, a leading re-insurance company, is rewarding innovative water management projects.

The Mountain Partnership organisation went online at the beginning of July. The www.mountainpartnership.org internet site provides a wealth of information on mountains in English, French and Spanish, with a new Newsletter entitled "Peak to Peak" and facts and figures on the international day of the mountains.