Austria

All across Austria the tendency to build cableways and other skiing infrastructures inside the boundaries of protected areas and other high-value zones can be observed. The Austrian Alpine Club (OeAV) warns against the destruction of landscape and recreational resources in the Alps and demands a framework for a well-balanced territorial planning, in order to preserve the typical Alpine landscape.

The participants at the start-up meeting for a transnational LEADER project held in Mäder/A on 20 and 21 January 2010 went one step further. The 20 or so representatives from five interested project regions in different Alpine countries met up with CIPRA staff in Vorarlberg to get to know one another and come up with a joint project design.

The international climate conference entitled "Municipalities and the climate - Putting mitigation measures to the test" was held in Mäder/A on 21 and 22 January. Around 130 participants from all the Alpine states responded to the invitation of the Alliance in the Alps network of municipalities and CIPRA International to discuss sustainable climate response measures.

At the end of February the Vorarlberg communities of Langenegg, Mäder and Zwischenwasser received the European Energy Award® (eea) - Gold. These communities spearhead the international award for energy-efficient communities, which evaluates some 600 towns and communities across Europe.

On September 12 the Club Arc Alpin (CAA) held its members' meeting in Innsbruck at which it formulated political demands on climate change and adopted a number of policy documents on fixed rope routes and motorised offroad traffic. On the subject of climate change the CAA called for a reduction in CO2 as well as a move away from a dependency on fossil sources of energy. It specifically addressed the issue of traffic, to which it suggested a number of measures.

On 15 August 2009, some seventy hikers went up to the Goldbergkees glacier on the Hoher Sonnblick in Salzburg/A to draw attention to the impacts of global climate change.

400 European towns, cities and municipalities have signed the Covenant of Mayors.

Never before have so many Russian holidaymakers come to Austria as in 2008. Hotels reported a 35% rise in arrivals and a 40% increase in overnight stays.

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 DIAMONT Interreg IIIB project (for Data Infrastructure for the Alps. Mountain Orientated Network Technology) came to an end with a conference in Innsbruck/A on February 1.