South Tyrol

Resistance is growing across the Alps against construction activities in pristine or largely unspoilt areas. CIPRA is making an appeal for integrative spatial planning to the Alpine states meeting this week in Murnau, Germany.

At the end of February 2016 Swiss voters will decide on the building of a second road tunnel at the Gotthard Pass. The CHF 4 billion project will torpedo Switzerland’s modal shift policy, believes Barbara Wülser, CIPRA International’s communications manager.

Like hikers, mountain bikers are now part of the mountain landscape, often using the same paths. The result: conflicts between the two groups are on the increase.

A European legal ruling has strengthened the protection of Alpine rivers. Derogations for hydro plants or snow-making facilities are now more difficult to obtain. The politicians are up in arms.

The controversial application to build a wind farm on the Sattelberg near the Brenner Pass was rejected in a final appeal heard by the Italian Council of State in Rome.

As CIPRA South Tyrol has flagged up, EU limits for nitrogen oxides are being massively exceeded in the region. There is an acute need for action, both in South Tyrol and in other Alpine regions.

The “economics of the common good” represents a growing trend, including in the Alps. South Tyrol is now putting this into practice.

…We now have a new hero factory, Trentino, that is “bearing” heavily on the Alps.

There are no legal obstacles to the introduction of an Alpine Crossing Exchange (ACE), provided the Alpine countries show the necessary political will. This is the conclusion reached by a study commissioned by the European Region Tyrol - South Tyrol - Trentino.

The "blue gold" of the Alps is limited in quantity and thus in high demand for use as drinking water, snow or electricity. At its Annual Conference in Bozen/Bolzano in October 2013, CIPRA will be asking who has the right to this elixir of life and who has responsibility for it.