South Tyrol

(27.01.2006) Under the heading of "Objective 2 and Leader+. EU co-financed projects for rural areas" in its 24-page brochure the province of South Tyrol has reviewed the initiatives and projects it has successfully implemented.

By October of next year, South Tyrol/I wants to be able to receive data from the various earth observation satellites and evaluate it at a purpose-built facility at the European Academy in Bolzano.

"Dolomites of Peace" is the name of a series of nine events devoted to the subject of peace to be run by writers, philosophers, actors, church representatives and experts between 1 July and 24 August.

This year marks the seventieth anniversary of Passo Stelvio National Park in Italy. To celebrate the occasion the management of the National Park is organising a big weekend event with three scientific conferences on 8-11 September 2005.

On 12 January a new regulation on climate-friendly house construction took effect in South Tyrol. According to the provisions of this Climate House Ordinance, the Provincial Office for Air and Noise must issue a climate pass for all new housing in South Tyrol showing the buildings' energy classification and thermal heat requirements.

In 2004 more than fifty percent fewer trucks were carried by the RoLa piggyback services on the Brenner railway than in the previous year. Whereas 140,000 HGVs used the rail link in 2003, the figure for 2004 was a mere 60,000. In contrast, truck traffic on the Brenner motorway increased by a monthly average of twenty percent (in the period January to October).

The 53rd "Città di Trento" Mountain Film Festival is being held from 30 April to 8 May 2005. The festival is devoted to mountain, research and adventure films, with "Arctic & Antarctic - North Pole & South Pole" as the theme selected for 2005.

From the end of this year 80 businesses from Bavaria, Austria, Switzerland and southern Tyrol are to join forces and carry the new umbrella brand Alpine Wellness International GmbH.

The City of Vienna has set up "Scarabeo 2004", the first ever European Youth Competition on Waste Prevention and Separation. Until May 15 young people from more than forty countries can submit projects on ways of preventing and separating waste.

Young scientists now have an opportunity to take part in the second international conference on interdisciplinary research into mountain areas. The conference is to be held at the National Park Centre Stilfserjoch in Stilfs/Trafoi (I) from 29 September to 2 October 2004 and is organised jointly by the Stilfserjoch National Park, the European Academy in Bolzano and Innsbruck University.