Act now to protect forests: sign the #HandsOffNature petition!
More than 40 percent of the Alpine region is covered by forests. They are not only a defining feature of the landscape, but also a cornerstone of Alpine livelihood, providing building materials, supporting biodiversity, and delivering essential ecosystem services.
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More articles
Bernd Hauser | Zeitenspiegel | Copenhagen, DK
Alpine Convention: Sense and Sensuality
Climate change mitigation in construction and renovation is tantamount to providing for the future; it also makes economic sense. Better still, the Konstruktiv architecture award shows how sustainable construction can also become a sight for sore eyes. CIPRA co-initiated the award in order to publicise exemplary solutions. Imitations expressly permitted!
CIPRA Internationale Alpenschutzkommission | Schaan, LI
Climalp/“Alliance in the Alps”: Infected with good ideas
Ideas spread like viruses. They infect someone, who in turn infects someone else, and if they are good and strong, they spread like an epidemic. Energy-efficient construction is one such viral idea. On 14 September 2009 one could observe how it leapt from Vorarlberg to the French department of Savoie. Austria’s westernmost federal province is widely regarded as a centre for innovative timber construction. Concentrated here are a strikingly large number of architects, sawmills and carpenters who use wood as a traditional building material but in an ecologically advanced way – a large-scale workshop for creating a forest-sourced living environment.
CIPRA Internationale Alpenschutzkommission | Schaan, LI
Alliance of Central Asian Mountain Communities: Bridges across mountains
Sometimes the toughest challenges can be presented in the most tender way. On the plate in front of Antonio Zambon is a sheep’s head, braised for hours so that the meat is lovely and tender, eyes included. Expectantly, the Kyrgyz hosts watch their visitor from distant Italy. Quite a quandary. This rustic delicacy is not exactly to his taste; then again, the gesture is intended to honour him as the delegation’s oldest member.
CIPRA Internationale Alpenschutzkommission | Schaan, LI
cc.alps climate project: win-win with science
Swiss economic geographer Bruno Abegg has been working with CIPRA for three years. A scientist and a political organisation – how can that work? “It is a clash between two ways of thinking,” says the 45-year-old, which is precisely what he finds so exciting. As the scientific director of the cc.alps project he examines the way in which regions, communities and businesses in the Alps are responding to climate change. CIPRA campaigns to ensure that climate response measures are sustainable. “My research work has always been application-oriented,” says Abegg, “which is why it’s important to me that my findings flow into practical work for the environment.”
Events
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Webinar: The journey of water | online | |
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XIV European Mountain Convention | Sallanches / France | |
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Alps in Motion: new Alpine-wide Day of Action | alpswide | |
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Symposium 2: Vernacular Buildings in the Anthropocene | Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna (Austria) |
Projects
CIPRA International
I-LivAlps
[Project completed] Youth participation as tool to fight the demographical change threatening the Alps - this was the topic of the project “I-LivAlps: LivingLabs with young people in the Alps”. The motor of the process were active, skilled, engaged young people, coordinatet by competent youth leaders and a stable and efficient international network able to foster local activities at the national level in order to anchor youth participation. 36 participants from 6 alpine countries, aged between 15 and 30 years, with different cultural and educational backgrounds were working together with national NGOs to get new skills to become proactive in their community.
alpMonitor
[Project completed] Sustainable development is not simply limited to nature protection. As a guiding idea that touches virtually all areas of life, sustainability should be discussed at every lunch, every workshop, schoolroom or parliament. Through the project alpMonitor, CIPRA International, together with the national CIPRA branches, strongly focuses on the responsibilities modern societies have in the shift towards sustainable development. The actual objective is «the good life» in the Alps. CIPRA’s approach is based upon the values of participation, solidarity and frugality.
