News
CIPRA Yearly Symposium: marginal creativity...
This year's CIPRA Symposium focuses on the socio-economic margins of the Alps. Why "margins"? Because the nearest hospital is a far away and the post office is only open in the morning; because the towns and cities are beckoning, and nature is gaining more and more ground. The prevailing process of urbanisation has little in the way of prospects to offer these mountain regions, whose potential is already low.
Successful destinations in alpine tourism
BAK - Basel Economics has been analysing the success and competitiveness of some 100 tourist destinations in the Alpine region on a regular basis since 2005; however the study focuses only on economic aspects and does not take ecological aspects into account.
NENA: A new network of innovative enterprises in the Alps
A network of innovative and sustainability-orientated enterprises and umbrella organisations in the Alps was officially established in Zurich in mid-January.
International Workshop: Services for people living in rural mountain areas
The next workshop of the international series "Disseminating knowledge - connecting people" of Future in the Alps is dedicated to the topic of innovation, community use and participation relating to services for people living rural mountain areas.
NENA: getting together, exchanging views and setting up an enterprise network
Through its NENA Project, CIPRA International is pursuing the goal of setting up a network of innovative and sustainable enterprises in the Alpine region. To strengthen this Alpine-wide network and plan future action programmes together, a large-scale event is to be held in Bregenz/A from 26 to 28 September.
From timber construction to hay wraps - Besides natural resources people's skills and commitment are the Alps' real wealth
Deploring the exodus of the population and the proliferation of tourism, and doing nothing about it, is one approach; the other, far more constructive solution is to show how money can be earned, and secure jobs created, using the resources available locally.
Olympic infrastructures - A bottomless pit?
The infrastructure facilities built for the Olympic Winter Games in Turin in February 2006 have proved an expensive legacy.
Brain Drain and Brain Gain in peripheral regions
The focus of the 2003 - 2007 "Brain Drain - Brain Gain" Project is the development, introduction and evaluation of action plans that reduce the migration of skilled labour from peripheral regions and instead favour migration into these areas.
Piedmont mountain population demands its rights
In Turin/I on 22 February representatives of civilian society from the mountain regions of the Piedmont presented their signed Piemonte Alpine Treaty. The document is the result of intensive debate and discussions, and denounces the political, economic and cultural discrimination of the Piedmont mountain regions compared with the power centres in the pre-Alps and cities.
Plug-in IT services for small and medium-sized businesses
The Alise project (Alps IT Service Network) is designed to provide those small and medium-sized businesses for which IT operations have become a burden with all the IT services they require directly from the Network.
State subsidies for regional products compatible with EU law
Buying products from the region strengthens regional economic cycles and is kinder on the climate. However there has been some debate within the EU whether the subsidising of regional products by members state governments actually obstructed the European single market.
Record investments in French winter sport areas
In 2004 France's winter sport resorts invested 348 million euros - more than ever before - in refurbishment and upgrade measures. In the last ten years, such investments have increased by about 200 percent compared with only 50 percent for ski area turnover. The number of skier days per season is now stagnating at 63 million.
Deregulation of public services accentuates regional polarisation in Switzerland's alpine regions
A new study by the Swiss National Research Programme NFP 48 entitled Landscapes and Habitats of the Alps has shown that the deregulation of public services has accentuated inequalities between centres and peripheries in alpine regions.
Mountain regions and the elderly and disabled
Services for the elderly and the accessibility of accommodation by the disabled are the two key issues of a seminar at Feltre in Italy on July 2. The seminar is being held as part of the Interreg IIIA Programme Montagna Accessibile (Mountains Within Reach) of the Belluno Province and the Federal Province of Tyrol/A.
Italy: MOMO project for the development of new technologies in mountain regions
The EU MOMO project, which focuses on applied research benefiting small and medium-sized companies, was recently unveiled in the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. Plastic materials for nanotechnology for example are to be developed at the Centre for Technological Innovations in Amaro.
Comprehensive study on mountain areas in Europe
The European Commission recently published the results of a study on the economic and social situation of European mountain areas. The study provides an in-depth analysis of mountain areas in 29 countries in Europe, including the EU Member States, the 10 new Member States and Switzerland.
Presentation of an international umbrella brand for leisure & fitness holidays in the Alps
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.
Centre for nanotechnology in the French Alps
The first European network for nanobiotechnology, Nano2life, is being co-ordinated in Grenoble/F since February 2. So after Paris Grenoble is now the second largest research centre in France, with 18,200 people working in 200 laboratories.
Promoting produce from mountain regions
The "Mountain Group" of the Forestry Department at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has announced a new research project. Between September 2003 and March 2004 examples of good practice from all over the world are to be collated and evaluated, focusing on instances where quality products from mountain regions contribute to strengthening the local economy without impacting on the environment.
The Alps are becoming more and more of a theme park
On 29 November Coca-Cola AG inaugurated its Alpen Club Micky Maus in the ski resort of Arosa/CH.
Conference of Regions in Kranjska Gora/SI
On 24 October 2003 representatives of the seven pilot regions of the EU research project REGALP convened at the Conference of Regions for an exchange of experience at Kranjska Gora/SI.
Germany: Regional and ecological produce for Allgäu clinics
In future clinics in the Allgäu region are to be provided with nutritionally balanced meals made from regional and ecological produce. Bavaria's Agricultural Minister Josef Miller referred to the brand programme Aus gutem Grund [On Good Grounds] as a milestone in regional marketing. He added that the initiative could well pave the way for the use of regional produce in community catering.