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When nature loses, we all lose

The air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the safety of our homes – all depend on strong environmental laws. Right now, those protections are under attack. Once they’re gone, we hand the keys of our future to those who see nature only as a resource to exhaust. In the EU, environmental laws are being gutted, under the promise of “simplification” of the legal system. But in reality, these changes will only profit greed, while endangering the lives of all.

[3 questions to … ] Francesca Pasetti Bombardella

2026 is the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP 2026) aimed at raising global awareness of the critical importance of rangelands and pastoralist communities, managed by FAO during the whole 2026. Francesca Pasetti Bombardella is co-chair of the Regional IYRP Support Group Europe.

Preserving the water ressource in the French Jura massif : using a holistic method to better share and adapt to climate change

Adaptation of pastoralism to climate change doesn’t only rely on the shoulders of shepherds and livestock farmers. To deal with climate change, it is important to have a global view, understand how stakes intertwine and think about the adaptation of an ecoregion as a whole - otherwise it cannot be sustainable. That’s what Olivier Erard demonstrates within a project led by the Community of Agglomeration of the Pays de Gex and the National Natural Reserve of the High Jura’s mountains range, which objective was to work on the preservation of the water ressource while answering the needs of pastoral farmers.

The “Hofgemeinschaft Ratzenbergli”

A social and local project around biodynamic agriculture in the Bernese hills

Booklet: Pastoralism schools in the Alps

When shepherds, farmers and all the mountain farming experts meet, they often talk about the same things: the alp, the fencing, the cheese production and the life in the mountains. But be careful, very often these exact same terms are very different in their content, depending on the language, regional cultural characteristics and the sometimes quite different conditions of the respective mountain world. In order to not just talk at cross purposes but to actually understand each other better, CIPRA has created this brochure. Four alpine farming experts explain 10 terms. As each language version contains all four explanations, this brochure serves as a kind of undispensable, unique vade mecum for cross-border dialogue.

Point of view: Every drop counts

Discussing, eating and laughing together, forging ideas, identifying problems, discovering projects and meeting inspiring people: commitment is contagious, according to Anna Mehrmann and Maya Mathias from CIPRA International, who organised the second Liechtenstein Future Forum Alps on the topic of water in 2025.

XIV European Mountain Convention

From pastures to policies : ensuring the future of extensive livestock framing in mountain territoires

Boundaries between nature, community and lived utopias

On the weekend of September 13th and 14th, the Dachverband für Natur- und Umweltschutz Südtirol, in its role as CIPRA South Tyrol, went on a hike through the South Tyrolean Alps together with eleven young adults. During the excursion, they visited the lived utopia Vergissmeinnicht (“Forget-me-not”) and later held an in-depth conversation with the director of the Bruneck Art Workshop.

Sharing Biodiversity on a Micro-Farm

A farmhouse in Canton Appenzell, Switzerland, surrounded by 3 hectares of land, aims to create a diverse, open-minded, and peaceful space.

The battle for Alpine water

A revival of the hydropower boom: 70 years ago, many Alpine rivers were dammed for the benefit of power stations, while valuable high valleys were built over. Today, new requirements are threatening their ecological functions. In view of the dwindling glaciers and increasing utilisation demands, a distribution battle is looming.

Getting stones rolling

Workshops, excursions, art cards, podcasts: the results of the CIPRA “SteinReich” project, which focused on drystone walls and cairns, are diverse and tangible.

Paths to sustainable agriculture

The first Utopia hike organised by the umbrella organisation for nature and environmental protection in its function as CIPRA South Tyrol took place on Wednesday, 7 August 2024. On this occasion, the functioning utopia of organic vegetable cultivation in the Puster Valley was visited on two farms.

10 Key Concepts of the Pastoral economy

A management model for Jelovica

Restoring a damaged forest and other good practices: The JeloviZa project implemented a management model for a sensible natural area in Slovenia.

After the flood

What role could biosphere reserves play in dealing with climate risks? This was the subject of an international workshop organised by the MultiBios project in Bad Kleinkirchheim/A at the beginning of April 2024, which included a site visit to the Gegendtal valley that was affected by heavy rainfall and flooding two years ago.

Challenges for alpine agriculture

Loss of biodiversity, climate change, migration: just some of the problems affecting the Alpine region. The concept of agroecology offers sustainable solutions - but we have to implement them together.

Natural diversity through stones

What do the large woolly bee, the protected fire-bellied toad, the busy ant and the white stonecrop have in common? They all feel right at home in and around cairns, which CIPRA’s “StoneRich” project is creating in seven pilot regions.

UNESCO recognizes Alpine season as cultural heritage

In December 2023, UNESCO added the “Alpine season” to its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Known for centuries in Switzerland and neighbouring countries, the Alpine season remains alive and well thanks to its many different forms.

Dialogues on wolves – strengthening shepherds’ networks in the Alps

[Completed] A project that promotes exchanges of knowledge across national and linguistic borders between shepherds in the Alpine region.

Global Challenges in Mountain Agropastoral Systems

The LIFE PASTORALP final conference “GLOBAL CHALLENGES IN MOUNTAIN AGROPASTORAL SYSTEMS – Scientific evidence on impacts, adaptation and policies”, aims at bringing together researchers, policy makers, agriculture and extension technicians, farmers and students to share and discuss current and emerging issues related to climate-driven global changes in mountain agropastoral systems. The debate on these issues, hosted in the heart of the Alps, will be fostered by experiences from all Europe and mountain environments and will give rise to new ideas and proposals to be spread and shared globally.

Bon Appétit!

[Project completed] From the field to the plate: In the "Bon Appétit!" project, young people dig into the earth, taste and process regional products and visit farms in their region. They experience how the food on their plate shapes the landscape around them.

Alps in transition

The ecological transition is already happening in the Alps – and we are in the middle of it. The AlpWeek 2022 from 5 to 7 September 2022 in Brig-Glis/CH will bring together citizens and decision-makers to discuss the many aspects of transformation in the Alps. CIPRA is co-organiser of the international event.

Natura 2000 site under pressure

Too many visitors are putting a strain on nature in the Trois Becs/F area and pushing the infrastructure to its limits. A study by CIPRA France proposes measures, including on-site personal sensitisation and greater communication.

Using less soil

Puy-Saint-André in the French Alps has reduced the buildable municipal area by confiscating "ownerless" land, is saving space thanks to community housing projects and promoting the supply of local food by means of pasture associations.

Ecological and community areas

With its ecological commons zone (“Zone d'écologie communale”, ZEC), the Free Quarter of Lentillères in Dijon/F invents a legal tool to legalise land occupation and thus prevent construction.

Waale, Suonen, Wasserleiten

Vital for the cultural landscape and biodiversity, and the epitome of community resource management: an application to UNESCO aims to turn traditional irrigation practices into an intangible cultural heritage asset.

Alpine-wide network for shepherds

What are the possibilities and challenges for a cross-border organisation for shepherds in the Alps? CIPRA held an online conference on 27 January 2022 with representatives from agricultural colleges, national authorities, nature conservation groups and shepherds' organisations to find answers.

Online conference: Building an Alpine-wide web of shepherding organisations

The return of large carnivores in the Alps has many consequences on alpine farming and on the work and practises of shepherding. CIPRA International invites representatives from shepherding organisations in the Alpine region, representatives from agricultural schools and organisations as well as responsible authorities that have developed curriculums for herders to a virtual conference to discuss needs and opportunities for a cross-border shepherd organisation.

Saving:Soils

[Project completed] With its project “Saving:Soils”, CIPRA is working for a trend reversal in the use of land in peri-urban areas in order to put scientific findings into practice, make pilot examples visible and encourage imitation.

Abandoned and uncultivated

Remote mountain villages in Piedmont/I have been struggling with heavy emigration for years. The region is now supporting people moving back to the mountains. A study from Austria shows how endangered Alpine agriculture actually is.