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Do you speak Alps?

A different dialect in every community: the linguistic diversity of the Alps is fascinating and constantly changing, which also makes it interesting for linguists. Using modern methods such as crowdsourcing, a research project is collecting dialect words across the Alps for a digital, living lexicon.

Under the magnifying glass

What treasures and resources are hidden in the Alps? How do we deal with them as sustainably as possible? These and similar questions are posed in the August 2021 issue of SzeneAlpen.

Mobile in the Alps

By rail, by road, by mountain path: numerous CIPRA projects show just how diverse sustainable mobility can be.

Climate crisis makes mountains crumble

Rockfalls and rockslides are nothing new in the Alps, but dwindling permafrost is making the situation even worse – for mountaineering and for villages.

8th Report on the State of the Alps: Air quality in the Alps

CO2 legislation: more courage needed

While the new CO2 law in Switzerland has for the time being failed, a climate protection alliance is forming in Bavaria; Austria is discussing a climate protection law; and in France the Climate Council is taking courageous decisions.

Alpine Convention - Sectoral development of the Green Economy in the Alpine region

[Project completed] Promoting environmentally sustainable growth while recognising ecological limits: the Green Economy is low-carbon, resource-efficient and socially inclusive. This form of economy preserves the Alpine ecosystem while making use of existing natural capital.

Reset Alpine Tourism

[Project completed] "Reset Alpine Tourism" brought together relevant tourism stakeholders to discuss climate protection and sustainable development in tourism.

Monitoring Alpine biodiversity

Photo traps, audio recorders, soil samples: a unique research project in the Alps documents the effects of the climate crisis on biodiversity in the Berchtesgaden National Park/D. The findings will also benefit other mountain regions.

Fit for work

Change to bus, train, bike or e-bike: pilot companies in the Alpenrhein-Bodensee-Hochrhein region are testing healthy ways to work in the three-year Interreg project Amigo.

"We Stay on the Ground"

Explore the Alps by train: For the "Youth Alpine Interrail" participants, flight-free travel is a varied adventure.

Venturing into the unknown

In her report Christine Eben would write: ‘Once again we formed mixed groups, in terms of both age and nationality, just as we had in our previous workshops that had proved so successful. As it’s all about future developments, exchanging ideas with young people is all the more important.’

Inspiration with heart and mind

Sometimes inspiration comes to Franziska Kunze right in the middle of her day. As it did recently when she was at the market and spotted a pig’s heart in the butcher’s window. She knew there and then she’d buy the heart, even though she didn’t yet know how she was going to prepare it.

Sustainable Alpine Tourism

[Project completed] Sustainable tourism in the Alps is the only long-term alternative to conventional mass tourism in order to safeguard the habitat for nature and people. So far, however, there is a lack of jointly defined framework conditions on anational or alpine level for planning, promoting and implementing sustainable tourism.

The Brenner Pass: transit trouble

The year 2017 saw record numbers of trucks crossing the Brenner Pass. Now there is an opportunity to find a solution to the problem.

The Alps as the focus of climate policy

Temperatures in the Alps are rising faster than the global average. The search for solutions is not limited to the World Climate Conference being held in Bonn, Germany.

Partnership of Alpine communities for climate protection

CIPRA International presented the idea of a Climate Partnership of Alpine Communities at the opening day of the 2017 World Climate Summit in Bonn, Germany. In partnership with the “Alliance in the Alps” and “Alpine Town of the Year” networks, as well as the support of the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, CIPRA International wants to actively strengthen the role of towns and cities in the Alpine region in increasing climate protection in the coming years.

Going further, together

There is an African saying that goes: “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.” And the trail to sustainable development in the Alps and to preserving the alpine natural environment, its habitat and its economic area is a very long one indeed. It is one the Alliance in the Alps network of municipalities and CIPRA International have been trekking along together since 1997.

Reliable partnerships right across the Alps

CIPRA Austria, CIPRA Germany, CIPRA South Tyrol. Right now the cable car industry is all about superlatives. Indeed, the “world’s greatest glacier ski area” is to be created by linking up the ski resorts in the Austrian Pitztal and Ötztal valleys.

speciAlps

[Project completed] Grasslands, marshes, hedges, biotopes and woods are examples of natural treasures and biological diversity that are of great value to alpine regions and municipalities. Not only do they offer a habitat for plants and animals, but also humans value functioning natural areas for their attractiveness and the quality of life they offer. Nevertheless, –these areas have much more potential than we often realise and there is much more every municipality can do!

Transit traffic: a partial success on the Gotthard Pass

The Gotthard Pass has seen a historic low in transalpine goods traffic since the adoption of the law governing the modal shift. In contrast, the number of trucks crossing the Brenner Pass continues to increase.

Economic activity in mountain areas

What can – and cannot – mountain areas do? Two new studies from Germany and Switzerland show the opportunities and weaknesses of regional economies and demonstrate that mountain areas can help in determining their own economic future.

Better protection for natural spaces

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.

One river, numerous desires: disagreements about the Alpine Rhine

A current bone of contention between different interest groups is the priority to be given to the various uses made of the Alpine Rhine: as a farming area, as a habitat for the little ringed plover and the German tamarisk, or as a drinking water reservoir. SPARE, a new European Union project for the Alpine region, will offer assistance for the holistic management of watercourses.

A Sustainable Life - Wolfgang E. Burhenne and the development of environmental law

Wolfgang Burhenne is a most renowned and highly honoured personality in environmental law worldwide. International instruments such as the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature, the World Charter for Nature, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and others are rooted in his ideas, engagement and professional input. This book shows how passion and talent in a person combined with life experiences and circumstances in society and politics to shape a unique life. In the case of Burhenne, his life achievements benefit us all, as well as future generations.

How much protection for protected areas?

The Alps are a bastion of biodiversity, a function that will become even more important in the future as rising temperatures endanger the survival of many species at lower altitudes.

Energy and nature in the Alps: a balancing act

How do we manage the balancing act between renewable energy production and nature conservation in the Alps? The final conference of the recharge.green project can provide the answers. Organised by CIPRA, it will take place from 20 to 21 May 2015 in Sonthofen, Germany.

Stange but true!

…everything out of the ordinary in the Alps has a label.

Future in the Alps

[Project completed]

cc.alps

[Project completed] With the compact "Water in climate change" published at the end of 2012, the project "cc.alps - climate change: looking one step further" has come to an end. In the last four years, CIPRA International together with a wide range of experts and practitioners has shown what intelligent climate activities should look like.