News
The Alps are renewed in Poschiavo
On what sort of resources are the Alps building their future? Can climate change be an opportunity? What ought to be done to ensure that young people have prospects? The Alpine Week being held in the Swiss valley of Val Poschiavo from 4 to 9 September 2012 aims to discuss just how renewable the Alps actually are. More »
The Alps are renewed in Poschiavo
On what sort of resources are the Alps building their future? Can climate change be an opportunity? What ought to be done to ensure that young people have prospects? The Alpine Week being held in the Swiss valley of Val Poschiavo from 4 to 9 September 2012 aims to discuss just how renewable the Alps actually are. More »
Annecy is the Alpine Town of the Year 2012
For years now the French town of Annecy has been pursuing a policy of sustainability. As a reward for its efforts the principal town of the Haute-Savoie département and its 53,000 inhabitants have been nominated as the Alpine Town of the Year 2012. More »
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. More »
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. More »
Network of municipalities: new approaches to climate change mitigation
Over the next two years twenty climate change mitigation projects are to be co-financed with around EUR 280,000 by the Alliance in the Alps local authority network. The strategies adopted by local authorities to deal with climate change vary greatly. More »
The chestnut forest plays host to a rare guest: Alliance in the Alps network of municipalities
The little bat somehow looked different. Filigree in form, brownish in colour, and with a ringed wing it huddled in the corner of the nesting box on the chestnut tree. Nicola Zambelli put on his gloves and pulled gently on the wing tip to examine the ring. More »
Energy-efficient Alpine communities and Alpine towns
At the end of February the Vorarlberg communities of Langenegg, Mäder and Zwischenwasser received the European Energy Award® (eea) - Gold. These communities spearhead the international award for energy-efficient communities, which evaluates some 600 towns and communities across Europe. More »
The Alpine Convention in small bites
The Alpine Convention in Small Bites is the name of a new page on the website operated by the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention, which provides short summaries of the main contents of the Alpine Convention. More »
Report on the water resources of the Alps and climate change
An English-language report on the water household of the Alps in times of climate change was recently published under the title "Regional Climate Change and Adaptation - The Alps Facing the Challenge of Changing Water Resources". The authors consider specific options for adaptation to changes in the availability of water in the Alpine region, including the keys to success and the obstacles to be overcome. More »