News

The new December 2009 issue of Revue de géographie alpine / Journal of alpine research looks at mountain tourism and sustainability. Six articles examine the sustainability of current practices in tourism and take a closer look at the experience gained with sustainable tourism.

The Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention has gone online with its climate portal, in time for International Mountain Day and the climate negotiations in Copenhagen. The climate portal collates and disseminates information on events, activities and developments relating to climate change in the Alps. Climate-related information from throughout the Alpine region can be submitted to the portal for publication.

The information provided through cc.alps is now available in the form of focussed background reports called Compacts, which can be downloaded from the CIPRA website at http://www.cipra.org/de/cc.alps/ergebnisse/compacts. The first three Compacts - on Energy, Nature Protection, and Construction and Refurbishment - address their subjects with reference to climate change in the Alpine context. The authors list and analyse activities relating to climate change mitigation and adaptation, assessing them for sustainability, explaining the conflicts of interest involved, and presenting examples of good practice.

From 2020 new builds in the EU will have to comply with tough energy balance requirements. Last week representatives of the European Parliament and EU states agreed that new builds should in future have virtually zero greenhouse gas emissions. Any remaining energy requirements should also be met essentially from renewable sources. These stipulations are to come into force two years earlier for public buildings.

From 2020 new builds in the EU will have to comply with tough energy balance requirements. Last week representatives of the European Parliament and EU states agreed that new builds should in future have virtually zero greenhouse gas emissions. Any remaining energy requirements should also be met essentially from renewable sources. These stipulations are to come into force two years earlier for public buildings.

The alpmedia dossiers on energy and nature conservation are now available in German and English on the CIPRA web. Besides a report the dossiers consist of more detailed information such as news items, publications, events and examples of best practice.

Three publications on the outcomes of the latest study initiatives on transport in mountain regions have been recently published by the European Academy EURAC in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of the Environment.

The European Agro-biodiversity Day (EAD) will take place on 29th September 2009 under the motto "Arca-Net - the European Ark Network".

400 European towns, cities and municipalities have signed the Covenant of Mayors.

The Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention recently published a book in five languages (de, en, fr, it, sl) entitled The Alps: Eight Countries, A Single Territory.