by Tony Cooper - Nature Protection representative

Our Alpenverein (ÖAV) takes its climate protection and broader nature protection roles very seriously. The German Alpenverein (DAV), which works very closely with us, has already developed a plan to make its activities carbon neutral by 2030; and the ÖAV is in the middle of a 6 month crash programme to do something similar - a tall order! Issue #4.2022 of Bergauf, the ÖAV's members' magazine, has more than half of its text devoted to Nature issues. It's billed as focussing on wind power, which it does, but there's much more than that. The issue is available as a pdf online but sadly Google Translate makes a hash of translating most of it.

The articles include several on aspects of Wind Power generation in the Alps - a very tricky issue. The main one of these by Irene Welebil from the Nature Protection dept. explains the ÖAV's concerns and includes a position statement. The diagrams, which are included here, show the main points. Elsewhere in the issue are:

• A report from the initial sessions of the Austrian Citizens' Climate Council (der Klimarat) “It's high time we stopped talking and started acting! We all as individuals must make our contribution to our future.”
• An excellent interview with leading climate researcher Georg Kaser and leading climate activist Anna Perktold, who discuss what needs to be done.
• “At the limits of growth: The end of normality”, looking at the links between Climate Change and other critical issues such as biodiversity loss.
• “In the Change”. In this Andreas Ermacora, our President, sets out how with our 650,000 members we can be a potent role model in areas such as Climate Protection.
• A celebration of a new Mountaineering Village (Paularo in the Val d'Incarojo in Italy). The Mountaineering Villages Project strongly encourages low impact tourism and the use of local resources wherever possible and the network of villages is continually, if slowly, expanding. They are a great example of how communities can contribute to solving the megaproblems, while simultaneously improving their own lifestyles. The network has expanded a lot since I wrote about it in the AAC(UK) Newsletter in 2018. Since then an excellent overview website of the project in English has become available online at eng.bergsteigerdoerfer.org
• A focus on sustainable travel to and from the events in the Alpenverein Akademie's current programme.
• ... and much else.

All this interspersed with the usual excellent fare about mountain biking, alpine history, Alpenverein Youth, touring tips etc.

The main article on Wind Power in the Alps sets out the Alpenverein's position on siting of new installations in the highly sensitive Alpine ecosystems The installation of new ones needs extreme care and may well be undesirable:

• in protected areas including buffer zones
• above and close to the tree line
• near major hiking trails or habitation
• at locations significant for endangered wildlife species
• in important nature conservation areas and valuable forests.

In such places one must carefully assess the value of the expected energy generation in relation to the expected damage to nature and wildlife. The diagrams shown illustrate the ideas. on imports is becoming ever more important as the prevalence of major crises increases and this is going to get much worse as the decades roll by. Finally I'd like to mention a contribution by one of our vice presidents, Gerald Dunkel-Schwarzenberger nergiewende kritisch mitgestalten. In it he stresses that resolving the big, linked crises of biodiversity loss and climate change needs a multifaceted approach, and deplores the fact that so little progress has been made towards implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement. Renewable energy alone doesn't cut it without a massive focus on energy efficiency and demand reduction. We need the lot.

Another key article 'Unsere Chance – regionale Kreislaufwirtschaft' looks at circular economies, where people stive to get all their resources locally and encourage recycling. This idea has at least in some circles become fashionable and even clichéd, but is nonetheless critically important. It lies at the heart of what the Mountaineering Villages are doing. The article takes a broad view, explaining how it can happen at different scales including the EU, national, regional and local. Avoidance of dependence on imports is becoming ever more important as the revalence of major crises increases and this is going to get much worse as the decades roll by.

Finally I'd like to mention a contribution by one of our vice presidents, Gerald Dunkel-Shwarzenberger Energiewende kritisch mitgestalten. In it he stresses that resolving the big, linked crises of biodiversity loss and climate change needs a multifaceted approach, and deplores the fact that so little progress has been made towards implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement. Renewable energy alone doesn't cut it without a massive focus on energy efficiency and demand reduction. We need the lot.

References

The DAV plan is at www.alpenverein.de/Natur/Wir-fuers-Klima/Klimaschutz-im-DAV/ under ‘Climate Protection in the DAV’

Bergauf #4.2022 can be found at www.alpenverein.at/portal/service/bergauf

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