Events

AlpWeek 2016

From: 11.10.2016 to: 15.10.2016

The 2016 edition of Alpine Week (AlpWeek) "Alps and People" will focus on the manifold aspects of the relationship between the Alps and the people who live, work and recreate there. AlpWeek is an international event dedicated to new and promising prospects of sustainable development in the Alps. It is jointly organized by the main Alpine organizations engaged in regional and sustainable development and takes place every four years.

The purpose of AlpWeek is to share existing Alpine experiences in order to find new Alpine-specific solutions for the future that can retain its social, cultural and natural heritage. To show the variety of approaches available and to discuss sustainable development options, AlpWeek 2016 will be encouraging a broad and diversified dialogue focusing on three main fields of action: demography, culture and quality of life. Social scientist Harald Welzer, cultural scientist and European ethnologist Bernhard Tschofen, as well as entrepreneurs Sandrine Percheval and Anne Lassmann are some of the many international speakers that will joining for the discussion of these topics.

The starting statement of AlpWeek 2016 is that major future challenges are facing Alpine people, and Alpine people are the key movers to cope with them. Social psychologist Harald Welzer, speaker at the opening plenary of AlpWeek 2016, writes, “Climate change is […] a cultural change and an outlook on future living conditions” (Das Ende der Welt, wie wir sie kannten: Klima, Zukunft und die Chancen der Demokratie).

AlpWeek is jointly organized every four years by the Alliance in the Alps, the Alpine Convention, Interreg Alpine Space, Association Alpine Town, International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA) , Club Arc Alpin, International Scientific Committee on Research in the Alps (ISCAR) and Ökomodell Achental with the financial support of: German Ministry for Environment, for Nature Protection, Building and Nuclear Security, and Bavarian Ministry for Environment and Consumer Protection. This edition of the event is being organized under the German Presidency of the Alpine Convention.

Numerous sessions, excursions, field trips, exhibitions and a marketplace will take place alongside the AlpWeek 2016 plenary meetings, including several sessions organized by Mountain Partnership members. With the AlpWeek Conference, the presidency of the Alpine Convention will shift from Germany to Austria. Both ministers will have a joint press conference on 13 October at 13.00, followed by a meeting with alpine NGOs.

See the full programme of AlpWeek events

Online registration closes 30 September 2016.

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