GreenRisk4ALPs

In natural hazard and risk reduction worldwide, but especially in the Alpine Space (AS), forests and mountain ecosystems are outstandingly important, and are increasingly considered on-par with technical measures or other prevention concepts. Forests efficiently protect against avalanches, torrents, landslides or rock-fall. However, so far, few strategies or policy concepts have been developed, on how to integrate forests in risk management and balance the numerous interests, demands and costs. Upcoming challenges in the Alps are dramatic: limitation of settlement space, increasing costs for the protection of settlements, more conflicts by increasing demands and expectations or critical development of economies like ‘monoculture tourism’. Without an adequate, territorially specific implementation of mountain forests in a risk mitigation strategy, sustainable development in the Alps will be hard to achieve.

Thus, the overarching goal of GreenRisk4Alps is the development of forest based concepts to support risk management with respect to natural hazards and climate impacts. GreenRisk4Alps promotes forests to be part of a sustainable risk management by balancing green, technical and preventive risk strategies. GreenRisk4Alps fosters mountain forests to be an immanent part of all spatially relevant mitigation and natural hazard risk reduction measures: in an active and preventive way. GR4Alps has a clear strategy to overcome conflicts and resistances in doing eco-system based disaster risk reduction: all relevant actors are involved and provided with new mitigation alternatives and science-based communication support.

All activities will be carried out within five selected study sites: Brenner region (AUT/ITA), Courmayeur (ITA), Kranjska Gora (SLO), Parc de Baronnie (FRA) and Oberammergau (GER). In order to foster a successful implementation process and to address national and transnational governance institutions, representatives of Eusalp, Alpine Convention and Cipra are part of the consortium.

Contact persons: Stefan Steger, Stefan Schneiderbauer

stefan.steger@eurac.edu; stefan.schneiderbauer@eurac.edu