Current Issues

From simulation to reality

Our most important task between YPAC sessions is to present the results of YPAC to politics and to represent YPAC at events that are relevant to the development of the Alpine region.

Here is a selection of our activities during the past years:

YPAC in exchange with a member of the German parliament in Berlin

On July 9, 2024 the delegation from Rosenheim met with Daniela Ludwig, one of our local members of the German parliament in Berlin, to discuss the demands that YPAC had adopted in March.
Ms Ludwig first listened carefully to everything and made it clear how impressed she was by the precision and concreteness of our demands. She emphasized that all the ideas mentioned were very realistic, which was basically a good thing. However, she also pointed out that not every idea that is good in principle can be implemented politically. One example is the demand to protect nature conservation areas in the same way across borders (“Alpine Plan – Same Region, Same Rules”). According to Daniela Ludwig, it is almost impossible to achieve cross-state regulations here, seeing that there are already enormous differences in nature conservation in the individual German states.

It also became clear that the continued increase in tourism in the Alpine region is a very serious issue for Ms Ludwig. She fears the “Mallorca syndrome” in the Alps, said the Member of Parliament. Too many tourists, too much pollution, too little knowledge about people and nature in the Alpine region. She therefore supports our call for “Quality over Quantity” in order to regulate mass tourism and thus ensure that the Alps do not become a Ballermann 2.0.

All in all, MdB Ludwig always has an open ear for the ideas of the YPAC delegates and might even be available to the young people as an expert during YPAC 2025 in Rosenheim.

YPAC’s voice is heard by South Tyrolean Politicians

In March 2024, our delegation from Merano had the honour of presenting the YPAC project and its resolutions to our town council. A month later we were grateful to have the opportunity to address the provincial council of South Tyrol as well. The politicians showed genuine interest and confirmed their support. Additionally, they assured us they would consider the concrete implementation of the resolutions and encouraged us to persist in our efforts.

Finally, we are looking forward to an upcoming exchange with Peter Brunner, the territorial councillor for environment, nature, and climate protection. This meeting presents a valuable opportunity to strengthen collaboration with our representatives and take a significant step toward implementing our ideas.

Links to media footage of our meetings with politicians (Gemeinde Meran und Südtiroler Landtag) (de) (Web):

YPAC in exchange with the European Parliament

On May 8, 2024 the delegation from Rosenheim met Maria Noichl, a member of the European Parliament, and explained this year's resolutions to her. Special focus lay on those resolutions that we thought might fit best to what she is expert in due to her membership in the committee on agriculture and rural development of the European Parliament.

These postulations were: “Alpine Plan - Same Regions, Same Rules” (C2), “Quality over Quantity” (C2), “Habitats beyond borders” (C1) and “8 countries, 1 label” (C4).

Maria Noichl showed an interest in all of those resolutions and promised to pass them on and make sure that YPAC’s ideas and hard work aren’t lost. She even offered to pass the mailing list of the soon to be newly elected German MEPs on to Team Rosenheim, so the document with YPAC’s resolutions will be in everybody’s e-mail inboxes soon. This way the work of the YPAC delegates will not be forgotten.

Here you can listen to or read a report about our visit to Maria Noichl that was made by Bayerischer Rundfunk. (de) (Web)

YPAC Delegates at the Bavarian State Parliament

On July 4, 2023 the delegations from Rosenheim and Sonthofen introduced the concept of YPAC in the Bavarian State Parliament, also known as “Bayerischer Landtag”, in Munich. We presented this year's resolution to some Members of Parliament and engaged in an open discussion about the feasibility of the resolution considering the current majorities in the State Parliament. Furthermore, the politicians encouraged us to continue trying to present our resolutions and explain their importance to politicians.

After the presentation we asked politician Eva Lettenbauer (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) which influence our presentation might have on her policies. She said that she would try to include our ideas and make them known to the State Parliament. Other parliamentary representatives also acknowledged the potential of our resolution being presented to the Parliament’s Committee for European Affairs.

YPAC Slovenia at meeting of the Permanent Committee of the Alpine Conference in Radovljica

On June 21, 2023 the Kamnik delegation on behalf of the entire YPAC Slovenia team attended the 76th meeting of the Permanent Committee of the Alpine Conference in Radovljica, where delegates Jaka Rudolf Vučkovič and Žan Gerič presented this year’s YPAC resolutions. In the open discussion following the presentation, we received positive support from the participating delegations and guests. They were delighted to work with passionate YPAC students and were also impressed by the fact that young people care about culture and the need to preserve it, as well as the possibility of implementing the postulates presented. The meeting reached a decision, and we quote, "The resolutions are part of the record and the countries are committed to continuing to support our work." The Chair, Emil Ferjančič, stressed the importance and role of the meeting. We had the unique opportunity to discuss our resolutions with representatives of the countries participating in the Alpine Convention in an informal setting. Additionally, the conference was attended by representatives of the Andean countries, which follow the example of the Alpine Convention and are working to establish links between countries in the Andes.

Links:

https://gssrm.si/novice/ypac-predstavitev-postulatov-na-stalnem-odboru-alpske-konvencije

https://www.gov.si/zbirke/projekti-in-programi/slovensko-predsedovanje-alpski-konvenciji-2023-2024/

YPAC Delegates at the regional council of South Tyrol

On June 7, 2023 we were pleased to present the YPAC-project and its resolutions to the regional council of South Tyrol. It was a great honor to give our politicians an insight on the current issues we face and our suggested approaches on how to solve them. The politicians confirmed their support of our initiative.

During the current school year, we are going to organize a political event to promote political awareness and youth participation. In particular we will focus on relevant topics about the quality of life in the Alps. Students of the FOS “Marie Curie” Merano who are interested in politics will be part of this project and work together with politicians to implement our resolution “Changing through Exchanging”.

YPAC Delegates at Liechtenstein Marketing

On May 15, 2023 the delegation of Vaduz had the chance to discuss the resolutions of this year’s YPAC with Mathias Ulrich, managing director of Liechtenstein Marketing. We introduced YPAC to him and had an interesting exchange about the cultural life in Liechtenstein, the marketing of local products and new ways of bringing different players into contact with each other.

YPAC Delegates at the Town Council in Rosenheim

On April 26, 2023 Team Rosenheim was invited to present this year's resolution to the town council in Rosenheim. The councillors were really interested in our work, so - who knows - they might take up some of our ideas and put them into practice.

YPAC Delegates at the XV Alpine Conference

In April 2019 an international group of YPAC delegates was invited to the XV Alpine Conference and the AlpWeek Intermezzo in Innsbruck. There we had the opportunity to give our resolution of YPAC 2019 to the German Federal Minister for the Environment, Svenja Schulze. We were also invited to witness the Alpine Conference and were even allowed to present our resolution there and speak about it with the Ministers.

YPAC Team Rosenheim at INNsieme Opening Event

In September 2019 the delegates from Rosenheim were invited to the INNsieme opening event in Rosenheim. INNsieme is a project of some communities in Austria, Switzerland and Germany whose goal is the restoration of the river Inn. We had the opportunity to talk about YPAC and the importance of international cooperation in order to rescue our Alps.

Presentation of YPAC to the City Council Chamonix Mont-Blanc

In September 2018, three YPAC delegates from Chamonix, Candice Ribery, Emma Blyth and Elisa Cotet, presented YPAC to the city council Chamonix Mont-Blanc. Our presentation was filmed and can be seen on tvmountain (YouTube).

PF Merano: Meetings with Territorial Councillors

In February 2018, we met territorial councillor Arnold Schuler, who gave us a lot of information about the topic 'Preservation of Soil'. We also showed him the resolution of last year's YPAC.

Adam Righi, Thomas Tschenett and Johanna Erlacher went to see territorial councillor Philip Achammer. We presented last year's resolution to him and talked about YPAC.

EUSALP and Merano City Council Meetings, 2017/2018

Two members of our delegation, Johanna Erlacher and Lara Stolcis, went to the EUSALP event and participated in the meetings there. They met many politicians and had the chance to discuss interesting topics with them.

This year we also had some meetings with city councillor Madeleine Rohrer, who gave us lots of information and some helpful examples.