The International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA) has been working for 50 years to protect the Alpine cultural and natural heritage, by uniting the efforts of all the regional countries. It is an umbrella organisation with more than 100 members.

As one of the initiators of the Alpine Convention it is keen to ensure that the ideas of the convention trickle down to the grass roots, and that local communities become actively involved in applying them. It actively promotes the exchange of experience and ideas.

For example, it has established a voluntary network of communities which are given help and advice to conducting a sustainable environment policy. Among other things, the hope is that participating villages can learn from each other's experiences, and will have access to expert advice when they run into problems. At the same time, the scheme emphasises the importance of reinforcing regional identity.

CIPRA recognises that there are many different types of mountain zones - some are densely populated, some are rural; some are tourist centres, others are remote and scarcely inhabited. Sustainable development has to be adapted to the natural and cultural conditions of each place.

CIPRA has drawn up a white list and a black list of projects being undertaken in the Alps, according to whether they fit in with the Convention's rules. Swiss projects figure in both.

The member organisations of CIPRA are active in numerous fields, from conserving the genetic diversity of cultivated plants to promoting green electricity.

One activity organised each year by members across the Alpine states is the lighting of beacons in August. The tradition of lighting fires on mountain tops to warn of dangers dates back to at least the Middle Ages; it was revived in 1988 as a symbol of resistance to the many dangers threatening the mountain environment, and taken up by CIPRA in 2001. Hundreds of beacons stretching from Vienna in the east to Nice in the west also express the solidarity of the Alpine peoples despite national boundaries and cultural differences.