Association “for the protection of the Alpine region”
The Alpine Initiative strives to protect the unique and ecologically sensitive Alpine region and preserve it as a living space. As an independent Swiss environmental organization, we are ensuring the implementation of a sustainable transport policy and are committed to effective measures for climate protection.
On 25 February 1989 the “Alpine Initiative” association was founded on the basis of the Swiss code of civil law. Its aim is to protect the Alpine region from the negative effects of transit traffic and to preserve it as a living space for humans, animals and plants (cf. article 2 of the statutes). In May 1989 the association launched a popular initiative to make this objective legally binding. The popular initiative had the same name as the association – the Alpine Initiative. What many had believed to be impossible became true after a fierce and turbulent referendum campaign. On 20 February 1994, the Alpine Initiative (Federal initiative for the protection of the Alpine region from transit traffic), the first popular initiative originating in the mountain regions, was adopted by a majority of both the Swiss population and the cantons.
The Article on the Protection of the Alps has now become article 84 of the Constitution of the Swiss Confederation and requires two measures to protect the Alpine region from the negative effects of transit traffic: the transfer of transiting freight traffic from road to rail and a ban on the increase in the capacity of transit roads.
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