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Preparations for the 2011 international mountain book fair MontagnaLibri are well underway. Authors and publishers are now invited to submit any books, magazines or studies published between 2007 and 2010.

The Alpine Space Forum, to be held in Innsbruck/A from 22 to 23 February 2011, focuses on coping with demographic change in the Alpine region. The Alps are particularly affected as settlement areas are limited and many Alpine communities are located in the peripheries.

The concrete impact of climate change on biodiversity is still uncertain. However it is expected to be visible particularly in the behaviour of the flora and fauna in the Alps and also to be different for each species. The habitat of butterflies such as the marbled ringlet (Erebia montana) is set to shrink, alike the grouse's. But in a different way, because the grouse is more severely impacted by land use than by climate change.

Switzerland is once again discussing its candidacy for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Environmental organisations are warning against the ecological and economic repercussions. Even Marco Blatter, former CEO of Swiss Olympic, has been quoted on Swiss radio, saying that he was glad the 2006 Games were not held in the Valais. He added that in Turin/I the Games had grown out of all proportion. "With all the infrastructure investments Turin cost around CHF 4.5 bn; Vancouver is costing around CHF 6 bn; and Sochi 2014 is officially budgeting for CHF 13 bn," reports Switzerland's SonntagsZeitung.

Time and time again avalanches, debris-flows and rock falls result in roads being blocked and railway tracks being swept away, causing fatalities. The Alpine Space Project PARAmount is looking to bridge the gap between society's demands on transportation routes and the outline conditions defined by nature.

The Alps are to have their own multilingual media platform. This ambitious idea was launched by the Rhaeto-Romanic department of Switzerland's public radio broadcaster. Las-Alps-Infoteca is to become "a competence centre for media in the Alps, providing news and information from the Alps and about the Alps".

The international year of biodiversity is coming to an end. 2010 represented a unique opportunity to highlight the importance of biodiversity conservation. The topic had a large echo in the media, thanks to numerous events, new publications, TV reports etc. The year was also fruitful for ecological connectivity - a not so simple topic that received unprecedented media attention. In 2010 the Ecological Continuum Initiative's main focus was on communication. Many articles were published in specialized media. However our main achievement was "The Wall" event. Its aim was to bring home our message on the need for ecological connectivity, carrying it across the whole Alpine space, across administrative, language and cultural boundaries. We succeeded. Pedestrians in six Alpine cities were confronted with a big barrier blocking their paths: an obstacle much like those encountered by animals and plants every day. The public had therefore a chance to experience first hand the problem of habitat fragmentation. The event attracted the attention of local and national media in the Alpine countries. Thanks to "The Wall" the topic of ecological connectivity has reached many more people than is normally the case for such "technical" subjects. It is an important achievement in which we intend to build further awareness-raising initiatives.

Stop - no way through! On 20th of October 2010 a giant wall blocked the way of pedestrians in Zurich/CH, Vienna/A, Munich/D, Ljubljana/SI, Milan/I and Lyon/F. For animals, it's the same every day: streets and settlements increasingly fragment their migration routes.

The Ecological Continuum Initiative has launched its renewed webpage. Apart from the new appealing graphic design the website is also richer in information in German, French, Italian and Slovenian language such as publications, links, events and news. Therefore the website is more attractive for a wide public.

The pilot region Isère has published a guide presenting various experiences they led since ten years in different areas and the methods being used. The publication "Methodological guide of the hierarchical ecological networks - Ten years of experiments in Isère" is available in English and French.