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A vast body of literature suggests that the European Alpine Region is extremely sensitive to climate change. Winter tourism is closely related to climate variations, especially in mountain regions where resorts are heavily dependent on snow. This paper explores how to effectively integrate a climate change adaptation perspective with local discourses about sustainability and tourism, an increasing priority for policy-makers in the region and elsewhere. It reports on the development and application of a participatory decision support process for the analysis of adaptation strategies for local development of an Alpine tourism destination, Auronzo di Cadore (Dolomites, Italy). This experience significantly contributed to the idea that an efficient combination of modelling capabilities, decision support tools, and participatory processes can substantially improve decision-making for sustainability. The authors show that, in this case study, such a combination of methods and tools allowed for managing the involvement of local actors, stimulating local debates on climate change adaptation and possible consequences on winter tourism, encouraging creativity and smoothing potential conflicts, and easing the integration of the qualitative knowledge and the preferences of the involved actors with quantitative information. This contributed to an integrated sustainability assessment of alternative strategies for sustainable tourism planning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we examine variations in climate characteristics near the area of Cortina d'Ampezzo (Dolomites, Eastern Italian Alps), with particular reference to the possible implications for debris-flow occurrence. The study area is prone to debris-flow release in response to summer high-intensity short-duration rainfalls and, therefore, it is of the utmost importance to investigate the potential increase in debris-flow triggering rainfall events. The critical rainfall threshold is agreed to be a crucial triggering factor for debris-flows. Data from a monitoring system, placed in a catchment near Cortina (Acquabona), show that debris-flows were triggered by rainfalls with peak rainfall intensities ranging from 4.9 to 17.4 mm/10 min. The analyses of meteorological data, collected from 1921 to 1994 at several stations in the study area, show a negative trend of annual rainfall, a considerable variation in the monthly rainfall distribution, and an increase in the temperature range, possibly related to global climate changes. Moreover, high-intensity and short-duration rainfall events, derived from data collected from 1990 and 2008, show an increase in exceptional rainfall events. The results obtained in a peak-over-threshold framework, applied to the rainfall data measured at the Faloria rain gauge station from 1990 to 2008, clearly show that the interarrival time of over-threshold events computed for different threshold values decreased in the last decade. This suggests that local climatic changes might produce an increase in the frequency of rainfall events, potentially triggering debris flows in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental studies in the north-eastern Italian Alps have been hampered by the rarity of well-preserved high-altitude deposits and the lack of high-resolution multi-proxy records with adequate chronological control. This paper presents the first complete Late Glacial to Holocene peat succession from the Dolomites (Danta di Cadore, Belluno, Italian Alps). A 7 m core was used to evaluate the potential of the ombrotrophic Val di Ciampo peat deposit (1400 m a.s.l.) as an archive of environmental and climate change. The depth–age scale is based upon independent 14C and 210Pb dates and combined with peat stratigraphy demonstrates that the peat core covers more than 13,200 cal BP, extending to the end of the last part of the Late Glacial. Bulk density, inorganic matter content, pore water pH, conductivity, Ca/Mg ratios, and Ca, Sr and Ti trends were used to identify changes in trophic conditions through the bog. The boundary between ombrotrophic and minerotrophic conditions occurs at approximately 400 cm below the surface and demonstrates that this core is the longest Eastern Alpine ombrotrophic record yet obtained, corresponding to 7000 cal BP. The high-resolution chemical data of this peat archive improves our understanding of European Alpine Holocene climate variability and the relationship between natural climate fluctuations and anthropogenic climate change during the present interglacial in the Dolomites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper deals with the relationship between the temporal occurrence of landslides and climatic changes in the Italian Dolomites since the Late glacial. After an introduction on the state of the art, with particular reference to the Alpine region, the results of recent investigations in the two study sites are illustrated. At Cortina d''Ampezzo, several landslides were dated mainly by the radiocarbon method. The most ancient landslide event there involved large rock slides, which affected the dolomitic slopes following the withdrawal of glaciers after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and also slides and flows mainly occurring in pelitic materials of the valley floors (from 13,000 to 10,000 cal BP). A later series of flows occurred between 5500 and 2500 cal BP. In the Upper Badia Valley (Alta Badia), the most ancient events go back to 10,000 and 9000 cal BP, and correspond with earth flows that followed vast rotational slides affecting the bedrock up to a depth of about 50 m. More recent earth flows, involving more modest amounts of material, took place between 6500 and 2300 cal BP.By analysing the dates from the two study areas, it was possible to correlate the recorded increase of landslide activity with the climatic changes occurring at the boundary between the Late glacial and the Holocene and between the Atlantic and the Subboreal, and to compare the results with those derived from other European regions. The types and causes of landslides taking place in these two periods were substantially different, reflecting the different morphoclimatic conditions that existed in the two areas when these mass movements were triggered. Finally, notwithstanding the importance of non-climatic causes, such as geological–structural factors and possible human influences, it is concluded that many of the dated landslides can be considered as indicators of climatic change. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The present study aims to reconstruct vegetation development, climate changes and human impact using an ombrotrophic peat core from the Coltrondo bog in the eastern Italian Alps. Evidence from pollen, micro-charcoal, major and trace elements, and lead isotopes from this 7,900 years old peat deposit has been combined, and several climatic oscillations and phases of human impact detected. In particular, human presence was recorded in this area of the Alps from about 650 cal bc, with periods of increased activity at the end of the Middle Ages and also at the end of the 19th century, as evidenced by both human-related pollen and the increase in micro-charcoal particles. The enrichment factor of lead (EFPb) increased since the Roman period and the Middle Ages, suggesting mainly mining activities, whereas the advent of industrialization in the 20th century is marked by the highest EFPb values in the whole core. The EFPb data are strongly supported by the 206Pb/207Pb values and these are in general agreement with the historical information available. Therefore, the multi-proxy approach used here has allowed detection of climatic events and human impact patterns in the Comelico area starting from the Iron Age, giving new insights into the palaeoecology as well as the course of the interaction among humans, climate and ecosystems in this part of the eastern Italian Alps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]