The Plateau Pioneers

My parents farmed an alpine pasture in the Gaistal Valley, so I came into close contact with the topics of nature, tourism, regionality, and related issues from birth. Whenever the topic of sustainability came up, my father liked to use the Greek word for sustainable — it's called statheros. He translated it as "enduring". I like this variant — after all, acting sustainably means that everything we do should last for the future.

I started my career in the technical quality department of an industrial company. There, I quickly realized that I would like to develop our living space and thus my "homeland" so that we can offer future generations a wonderful home.

Nobody starts from scratch, and here on the Tyrolean high plateau in particular, the topic is somehow already in our genes: We live in a nature-loving region among many locals who consciously think sustainably. Today we use terms such as biodiversity, social, ecological, or economic sustainability, climate protection, and so on. Basically, however, these terms express nothing other than what we learned from our grandparents: nature, regionality, tradition, and a conscious use of what we have at our disposal.

The Tourism Board has always paid attention to our most valuable asset—our nature, our living space. In 2020, Franz Straubinger was finally hired by the Karwendel Nature Park to consolidate all previous projects and efforts, give the whole thing a name, and try to set concrete goals. In 2022, I came on board as habitat and sustainability coordinator. His and my work ultimately led to our genuinely sustainable strategy and action plan in early 2023.

As Sustainability Coordinator, the topic is the program, and as it is currently on everyone's lips, my tasks and projects are wide-ranging. In principle, we as a Tourism Board are guided by the United Nations 2030 Agenda and its 17 SDGs. My core task at the beginning was to develop a clear action plan from the numerous projects, initiatives, ideas, and opinions, and thus ultimately our really sustainability strategy.

It was finalized at the beginning of 2023 and comprises our personal SDG compass and our four pillars of sustainability: sustainable management, social-ecological sustainability, economic sustainability, and mobility.

This strategy is my working paper or to-do list. It also involves constant dialogue with our team, as well as brainstorming and critical discussion with our partners and experts at network meetings.

The Board and we had a few pioneering companies in mind right from the start, of course. However, the project was then presented to all our member companies in 2022 and advertised openly. This meant that any company in our region could join.

The most important prerequisite was a willingness to change. Anyone who possessed this had already overcome the entry threshold. Together with an expert in sustainable development, we then took a step-by-step approach. The biggest challenge at the beginning of the project was that the existing levels of sustainability and the goals of the participating companies were very different. We had to hold many discussions to understand the individual expectations of the project. It was a long and sometimes rocky road, but that is precisely why we are now such a close-knit group.

The diversity of the group—ranging from bed and breakfasts to 5-star hotels and the Karwendel Nature Park—is now our greatest strength. Everyone can learn from the experiences of others. The nature park often serves as our corrective. As a Tourism Board, we are above all a coordinating body and motivator, organizing workshops and facilitating constant exchange. We also use our channels for active communication and marketing and, like all pioneering businesses, work on our own "sustainability construction sites."

You don't receive the eco-label for tourism destinations on your own, neither as a municipality nor as a Tourism Board. It is awarded to the region as a whole and only if all stakeholders work together. The project and the associated good cooperation between the Tourism Board and businesses were essential for the region to be awarded the eco-label for tourism destinations. We have really set a fast pace here. Receiving the Ecolabel in 2023 was a major milestone for us. It has shown us that we are on the right track and motivates us to continue pursuing it consistently in the future.

The results of the first two years of the Plateau Pioneers project are really good. The many pieces of the puzzle that everyone has worked on have led to two of the six Plateau Pioneers from the accommodation segment also being certified with the Austrian Ecolabel and the EU Ecolabel in summer 2023. The remaining four businesses submitted their application for certification in 2023.

Public transport and travel were focused on as a joint project in the region. The Tourism Board and businesses developed a joint communication package and special incentives for guests, which were very well received.

We have a detailed project plan for the next two years, funded by regional management. Based on the successes of the first two years, we are ready and already in the process of implementing the first concrete projects for the region.

One of these is the Plateau Potato. Together with five motivated farmers and our Plateau Pioneers, around 2.5 tonnes of potato seedlings were planted at various locations in our region in spring 2023. After intensive care over the summer, we were able to harvest for the first time in autumn 2023. At a joint taste testing dinner featuring excellent potato dishes, two favorites were selected from an initial five varieties, which will be planted again in 2024. Most of this year's harvest was purchased by the Plateau Pioneers and other regional businesses and served in special regional dishes. As there were still slight problems with the calculations and logistics at the start of the project, the Plateau Pioneers and farmers decided to donate an additional 800kg to the Innsbruck Dinner Club for people in need, in the interests of social sustainability.

Despite all the euphoria, we must not forget our main task for the next two years: We need to inspire more businesses to follow our path and recruit new members for our Plateau Pioneers group. The eight of us were the first to lead the way, now we need more people to join us in creating a more sustainable future!