A general assembly at the heart of the Dolomites
On Saturday 6 June, Mountain Wilderness International held its annual general assembly – this year an in-person, elective event – in Auronzo di Cadore, set against the stunning backdrop of the Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The choice of location was no coincidence, but was motivated on the one hand by the issue of overtourism, a problem affecting the Auronzo area, particularly in Misurina and the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, and on the other by the recent Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, so that all the chapters, but especially the French and Swiss ones – with a view to the 2030 and 2038 Winter Olympics – can build on the lessons learned by Italy regarding the environmental, economic and social damage caused to communities, the landscape and the area.
As always, the meeting was an opportunity to discuss what has been achieved over the past year, e.g. our participation as observers at the Eusalp AG6 and our membership of the most important European environmental network, the European Environmental Bureau, based in Brussels; the relationships established and maintained with Latin America; and the extensive network of contacts through the Shrinking Glaciers project, which took us as far as Paris to attend the UNESCO event for World Glacier Day. We also took stock of the situation in Asia, where our Asian Desk has been strengthened by a whole new team now working alongside Carlo Alberto Pinelli (the first evening was dedicated to the screening of the new documentary “Girls in Action”, filmed last year in Swat), and of the support we must continue to provide to our newly established chapter in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country currently facing a very difficult situation.
In addition to the auditors and arbitrators, the assembly also elected the new presidency team, composed as follows: Gabriella Suzanne Vanzan, President; Jordi Quera, Vice-President; Sabine Rentschler, Vice-President; Laura Moro, Vice-President; Anouk Scharnholz, Secretary General; Hervé Thieblemont, Deputy Secretary General; Susanna Gonella, Treasurer. MW International has also gained two new international Guarantors: Alexander Huber and Marco Penasa.
The final part of the assembly was devoted to plans for the future, particularly for the coming year, which will mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of Mountain Wilderness. The presidency team presented and discussed various ideas with the delegates, including an international conference in collaboration with the CAAI and an international expedition to Peru, combined with a clean-up initiative involving local communities. The proposals were received with great excitement and enthusiasm, and the chapters immediately expressed a desire to help MW International with the organisation.
The afternoon was entirely devoted to a visit to the Winter Olympic infrastructure in Cortina, which included a stop at the Socrepes cable car, built on an area characterised by an active landslide and completed (if indeed it can be called that) after the Olympics had ended, and the controversial bobsleigh track, which cost over 130 million euros. This visit allowed delegates to see with their own eyes what, thanks to MW Italia and many other Italian civil society organisations, has received (and continues to receive, due to the legal fallout) extensive coverage in national and international newspapers and media.
The meeting was a great opportunity to spend time together, to discuss and understand how the umbrella organisation, MW International, can network both externally and internally, supporting the national chapters and in turn receiving their support.
Special thanks therefore go to Mountain Wilderness Italia for their organisational and logistical support, for the information shared on the Olympic infrastructure, and for the warm welcome we received.
Gabriella Suzanne Vanzan