MEDITERRITAGE - Project on the "economic valorisation of the natural and cultural heritage of the Mediterranean mountains", within the frame of INTERREG IIIC (2004-2007).

ObjectiVES

In a Mediterranean world characterized by massive urbanisation of the littoral and intensification of the agricultural flatlands, mountainous areas are the place where the natural and cultural heritage of the Mediterranean is preserved : mountains keep the heritage of the Mediterranean.

The protection and economic valorisation of this heritage is an opportunity for the sustainable development of the Mediterranean mountains, and the Mediterranean as a whole.

Through the creation of new activities and new livelihood opportunities it contributes to deliver solutions to the loss of human resources, and environmental degradation risks, which are the main and common problems faced by all Mediterranean mountainous areas.

The project has thus as main objective to revise the regional policies and integrate the economic valorisation of the heritage of the Mediterranean mountains as a major axis of their development.

Sub-objectives were to define, through cooperation:

1) measures to improve regional policies towards the moutainous areas,

2) new approaches to implement these measures on the ground, at the level of territories and villages, in order for the regional support to the economic valorisation of the heritage of the Mediterranean mountains to become an efficient tool for their sustainable development.

The project involved 7 regions from the EU, including Calabria (Italy), Thessaly (Greece), Liguria (Itay), Corsica (France), Basilicates (Italy), Western Macedonia (Greece), Andalusia (Spain) and 5 partner regions in the Third-coutries, including Marrakech (Morocco), Souk Ahras (Algéria), Vlora (Albania), Mugla (Turkey) and Vratsa (Bulgaria), which in the meantime became part of the EU.

MEthods

The 11 selected sub-projects concerned:

MEDITOUR : integrated tourism development
BIOMASS : valorization of forest biomass
WASTE MANAGEMENT : waste management
PRODUITS TYPIQUES : the valorization of products and territories
WINOLIVE : the promotion of territories through the creation of events
TERRAMED : the preservation of terraced landscapes and cultivation systems
MYCOMED : the valorisation of mushroom resources
PASAMME : the valorisation of mountains' savours and flavours
CASTAGNA : chestnut valorisation
NEST : the promotion of territories through vocational tourism
VILLAGE : integrated development of mountain villages

ActivitIEs

The project's workprogramme inluded three technical components for the implementation of the strategy adopted by partners:

• component 2, for exchange of experiences on regioanl policy instruments, focusing on two issues: the valorisation of products and territories, on the one hand, and land management, on the other hand,

• component 3,for  implementation of pilot sub-projects, to test new approaches for the structuration of territories,

• component 4,for implementation of pilot sub-projects, to test new approaches for the integrated development of villages.

The project emphasized north-south cooperation, as well as the participation of small local entities to the realization of actual transnational cooperation activities among the regions involved, through the sub-projects.

The final publication can be downloaded from the project's web site: http://www.mediterritage.eu/