The Mediterranean mountain area covers about 1.7 million km2. From an ecological perspective, this territory is characterized by an extreme diversified and rich biodiversity, that provides local populations with basic services, such as water. According to scientific literature, Mediterranean Mountains have unique characteristics which have to be addressed properly in the process of policy making.
In mountain regions, international environmental cooperation aiming at sustainable development can play a strategic role both in planning and in political terms, as it has been demonstrated by the long lasting experience of the Alps and Carpathians: the only two mountain ranges in the world protected through specific international treaties dedicated to the promotion of sustainable development in mountain areas.
For contributing to cross-border cooperation between Mediterranean Mountains, the Italian Ministry for the Environment acting as the Italian Delegation to the Alpine Convention, in cooperation with UNEP Vienna – SCC and the Bio Mediterranean Cluster at EXPO 2015, promotes the Workshop “Mediterranean Mountains: Climate Change, Landscape and Biodiversity. A partnership for enhancing Sustainable Mountain Development in the Mediterranean ”.
The workshop opens a series of meetings dedicated to the Mediterranean Mountains in order to strengthen and expand cooperation between all relevant stakeholders, encouraging the development of tools for a multilevel governance and the promotion of a ” Green Economy ” in the Mediterranean area.
The identified thematic areas for the discussion are: 1 ) the local adaptation and mitigation of climate change , 2 ) sustainable tourism and integrated management of the landscape, 3) the protection and enhancement of biodiversity and agro – biodiversity in the Mediterranean mountain areas.
International Experts, representative of academic and research institutions from Mediterranean countries, will discuss how to facilitate networking among policy makers and stakeholders in order to identify synergies and define common projects to be applied to international funding, in line with the strategic priorities of the European Union and to enhance the value and contributions of existing experiences on sustainable management of mountain areas, especially in the Mediterranean area, such as the “Charter of Sarnano” (2014) on the importance of the Apennines as a European mountain range, but also the mentioned IUCN Resolution- and other experiences from the Alps, the Carpathians and other mountain regions in the world, in order to foster future opportunities to discuss technical and political issues of the Mediterranean Mountain.
To confirm your participation please fill in the following registration form
Please find attached the draft programme of the event. For further information
Download the pdf version