About 30% of Europe’s surface is mountainous, and one in every six European citizens live in a mountain area. Mountains play a pivotal role in providing fundamental products and ecosystem services like water, energy, and cultural heritage to both highland and lowland communities.
In this context, it is not surprising to claim that mountains are vital for driving Europe’s sustainability efforts, aligning with ambitious environmental, social and economic goals.
MOVING in a nutshell
Launched in 2020, the MOVING project was funded by the European Union to address the mountains’ most pressing challenges, such as climate and demographic pressions, and unlock the opportunities for more vibrant mountain economies. Its overarching ambition is to build capacities and co-develop – through a bottom-up participatory process – enabling tools and policy frameworks for the establishment of new and upgraded value chains that contribute to the resilience and sustainability of mountain areas to climate change.
Coordinated by the University of Córdoba, MOVING involves 23 partner organisations and operates across 23 mountain regions in Europe and neighborhood countries.
Conceptual Analytical Framework
The MOVING’s approach is built around an innovative and scientifically sound Conceptual Analytical Framework. This framework helps policymakers and researchers in understanding the role of value chains in balancing natural resource conservation and sustainable development of socio-ecological systems. To do this, it combines existing scientific literature on socio-ecological systems with value chain literature.
Tools for mountain regions
The project unveils a multitude of key results to support the adaptation of its 23 mountain value chains to climate change and other challenges.
These results include an Inventory with more than 400 Mountain Value Chains across Europe, a Vulnerability Matrixes, Spatial Maps and Adaptive Mechanisms Report, Analyses of Vulnerability and Resilience across mountains, ‘Story Maps’ to get inspired by captivating narrative of mountain value chains, practical learnt lessons across mountain areas, and ‘Strategies for Upgrading Value Chains’. Additionally, 23 short interviews with mountain actors across local value chains highlight key factors on the vulnerability and resilience of these incredible systems.
Additionally, the MOVING Community of Practice provides a platform for knowledge transfer, peer-to-peer learning and exchanges between scientific, societal and political actors from local to EU levels (and vice versa).
Policy recommendations and tools
As it approaches its final phase, the MOVING project will consolidate its large set of results and evidence into key policy recommendations and a policy roadmap, expected by August 2024. These outputs will inform EU policy and decision-makers, seeking to shape the post-2027 policies.
Building upon existing policy briefs from regional partners, the project aims to create enabling conditions for addressing threat factors and seizing future opportunities in mountain regions. The culmination of the project’s policy work will be showcased at the MOVING Final Conference, scheduled in Brussels (Belgium) in June 2024.
Contact: clo@aeidl.eu
Author: Carla Lostrangio, European Association for Innovation in Local Development (AEIDL)
