MOVING webinar | Protected natural sites: A constraint or an opportunity for mountain value chains?

MOVING will organise its third European Multi-Actor Platform (EU MAP) webinar on 5 October 2023, from 10 AM-12:30 AM (CET). The topic of the event will be focused on the constraints and opportunities of protected natural sites for mountain value chains. See the agenda, here.

In 2022, the EU MAP within the MOVING project carried out a study to investigate how the presence of protected natural sites affects value chains across its 23 mountain regions. 43.5% of MOVING Regions said that protected natural sites are somehow a constraint to mountain value chains as they harshen regulations on business activity and prevention, land and resource use as well as restrict tourism and visitor management. Nonetheless, the far majority of respondents (82.6%) also said that the presence of natural areas is an opportunity as it brings economic, environmental, and social benefits.

The aim of this webinar is to investigate and exchange the barriers and opportunities linked to the presence of natural sites in mountain areas, its implications for mountain value chains, and good practices to reconcile the development of mountain value chains with environmental protection and community well-being. This webinar will take stock of the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development (2022), the World Network of Mountain Biosphere Reserves of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme as well as the MOVING Cluster on nature and ecosystem services. The discussion will be framed in line with the latest progress on the EU’s biodiversity Strategy and particularly the Nature Restoration Law.