From March 19th to 21st, mountain experts, researchers, policy-makers, and stakeholders convened in Cordoba, Spain, for a Scientific Conference, organised in the framework of the EU-funded MOVING project (MOuntain Valorisation through INterconnectedness and Green Growth). This gathering delved into the last four years’ scientific results of the MOVING project on the transformative capabilities of mountain regions and their value chains, aiming to foster resilient and sustainable futures, and set the tone for the MOVING Final Conference, to be held on 13-14 June in Brussels, Belgium.
The event showcased a diverse range of presentations addressing environmental challenges, contributions of MOVING mountain value chains (several of them protected designations of origin, PDO), and the promising future of mountain areas, drawing insights from across Europe.
AREPO participated in the conference presenting the preliminary results of the “Analysis of the implementation of the EU optional quality term (OQT) “mountain product””.
In the past months, in collaboration with Euromontana and HCC, AREPO elaborated, run and analysed a survey on the implementation of the OQT “mountain product”, addressed both to regional authorities and producers. The results of the survey will be used to update and expand Euromontana report on OQT’s implementation and impact (2020), that will be published in the coming months.
The outcome of the survey pointed out some of the main challenges and areas of intervention to foster the territorial impact of this quality scheme, starting by addressing the low awareness both among consumers and producers. As a consequence, among the main policy recommendations AREPO reminded the importance of targeted promotional campaigns to highlight the unique features and benefits of the OQT; the need to provide financial support for producers investing in mountain areas, and the involvement of mountain producers in consultations on CAP strategic plans, among other strategies.
MOVING Scientific Conference ended by unveiling the progress of the MOVING Policy Analysis and Roadmap, which will be the main focus of the project for the coming months. The goal is to co-create policy recommendations to fully unlock the power of mountain value chains building upon project results.
On March 21st, on-site excursions organised by the local hosting partners, the University of Cordoba and ADEGUA, provided firsthand insights into the Organic Mountain Olive Oil production and the Iberian Ham value chains analysed in the MOVING project.
Read the MOVING full Press Release here.
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