About
Organised by Euromontana, the Government of Catalonia and CREAF, the event will build on the 2050 vision for mountain areas articulated during the previous European Mountain Convention held in Calabria in 2022, and will focus on how to make mountain economies more sustainable, resilient and prosperous.
Mountain economies are based on economic sectors that are the beating heart of mountain areas, provide employment to mountain communities and essential ecosystem services to the society at large, and are often embedded in territorial identities and values. However, these value chains face a number of economic, social and environmental challenges, exacerbated by the geographical constraints of mountain areas. The XIII European Mountain Convention will be an opportunity to explore and identify solutions and pathways to overcome some of these challenges.
What to Expect?
Interactive discussions on how to overcome the challenges and seize the opportunities of mountain areas are a staple of the European Mountain Conventions, and the programme will feature several interactive workshops aimed at finding solutions to a range of issues, including:
- How to bring more value to mountain agricultural products?
- From raw materials to processing: how to bring the secondary sector back into mountain territories?
- How to tap into the potential of digitalization for mountain economies?
- How to foster entrepreneurship?
- Working with nature: can nature be a business partner?
- Working for nature: how to quantify and remunerate ecosystem services from agro-pastoral activities?
- What makes mountain communities tick? Is it only about access to services?
- Overcoming barriers to attractiveness: how to tackle housing and access to land?
- Beyond the local: how to take advantage of rural-urban linkages to build prosperous and resilient mountain economies?
Call for Speakers
The convention is looking for participants who are eager to share their experiences during the XIII European Mountain Convention’s parallel workshops on mountain economies. A total of eight workshops are planned on various key topics for mountain economies. Mountain stakeholders from all over Europe are encouraged to join the Convention and share their initiative (new policy, project, study, methodology etc.) on those topics during our parallel workshops.
Practical Information
- Languages: interpretation in English, French, Catalan, Aranese and Spanish will be provided for all plenary sessions. Limited interpretation will be available for interactive workshops, depending on the format and needs of each session.
- Registration: full registration will open in the spring. In the meantime, you can pre-register. Pre-registered participants will be notified as soon as full registration is open so that they can complete their registration. Please note that final registrations are subject to a registration fee of up to €100.
- Logistics: there is good public transport from Barcelona to Puigcerdà. Full details and hotel recommendations will be provided at a later date.
Cover image by Kyriacos Georgiou
