Mountain Valorization through Interconnectedness and Green Growth

Project Information

MOVING

Grant agreement ID: 862739

DOI 10.3030/862739

EC signature date 4 May 2020

Start date 1 September 2020

End date 31 August 2024

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost € 6 000 398,75

EU contribution € 5 996 748,75

Coordinated by

UNIVERSIDAD DE CORDOBA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MOVING (Mountain Valorization through Interconnectedness and Green Growth)

Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

European mountains cover 36% of the total area, host 16% of Europe’s population, and represent a great diversity of ecosystems, land uses, cultural practices, and traditional and innovative knowledge systems. However, these regions are under a variety of pressures, from the impacts of climate change to challenges related to depopulation. This calls for a new approach in the form of a new generation of policies and governance strategies that can help mountain stakeholders adapt to these changes and enhance their resilience and sustainability. In response to this need, MOVING is actively involved in 23 different mountain areas. The project's primary goal is to assess value chains (VCs) that have the potential to bolster these regions. MOVING takes a grassroots approach, fostering participation from a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including value chain actors, policymakers, and other relevant parties. Together, these groups work to develop and enhance value chains that can play a pivotal role in enhancing the resilience and sustainability of mountain communities. MOVING main objective is to build capacities and co-develop through a bottom-up participatory process that engages value chain actors, stakeholders and policymakers, relevant policy frameworks across Europe for the establishment of new or upgraded/upscaled value chains that contribute to resilience and sustainability of mountain areas.

The seven specific objectives of MOVIG are:
1. Establish a European-wide Community of Practice (CoP) on Mountain Value Chains, including actors from the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS), value chain and policy-making stakeholders and society
2. Develop a conceptual and analytical framework able to describe and interpret the diversity of mountain value chains and assess their contribution to the sustainability and resilience of mountain areas and population
3. Provide visual tools to raise awareness of the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS), value chains actors, civil society, and policymakers on the diversity of land use and production systems of mountain areas, the threats they face, the bio-physical assets they can mobilise, their sustainability, and their resilience to climate change
4. Study the configurations, strategies, dynamics, and value distribution of the value chains in the main European mountainous areas to assess their contribution to sustainability and resilience
5. Develop in-depth, participatory, critical benchmarking of clusters of mountain value chains to identify enablers and blocking factors affecting the sustainability and resilience
6. Carry out foresight exercises to capture and anticipate the long-term trends affecting mountain areas, co-constructing shared visions and strategies for a balanced mix of public and private goods
7. Elaborate an evidence-based and performance-focused policy roadmap and policy design toolkit for the next generation of policy interventions to enhance the connectivity, sustainability, and resilience of mountain regions

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The main results achieved in the second reporting period according to the project objectives are:

Integrating research with Dissemination, Exploitation, Communication and Outreach activities
• The MOVING CoP has been strengthened during this period gathering around 1000 actors.
• 137 workshops and activities developed with these stakeholders and 28 participatory workshops with youngsters.
• MOVING APP fully operational.
• 31 MOVING Practice Abstracts developed.
• A “Story Map Building and Visualising Tool” built
• Three newsletters released.
• 41 videos uploaded to YouTube.
• The 2nd EU MAP webinar was organised

Developing a Conceptual and Analytical Framework
• MOVING conceptual and analytical framework revised and reformulated, and results published in the Journal of Rural Studies.

Development of visual science-society-policy interface tools
• Final analysis of the land use systems and their vulnerability, including vulnerability maps and a scientific paper submitted
• Development of visual tools for interactive Story Maps. A scientific paper has been published in the International Journal of Digital Earth and some others in revision or in elaboration.

Participatory appraisal of vulnerability and performance of value chains
• The 23 VCs and their assemblage with other VCs characterised using qualitative approaches. Results validated in 46 participatory workshops
• 22 digital stories developed.
• Upgrading strategies in the VCs identified.
• 26 Practice abstracts elaborated and 5 scientific papers are under development.

Cross-case comparison and benchmarking
• Guidelines for benchmarking and cross-comparison among regions and VCs elaborated.
• Five thematic clusters defined and the 23 case studies allocated to one or two clusters.
• Practice abstracts elaborated

Participatory multi-level foresight
• Guidelines for the multi-level foresight analysis and 9 training workshops hosted.
• 22 local foresight analyses developed

Policy analysis and Roadmap
• Internal working document elaborated on the current status of the policy environment and governance arrangements in mountain areas.
• Policy Roadmap and Policy Toolkit initiated

Finally, the Coordination team has provided committed support for the day-to-day management of the project across scientific, administrative, and financial domains, ensuring continuous communication among partners and made the continuous follow-up of the approved ethical procedures by all project partners

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

During the second reporting period, MOVING has made significant progress beyond the state of the art in various crucial areas:

• Novel comparative conceptual and analytical framework characterising the contributions of value chains to promote resilient and sustainable development within the Social-Ecological Systems of mountainous regions. This framework aims to serve as a valuable tool for researchers and policy analysts and has been made accessible as an open-access paper in the Journal of Rural Studies.

• Assessment of stakeholder perspectives concerning the underlying drivers of vulnerability in the land use systems across the 23 MOVING mountain areas, and identification of adaptive mechanisms that could foster resilience. Results were compiled in a deliverable and a scientific paper currently undergoing review. Furthermore, they have been shared and disseminated with stakeholders in the 23 regions.

• Identification of 23 relevant VCs in the mountain regions and their assemblages, analysing their components, vulnerabilities and opportunities for resilience. Results are widely disseminated within and beyond the regions.

• Identification of the visions of over 500 youngsters regarding their regions and their expectations for the future. This information is critical for the implementation of strategies aimed at attracting and retaining youth and talent within mountainous areas.

• Identification of four foresight scenarios in 22 mountain regions through a participatory approach involving local stakeholders in imagining the future up to 2050 and envisioning strategies to lead the Social-Ecological Systems toward the most desired scenario.

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