Final results from MOVING project on management and sustainability of mountain areas

The Horizon 2020 project MOVING was about building capacities to enhance the resilience and sustainability of mountain value chains in the face of climate change and socio-economic challenges. The project has just ended, and published a number of results on its website, including an inventory of mountain value chains and ‘story maps’ presenting the unique characteristics of twenty-three mountain regions.

In September 2020, 23 partners from across Europe initiated this multi-actor project, which brought together over 1 000 stakeholders and 600 young people. MOVING stands for MOuntain Valorisation through INterconnectedness and Green growth.

Mountain areas produce both private and public goods and services; they include social and ecological systems where people and nature continuously interact. Mountain value chains, which bring mountain products or services from producers to consumers, form an important part of these interactions.

MOVING conducted a study on the vulnerability of mountain land-use systems in Europe. The project combined practical knowledge of local actors with scientific insights to better understand the social and economic dynamics of mountain areas. Mountains are fragile ecosystems, vulnerable to significant threats such as climate change and demographic decline. Even small changes can have catastrophic effects on the entire socio-ecological system. The project gathered 160 adaptive mechanisms suggested by local stakeholders that can be used to face this vulnerability. Around one third of these mechanisms were new to the area, and support would be needed to put them into place. The Regional maps and matrixes to understand the vulnerability of mountain areas and value chains include lists of these adaptive mechanisms for each specific geographic location that was studied.

Further project outputs include Strategies to upgrade mountain value chains; Strategic Options for more sustainable and resilient mountain value chains; and Policy Design Toolkit and Policy Recommendations for creating an enabling environment for mountain value chains.