Projects currently running...
The Intermediterranean Commission in EU Cooperation Projects…
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BLUE ECOSYSTEM
BLUE ECOSYSTEM is a 33 months Interreg Euro-MED testing co-funded under the Programme’s Mission “Strengthening an innovative sustainable economy” with a budget of almost 3 million euros.
Led by Emilia Romagna Region, it brings together several partners on blue economy such as ART-ER, Business and Innovation Maritime Cluster Toulon Var Technologie, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Alentejo Regional Development Agency, Croatian Chamber of Economy, Maritime Cluster of Balearic Islands, University Aleksander Moisiu and Chrysalis Leap.
The project will test innovative methodologies focused on supporting territory-making processes through knowledge production towards a more sustainable and resilient blue economy in the Mediterranean area. Specifically, the project will design, test and validate three elements:
- TRansformation Accelerator for INnovation – TRAIN labs in each pilot region to integrate the policy-innovation approach in the implementation of their regional RIS3 strategies.
- A Mediterranean transnational open innovation program to address complex challenges and match, connect and identify transnational opportunities for the solution acceleration
- A transformative Book for Blue sustainable economy, sharing the overall project approach, the main outcomes, and best practices for mutual learning about Transformative innovation.
The CPMR Intermediterranean Commission (IMC) will play a role in the communication, transferring and capitalisation activities of the project, advocating for the integration of best practices and innovative solutions in policies in the field of innovation and Blue Economy. It will support the preparation of the transnational transformative LAB and will ensure the engagement of a wider network of regions as well as transnational strategic stakeholders and seek synergies and complementarities with other relevant initiatives and projects. Finally, the project will establish synergies with the IMC Working Group on Transport and Integrated Maritime Policy and CPMR policy work.
- Website: not yet available
- Social media: not yet available
Project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union
BLUE MISSION MED
Funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe program, BLUE MISSION MED is a €3 million and three-year project that will act as the “Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters” Mediterranean Lighthouse. The project will set up a Mediterranean hub to further consolidate and support the development and deployment of transformative innovative technological, social, business and governance solutions aimed at ensuring one concrete Mission objective: reducing Mediterranean’s hydrosphere pollution by 30-50 % by 2030.
This will be done by building on and connecting existing networks and initiatives, R&I and policy knowledge generated by projects and initiatives promoting basin-wide cooperation, commitment and deployment of solutions addressing decontamination and restoration. BLUE MISSION MED is envisaged to become the reference interactive multiactor platform ensuring access to Mediterranean countries, regions and stakeholders to the necessary knowledge and tools to make peace with nature, starting with the reduction of the ocean and waters’ pollution.
The project will work to ensure the alignment of all the ongoing decontamination and restoration policies, initiatives and actions coming from different governance levels and affecting the Mediterranean basin. It will also provide technical services, governance and business models to support a sustainable socio-economic development of the basin and will be implemented following a robust awareness raising and citizen science approach. BLUE MISSION MED will be the name of the reference project implementing the first phase of the Mission Ocean and Waters in the Mediterranean, preparing the ground for the second implementation phase that will follow from 2025 onwards.
The CPMR Intermediterranean Commission will particularly contribute to the project by detecting existing gaps and barriers to apply innovative transformative solutions in the Mediterranean, providing recommendations to address them and offering support to orient regional investments (RIS3, Next Generation EU and projects) and relevant policies (e.g. EU Zero pollution, MSFD, WFD) towards the Mission objectives.
Website: BlueMissionMed
Social media: Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin & Instagram
Funded by the European Union, through its Horizon Europe Program
Community4Tourism
Community4Tourism is an Interreg Euro-MED Thematic Community project led by the Barcelona Provincial Council and falls under the program’s Mission “Enhancing Sustainable Tourism”. It is a €5 million, seven-year project that aims to contribute to the EU Territorial Cooperation and its transnational dimension through the objectives included in the Programme and the main goals of Mission 4, related to the Enhancement of Sustainable Tourism in the MED Area and the transition towards a climate-neutral and resilient society.
The project is based upon the main objective of improving better governance of cooperation, both policy governance and multi-sectoral, multi-level and transnational territorial governance, with a strong focus on environment and climate, promoting a smarter and greener Mediterranean, which is in line with the European Green Deal, the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and the Territorial Agenda 2030. The project is built upon the outputs of the Interreg MED 14/20 Sustainable Tourism and BleuTourMed Projects but reinforces its objectives to current new challenges.
Community4Tourism integrates the 4 Programme’s specific objectives, as tourism has shown to be a transversal issue in the MED area, involving all kinds of stakeholders, agents and territories. It will address its activities to pursue the consolidation of a competitive innovation ecosystem, support a circular economy, promote climate change adaptation, and enhance nature and biodiversity. As a result of its activities, it will come up with jointly developed solutions and promote cooperation across borders.
The CPMR-Intermediterranean Commission will have a key role in the project as it will be the leader of the Coordination activities. It will ensure the necessary synergies with the Dialogue4Tourism, the other governance project of the tourism mission, and other Euro-MED initiatives and stakeholders to ensure the capitalisation of the project results in other territories, improve multi-level governance and contribute to supporting macro-regional and sea basin strategies in the basin. It will also be a carbon footprint referent for the project.
Website: Project Interreg Euro-MED
Social media: not yet available
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
CRETE VALLEY
Crete Valley is a EU-funded Horizon Europe project aiming to transform Crete into a sustainable, decentralised energy system by 2028. The project is led by the Institute of Communication & Computer Systems of the National Technical University of Athens (ICCS) and brings together 41 partners from across Europe. It foresees to create a Renewable Energy Valley ‘Living Lab’ (REV-Lab), combining leading-edge ICT technologies (Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, DLT/blockchain, big data, Augmented Reality) with a social/behavioural dimension, and easy to adopt efficient business models. Create Valley will demonstrate, in real-life conditions, the sustainable and cost-effective production and storage of renewable energy to cover the Island’s yearly energy needs.
Thanks to the development of the REV-Lab, CRETE VALLEY will contribute to the implementation of the European REPowerEU Plan, increase the roll-out of local renewable energy system solutions, create new sustainable jobs, and enhance the security and autonomy of the local energy supply.
The Crete Region is an active member of the CPMR, and its Intermediterranean Commission. The CPMR will strongly contribute to the dissemination and capitalisation of the project results by developing policy recommendations, organising one policy event and supporting the development and dissemination of capacity building with the participation of CPMR members and the contribution of its Geographical Commissions, in particular the Intermediterranean, Balkan & Black Sea, and Islands Commissions. The scope of the dissemination will also include members of the North Sea Commission and the CPMR Energy Working Group.
- Visit de project’s website: https://cretevalley.eu/
- Follow Crete Valley on X: CRETE VALLEY (@CreteValley) / X (twitter.com)
- Follow Crete Valley on LinkedIn: CRETE VALLEY: Overview | LinkedIn
Dialogue4Innovation
Dialogue4Innovation is an Interreg Euro-MED Institutional Dialogue project led by Emilia Romagna Region and falling under the programme’s Mission “Innovative Sustainable Economy”. It is a €4 million, seven-year project aiming to support mission-oriented innovation policy and the creation of long-lasting conditions for a permanent dialogue on innovation in the Mediterranean. Dialogue4Innovation will work to increase the coordination, coherence and alignment of policies and actions for innovative sustainable economy at the basin scale.
Capacity building is one of the pillars of the project, which will develop tools to increase the capacity of policy makers and stakeholders to address the Sustainable Development Goals more effectively. By working with territorial actors through Transformative Innovation Policy Labs, the project will promote the diffusion of more systemic and integrated approaches, which are necessary to tackle the urgent challenges of the ecological transition.
Dialogue4Innovation will contribute to improve the long-lasting conditions for a permanent institutional and social dialogue in the Mediterranean, bridging the transnational dimension with local solutions. It will become a reference platform for Mediterranean innovation ecosystem stakeholders aimed at fostering an open, inclusive, and effective governance, increasing the visibility and relevance of the Mediterranean instances at the European and international levels. To amplify its impact, the project will support Mediterranean challenge-driven multi-actor alliances. To meet its objectives, it will build on the outcomes of the Interreg Euro-MED thematic projects, narrowing the gap with the policy priorities (at local, regional, national, Mediterranean & European level) and promoting their integration in structural policies and practices.
The CPMR Intermediterranean Commission will play a key role ensuring the coherence of the project and programme Mission with the policymaking processes at Mediterranean and EU level. Together with Catalunya Region, CPMR-IMC will lead the creation of a Mediterranean Innovative Sustainable Economy Hub that will be a reference platform for stakeholders across the Mediterranean sharing the Mission objectives.
Website: Programme Interreg Euro-MED
Social media: Twitter and Linkedin
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
NaTour4CChange
Co-funded by the Interreg Euro-MED Programme, NaTour4CChange is a 33-month Testing Project under the Programme’s Mission “Enhancing Sustainable Tourism” with a total budget of almost 3 million euros.
The project is led by the Croatian Institute for Tourism and brings together several partners such as IMC member regions (Sardinia, Crete and Andalusia), other institutions (Zadar County/Natura Jadera and Herzegovina Neretva County) and relevant organisations on the matter (the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature, Plan Bleu, IUCN Med)
The recent Transition Pathway for Tourism and the Glasgow Declaration are building a global momentum for Climate Action in Tourism, but policymakers and destinations need support to better develop efficient climate mitigation and adaptation policies using ecosystem-based approaches and improved multi-level governance structures, including robust planning and ensure the long-term engagement of the private sector and citizens.
NaTour4CChange will set common methods to allow participating regions to assess their tourism-related climate adaptation and mitigation priorities, and take climate action via plans and strategies, supported by cooperative governance. It will also build on successful experiences at the Mediterranean and global level to test solutions for increasing the resilience of the pre-selected coastal destinations in the Mediterranean.
The CPMR Intermediterranean Commission, together with the Islands Commission, will support participating regions in the establishment and development of a Regional Coordination Unit (an interdepartmental unit involving, at least, tourism and environment departments of regional authorities) to develop and update Regional Tourism Climate Strategies and Plans, focusing on climate change adaptation and mitigation policies related to tourism. Furthermore, it will liaise with the Thematic Community Project under the same mission “Community4Tourism “.
Finally, NaTour4CChange will establish synergies with the IMC Task Force on Culture and Sustainable Tourism and its Mediterranean Ecotourism Consortium (MEC) and CPMR Climate Task Force. IMC/CPMR member regions will benefit from the sharing/exchange of good practices and experiences and will be able to capitalise on its results.
- Website: not yet available
- Social media: not yet available
Project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union
REBOOT MED
REBOOT MED is a 24-months EMFAF flagship project aiming to encourage public-private partnership co-defining Blue Economy Action Plans for the Recovery of the tourism sector, and to incubate, accelerate and test new eco/blue economy tourism packages in 10 pilot areas in 6 WestMed countries: France, Italy, Spain, Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania.
The cross-cutting objective of REBOOT MED is to support the implementation of the joint WestMed roadmap for the development of a sustainable blue economy in the sub-basin in order to generate growth, create jobs and provide a better living environment for Med populations and tourism ecosystems through:
- Involving stakeholders at local and WestMed level by ensuring their full commitment to a sustainable eco-tourism network.
- Promoting new and sustainable public/private partnerships co-creating action plans for the blue economy in WestMed.
- Increasing the awareness and knowledge of public and private stakeholders, citizens, coastal communities and SMEs on the importance of strengthening the competitiveness and sustainability of the coastal and maritime tourism ecosystem.
- Concrete support for the start-up and marketing of new ideas/projects in 10 pilot areas in 6 Western Mediterranean countries as well as job creation in the niche market of ecotourism.
- Co-design and testing of new eco/blue economy tourism packages and common environmental assessment and measurement tools at WestMed level.
The CPMR will be mainly in charge of drafting highly reusable recommendations to support WestMed public authorities in diversifying maritime and coastal tourism products with a green, digital and circular economy approach.
TOURAL
TOURAL (Multidimensional model of tourism verticals driving the sustainable balanced growth among rural & remote grids and urban clusters of rural regions, fostering macro-regional cooperation) is a Horizon project aimed at fostering socio-economic development and job creation in rural and remote areas through cultural tourism, with a focus on the Adriatic-Ionian and Black Seas. Its objective is to support touristic development of rural regions balancing the growth of their urban clusters, more popular and touristic, with the growth potential of their remote and rural grid cells. The modelling approach will be multidimensional, addressing complementary tourism verticals and niche sectors; with the aim to empower the offering to the market multi-destination and multidimensional tourism offerings. The TOURAL target is multiple tourism niche sectors, namely underwater, cultural and nature heritage tourism, cultural and creative tourism, cultural science tourism, and silver tourism. The CPMR Balkan and Black Sea Commission with the support of the Intermediterranean Commission will be mainly involved in WP2 on “CCT Analysis & Policy Pathways” and WP6 on “Dissemination, Communication, Sustainability & Replicability”.
Project’s website: https://toural-project.eu/
Funded by the European Union, through Horizon Europe Programme
Projects completed
SolaQua: Accessible, reliable and affordable solar irrigation for Europe and beyond
The overall objective of SolaQua is to increase the share of renewable energy consumption in Europe by facilitating the market uptake of solar irrigation in the agricultural sector.
This project is in line with the European climate ambition to significantly reduce CO2 emissions by 2030. Indeed, the current energy model for irrigation, based on fossil fuels, has a high environmental cost; it produces about 15% of the EU’s total CO2 emissions from agriculture.
Although the potential of solar irrigation to change the energy model of European agriculture is great, the market uptake of solar irrigation is hampered by a number of non-technological barriers that this project will attempt to address.
The SolaQua project is funded under the European Horizon 2020 research programme and will run from October 2020 to October 2023. The SolaQua consortium is composed of 11 solar irrigation stakeholders from 7 Euro-Mediterranean countries, highly specialised and capable of addressing the technical, economic and regulatory challenges for the adoption of the solar irrigation market: universities, sectoral organisations of irrigators at European level, SMEs in the agricultural engineering sector, an insurance company and public authorities.
The Intermediterranean Commission will focus mainly on regulatory barriers to the market adoption of solar irrigation in the agricultural sector and will participate in dissemination actions with public and management authorities in Europe to raise awareness and provide them with the necessary tools for the development of solar irrigation.
Visit the website: https://sol-aqua.eu/
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement N° 952879.
Biodiversity protection Community: Mainstreaming biodiversity management efforts for environmental sustainability
The Med Biodiversity Protection Community is a horizontal project focusing on objective 3.2 “maintaining biodiversity and natural ecosystems through strengthening the management and networking of protected areas” of the Interreg MED programme. The project will last from November 2019 to June 2022 (36 months) and gathers a consortium of various organisations in the Mediterranean and beyond led by the University of Malaga – ETC-UMA (Spain. The Biodiversity Protection Community (BPC) builds on the efforts of PANACeA during the period 2016-2019 in assisting and ensuring synergies between the community of thematic projects of Biodiversity protection and in acting as a Science-Policy-Interface to foster exchange of experiences and knowledge sharing to influence a behavioural and policy change. To reach its objectives, the BPC ensures guiding two types of processes for an uptake by regional policies to support them reaching their targets to 2020 and to prioritise their policy aspirations beyond 2020 through enforced and well managed PAs network and working beyond MPAs with an ecosystem approach to address major types of pollution and climate change effects.
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
BLUEBIOMED: Mediterranean Innovation Alliance for sustainable blue economy
The BLUEBIOMED strategic project promotes the transformation of Mediterranean blue bioeconomy field toward sustainable development goals through innovation. The project supports better governance of innovation policies bridging the transnational governance frameworks active in the Mediterranean area (i.e. UfM, UNEP-MAP, EUSAIR, WestMed, Bluemed Initiative, etc.) with the territorial – regional/national – policy making, assuming the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the common reference grid. R&I strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3) are the key entry point to understand and orient the innovation trends and priorities across MED regions and connect transnational cooperation with investments for growth and jobs of the Cohesion Policy.
BLUEBIOMED will develop a governance model of innovation policies to tackle complex challenges and will test the innovative approach through policy experiments triggering the cooperation of the quadruple helix stakeholders for interregional innovation investments.
The project will be an open platform for an inclusive co-design process with the wider innovation community promoting a bottom-up MED Innovation Alliance for blue bioeconomy to streamline multiple efforts and initiatives around the Mediterranean. BLUEBIOMED will support the start-up of the Alliance to boost the Mediterranean leadership in transformative innovation of the blue economy.
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
BEST MED: Beyond European Sustainable Tourism Med Path
BEST MED is one of the two PANORAMED’s Strategic Projects (Axis 4) on Coastal and Maritime Tourism, funded by the Interreg MED Programme and led by the Spanish Public Foundation “El Legado Andalusí”. The project aims at contributing to a new integrated and sustainable touristic planning in the MED area, by proposing a joint approach on “green” planning, based on (and improving) the outputs produced by other projects such as relevant tourism data indicators (e.g. in MITOMED+, CO-EVOLVE among others) towards a wider model for routes linking coastal, maritime and inland destinations. The project’s studying and testing phases will allow to identify and assess tourism impacts in its different dimensions and lead to the development of the joint model as a strategic driver for responsible economic growth. The project will also contribute to monitoring tourism sustainability in the Mediterranean, through the creation of an Observation Network of National and Regional Tourism Observatories. In this framework, the CPMR, through its Intermediterranean Commission (IMC), will be particularly involved in the project’s communications activities and will coordinate the WP on capitalisation.
Visit the website: https://best-med.interreg-med.eu
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
Blue Growth Community to work towards the implementation of a sustainable blue economy in the Mediterranean
The Blue Growth Community project seeks to strengthen its Community of Blue Growth projects and actors beyond the project consortia for improved transferring and capitalisation processes. It provides adapted communication, community building, transferring and capitalisation tools and methods for the cross-fertilisation and exchange of good practices, results, and outputs of the Blue Growth and other Interreg Med communities, as with external multi-level and cross-sectoral stakeholders. These interactions should allow the consideration of modular projects results by policymakers to be included at multi-level governance policy levels, and facilitating the development of a favourable environment for blue enterprises in the Med. The project also aims to assist and coordinate the Interreg MED modular projects dealing with Blue Growth in their Communication & Capitalisation activities, creating and ensuring internal and external synergies, knowledge sharing, transfer and capitalization for policy-making project recommendations. Based on the skills of its consortium in marine research & innovation, the maritime private sector, multi-level governance, and networking, its activities respond to the previous phase (InnoBlueGrowth) and build upon the existing stakeholders’ community and projects results, with a specific focus on transferring and capitalising for an efficient mainstreaming and strategic liaising with identified targets. These actions also keep contributing to the sustainable socio-economic development of the Med area through innovative investments in the Blue economy.
Visit the website: https://blue-growth.interreg-med.eu/
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
DestiMED PLUS: Ecotourism in Mediterranean Destinations: From Monitoring and Planning to Promotion and Policy Support
DestiMED+ is a Modular Project led by Lazio Region, which belongs to the Sustainable Tourism community of he Interreg MED Programme. It is the next step on an already successful journey to promote integrated planning in Mediterranean coastal tourism, specifically focusing on Protected Areas. The objective of DestiMED Plus, which builds on the successes of the previous MEET and DestiMED projects is to improve levels of integration between regional tourism and conservation policies in Mediterranean protected areas by putting in practice an integrated approach for the joint creation of ecotourism itineraries. Participating protected areas and local tourism sector intend to test DestiMED PLUS approach in nine pilot actions around the Mediterranean, representative of the nine administrations partners of the initiative: Andalucia, Catalonia, Sardinia, Crete, Corsica, Lazio, South Aegean, Croatia and Albania. Pilot actions will be implemented for the development of nine unique, protected area based, ecotourism itineraries which are aligned with the DestiMED PLUS standard. The sustainability impact of all ecotourism itineraries will be assessed by expanding the DestiMED ́s Ecological Footprint approach and integrating it with a specific methodology for measuring socio-economic and governance indicators. In addition to regional administrations, the project partnership is completed by organizations experienced in conservation and tourism, including, IUCN Med, WWF Med, Vic University, the Institute of Tourism in Croatia and the CPMR. Thirteen project associates from the region and beyond, including Morocco, Tunisia and USA, will be supporting and providing input to the development of the project as well as support the adoption and dissemination of project results. By the end of the project, the goal will be the setup of a Mediterranean Ecotourism Consortium (MEC) at regional scale, which will apply an integrated approach to ecotourism policy development, merging conservation, sustainability, and economic perspectives whilst also, advocating for further involvement of ecosystem-based planning processes.
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
HERIT-DATA
HERIT-DATA is an Interreg MED modular project belonging to thematic community 3.1 (Sustainable Tourism). It aims to measure and reduce the impact of mass tourism-related human activities on old cities and sites of particular cultural heritage or archaeological interest, including UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The project plans to develop a sustainable and responsible tourism management towards cultural heritage in Mediterranean regions, in particular by taking advantage of technology and innovation in management tools (Smart Cities), as well as other policy and social measures. A series of knowledge and solutions (Models, Strategy, Artificial Intelligence tool and App, etc.) in line with the current sectoral changes and characteristics of smart destinations will be developed, tested and transferred. This includes a platform capable of collecting data from selected sources and analyse the impact of tourism on heritage destinations. The results will also contribute to decision-making processes. The project consortium consists of organisations, companies, technology centres, as well as local and regional public authorities from Italy, Spain, Croatia, France and Portugal, including four IMC member Regions i.e. Tuscany, Valencia, Occitanie and Western Greece. The IMC will play an important role in the project’s communication and capitalisation activities, linking it with the works of the Interreg MED CO-EVOLVE and MITOMED+ projects – where it is a partner – and with its Task Force on Sustainable & Culture Tourism. Exchange of experiences and best practices with other Mediterranean Regions will also be foreseen.
This project is related to the CPMR’s work on maritime and coastal tourism.
More information coming soon on the Interreg MED ‘Sustainable Tourism’ community’s website.
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
SMARTMED: Empower Mediterranean for SMART Tourism
SMARTMED is one of the two PANORAMED’s Strategic Projects (Axis 4) on Coastal and Maritime Tourism, funded by the Interreg MED Programme and led by the Ministry of Tourism of Croatia. Its main aim is to promote the Mediterranean area as an attractive, smart and inclusive destination, empowering the public and private actors of the tourism sector. In order to do this, SMARTMED intends to build a structured and enhanced cooperation among multi-level stakeholders that will contribute to develop and deliver integrated tourism policies and innovative solutions for smart MED destinations. This will be done through the development of a new transferrable and sustainable SMART Tourism business model, supported by a permanent collaborative platform for cross-sectorial cooperation and joint actions, strengthening the capacities of all stakeholders in tourism business and policy-making to reinforce the competitiveness and the attractiveness of Med destinations. The CPMR, through its Intermediterranean Commission (IMC), will play an important role particularly in project’s communication and capitalisation activities, supporting the WPs’ coordinator, Occitanie Region.
Visit the website: https://smartmed.interreg-med.eu
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
WinterMED: Winter Islands Network for all year round Tourism ExpeRience in the MEDiterranean
WINTER MED is an Interreg MED modular project belonging to thematic community 3.1 – Sustainable Tourism. The project will last from November 2019 to June 2022 (36 months) and gathers a consortium of various organisations / institutions with recognised experience in EU projects and tourism in insular areas led by ANCI Toscana. It aims to promote the transition from the current overexploitation of insular tourist destinations during the summer to an alternative, sustainable, all-year round use of these territories, by delivering a transnational strategy and the tools for changing and upgrading one of the key sectors of the Mediterranean area. The project is built on the potential of capitalisation, especially of the past Sustainable Tourism Community, BleuTourMed (CO-EVOLVE; MITOMED+; ALTER ECO etc.): analysing, assembling, adapting and testing available tools and methodologies to deliver a transnational strategy for the development of all-year round sustainable and responsible tourism in Mediterranean island destinations. The partners co-construct integrated solutions to common challenges, focusing in the common interests, beyond and besides the dimensions usually associated to the competition between destinations in a global market. From this objective and approach stems the holistic intervention aligned and contributing to ICZM and MSP in the area. The final transnational strategy provides the tools for and the demonstration of the benefits of policy learning and evidence-based decision-making. The CPMR and its Intermediterranean Commission (IMC) will be responsible for the link with the BleuTourMed horizontal project and the 3.1 thematic community as well as for the capitalisation activities linking it with the works of the past Interreg MED CO-EVOLVE and MITOMED+ projects – where it was a partner – and with the ongoing project CIVITAS DESTINATIONS and its Task Force on Sustainable & Culture Tourism. Exchange of experiences and best practices with other Mediterranean Regions will also be foreseen. This project is related to the CPMR’s work on maritime and coastal tourism.
Visit the website: https://winter-med.interreg-med.eu/
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
SHERPA
The SHERPA project, which involves the CPMR Intermediterranean Commission as WP2 (Communication) leader, is an Interreg MED Testing and Capitalising (M2+M3) modular project that aims to improve the energy efficiency of public buildings in regions across the Mediterranean. It contributes to the application of the EU Directive on Energy Efficiency in Buildings and aims to reach its 20% energy efficiency target by 2020 (among other EU directives and connected policies). One of the key aims of the project is the setting-up of 200 project proposals for Energy Renovation in Public Buildings (100 in regional buildings and other 100 in buildings from the municipalities of the partner Regions). All the projects will be implemented in compliance with the specific results, directives, tools and strategies provided by SHERPA. Their implementation will draw on public-private investment and will create thousands of jobs. At the end of the project, a joint action plan on energy retrofitting in Mediterranean buildings will be adopted. The Intermediterranean Commission will contribute to most of the project activities and lead the project’s communications work (WP2).
This project is related to the CPMR’s work on Energy and Climate.
Visit the website of the project.
More information is available in the project brochure.
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
MED-SPRING
The Mediterranean Science, Policy, Research & Innovation Gateway (MED-SPRING) project focused on tackling three challenges in society in the Mediterranean area: energy, high quality affordable food, and scarcity of resources. Financed by the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission, the project aimed to tackle policy objectives by creating dialogue and coordination between government institutions, research organisations, associations and civil society. Involving 28 partners from around the Mediterranean. The CPMR’s role in the project was to analyse systems of research and innovation in the countries involved. It is also was in charge of some of the project dissemination activities.
This project was related to the CPMR’s work on External Cooperation and the Intermediterranean Commission Working Group on Territorial Cooperation and Macro-Regional Strategies.
Join the MedSpring Agora which remains active in the MedSpring Project website
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 311780
MITOMED+
MITOMED+ is an Interreg MED multi-module project combining Testing and Capitalisation (M2 + M3). It follows on from the MITOMED project (MED maritime programme), which aims to promote the integrated management of maritime and coastal (M&C) tourism by enhancing knowledge of data, products and services using a set of indicators based on the NECSTouR model. MITOMED+ builds on and develops the results achieved, with a view to enhancing the coordination of strategies between the territories at transnational level and the development of M&C tourism through cooperation and joint planning between the regions. The main goal of the project is to make maritime and coastal tourism more sustainable and more responsible, by improving local and regional strategies and policy actions and by coordinating them within a transnational MED network. The CPMR is mainly involved in the project’s capitalisation and communication activities.
This project is related to the CPMR’s work on maritime and coastal tourism.
Visit the website of the Mitomed+ project
More information is available in the project brochure.
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
PANACea
The PANACeA project will improve the management of protected areas in the Mediterranean to enhance and protect biodiversity in the region. The project, which will streamline networking and management efforts in Mediterranean Protected Areas (PAs), is one of the eight Horizontal Projects approved from the first call of the Interreg MED programming period 2014-2020. It will encourage a range of people and organisations working on projects related to biodiversity and ecosystems in the Mediterranean, including managers, policymakers, socio-economic actors, civil society and the scientific community, to cooperate, share knowledge and experiences. The project will build a community of nature conservation stakeholders in the Mediterranean who can bring about behavioural and policy change. The main thematic focus areas include coastal and marine conservation, fisheries, Maritime Spatial Planning and climate change.
This project is related to the CPMR’s work on maritime spatial planning.
Visite the website https://biodiversity-protection.interreg-med.eu/
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
InnoBlueGrowth
The InnoBlueGrowth project is one of the eight Horizontal Projects approved from the first call of the Interreg MED programming period 2014-2020. It will carry out several actions, including a communication strategy, community-building initiatives and events, to build a real community of modular projects dealing with innovation and blue growth. This innovative community will strengthen the cross-cutting and integrated approach between the modular projects and key transnational stakeholders, a prerequisite for supporting the transnational activities of Mediterranean clusters. The project will also support the dissemination and transferability of the modular projects’ capitalised results and ensure a wider and deeper impact on other stakeholders at all levels, contributing to the sustainable social and economic development of the Mediterranean area through innovative investment in the blue economy. InnoBlueGrowth will also ensure close coordination and communication with the platform project of priority axis 4 of the MED programme, developed in parallel.
This project is related to the CPMR’s work on IMP governance and maritime investments.
Visit InnoBlueGrowth website
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
CO-EVOLVE
CO-EVOLVE is anInterreg MED modular project belonging to thematic community 3.1 (Sustainable Tourism). It aims to analyse and promote the “co-evolution” of human activities and natural systems in coastal zones where tourism is an important activity, to enable the development of sustainable tourism based on the principles of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP). The project will gather an analysis of threats and opportunities relating to sustainable tourism in the Mediterranean, and local case studies of seven representative pilot areas. The goal is to demonstrate – through pilot actions – the added value and the effectiveness of a planning process based on the principles of ICZM and MSP. The CPMR and its Intermediterranean Commission (IMC) will be responsible for the communication aspects as well as the link with the BleuTourMed horizontal project and the 3.1 thematic community. The Intermediterranean Commission will also participate in the project’s capitalisation activities.
This project is related to the CPMR’s work on maritime and coastal tourism.
Visit the Website of the project – More information is available in the project brochure.
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
UFM Agreement
Following the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the CPMR Intermediterranean Commission and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in June 2013, this agreement was established in February 2017 under the EASME administered grant (EASME/EMtt/2076/7.2.1.1) “Promoting the Blue Economy in the Mediterranean”, to create synergies between the activities of the two organisations and consolidate and develop their cooperation. It sets out the conditions for cooperation between them, focusing on developing the blue economy in the Mediterranean basin. The CPMR Intermediterranean Commission will support the UfM Secretariat in several activities, concretely the UfM Stakeholders Conferences on Blue Economy, the conceptualisation and dissemination of the Virtual Knowledge Centre, the promotion of new initiatives and projects in line with the UfM blue economy dossier, and involve its regions in the follow up of UfM work on this theme at territorial level.
Publications of interest for the Intermediterranean Commission Regions elaborated by the UfM in collaboration with partners organizations:
- UfM Report on Blue Economy in the Mediterranean
- UfM Report – Greening the Blue Economy
- Report on Water around the Mediterranean 2017
- Bioindicator selection in the strategies for monitoring marine litter in the Mediterranean sea
The activities of cooperation with the UfMS are related to the CPMR’s work on maritime investments.
MAREMED project
The MAREMED project was developed within the framework of the creation of an integrated Mediterranean maritime policy (COM (2009) 466 final). The project aimed to improve the coordination of regional maritime policies, between themselves and with National, European and Mediterranean levels of governance. MAREMED targeted the constituents of maritime policy that bear an intrinsic transnational dimension. Thirteen regional partners, and the CPMR’s Intermediterranean Commission, carried out an overview of the policies implemented and their governance, identifying pilot coastal zones for transnational management, operational tools to aid in common decision-making. They developed and disseminated consistent results to encourage integrated maritime management and the sustainable development of coastal zones for the different levels of coastal governance.
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
ELIH-MED project
The ELIH-Med project focused on identifying and experimenting on a large scale a set of practical and innovative technical options and financial mechanisms targeted to develop energy efficiency in low income housing. The results of the project were crossed with other MED Projects dealing with energy renovation in buildings. They also produced a capitalisation process which led to the Declaration of Lubljana and the joint Policy Paper MARIE-ELIH-MED-PROFORBIOMED. The policy recommendations of these papers are guiding the current action of the regions towards the definition of energy renovation strategies and a joint action plan on energy renovation in public and private buildings of the Mediterranean.
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
PLATFORMA (2015-2017 Period)
For the third consecutive period, CPMR is a partner in the consortium of this project, which aims to address the territorial approach to development policies. The CPMR contributes to PLATFORMA’s core activities and to the dialogue with the European Southern Neighbourhood. The project kicked off on August 2015. More recently, the CPMR Intermediterranean Commission has been contributing by elaborating a report with the final aim of helping to organise a training module addressed to local and regional authorities, notably from the Southern Intermediterranean Commission members. The training will deal with capacity building for integrated territorial development.
This project is related to the CPMR’s work on External Cooperation.
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MEDGOVERNANCE project
The MEDGOVERNANCE project developed a network of research institutes, regions, key institutional and non-institutional subjects able to support the development of Mediterranean Governance in relation to key issues of sustainable development. The reflections from this project are considered, together with the ones of MarInA-Med COM & CAP and other relevant projects, as a common ground for the CPMR Intermediterranean Commission road map for macro-regional and sea basin strategies in the Mediterranean.
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
MarIna-Med COM&CAP project
The full name of this project is COMmunication and CAPitalization of Maritime Integrated Approach in the Mediterranean Area (MarIna-Med COM&CAP). It was built on an operational partnership with a high level of expertise in the maritime field. Working closely with a network of Mediterranean policy-makers, the project aimed to coordinate communication and capitalisation activities for 13 projects selected under the “‘maritime integrated approach” call for proposals of the MED Programme. COM&CAP MarInA-Med was responsible for collecting, processing and disseminating the key results and policy recommendations of the selected projects. It also included inter-project information exchange and the organisation of several events to present and capitalise on project results. The main topics involved included marine renewable energies, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, environment protection, sustainable maritime transports and smart ports, maritime economy, clusters, maritime spatial planning and integrated coastal zone management. The CPMR’s Intermediterranean Commission was a key consortium partner in the development of this project which was a model for the new horizontal project approach of the MED INTERREG Programme in the current 2017-2020 programming period.
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
COASTGAP project
The COASTGAP project was built on over 10 years of shared experience among Med coastal administrations and institutions involved in the field of coastal adaptation to climate change effects and other natural/anthropogenic threats. In 2011 these actors established the cluster FACECOAST and proposed COASTGAP to capitalize on 12 ‘Best Practices’ from nine projects in the cluster (from MED and other programmes). The ‘Best Practice’s concerned several aspects of ICZM, Flood Directive, Maritime Spatial Planning and other relevant legal provisions. Some of them dealt with the general matter of governance: they fostered the political initiative (Bologna Charter 2012) or the rational use of the coastal resources (SICELL), widened the suitable application of provisions, regulations and laws like ICZM Protocol (art.8) or Flood Directive (COFLERMAP), specified environmental procedures for the coastal safeguard (EIA & SEA) and other topics having a great impact on coastal zones management. The project capitalised on and disseminated these ‘Best Practices’ among other actors, contributing to their adaptation and mainstreaming in local, regional and national frameworks. COASTGAP also aimed to design, characterise and prepare the launch of the Macro-Project, already laid out in previous projects (MEDGOV, COASTANCE, MAREMED). One of the partners involved coordinated a set of concrete proposals (projects, researches, network, etc.) considering focal questions like quantitative coastal hazard assessment (EUROSION-MED), the characterisation of coastal territory and its sustainable development, coastal sediments and their individuation and sustainable use for adaptation policies, the shared monitoring of coastal areas exposed to CC effects through a network of observatories (EURIOMCODE), etc. These proposals were included in a concrete Joint Action Plan, linked to the Bologna Charter and supported by the CPMR’s Intermediterranean Commission.
Project co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund of the European Union
Bologna Charter
The Bologna Charter is aimed at strengthening of role of Coastal Administrations in the context of European policies and initiatives at Mediterranean level, such as coastal protection, integrated management and adaptation to climate change. The ‘Charter’ also promotes a Macro-Project initiative for the Programming Period 2014-2020, designed for a coherent Mediterranean macro-thematic and multi-sectoral strategy, open also to the South and East Mediterranean coasts. The CPMR’s Intermediterranean Commission formally promotes the Charter to all institutions and stakeholders, as well as its Joint Action Plan “Developing conditions for the sustainable growth in the Mediterranean coastal areas“.