Duration: April 2023 – March 2026

Lead Partner: Rzeszów County

Funding: Interreg Central Europe Programme

Project website: www.interreg-central.eu/projects/central-mountains/

Project description

The Alps and Carpathians are important natural corridors that connect many central European countries. Unfortunately, cooperation across borders often lacks a joint vision in mountain areas. To change this, the Central Mountains project designs and implements a joint strategy and regional action plans to create amongst others cross-border functional areas. By improving governance structures, processes and operations, the partners sustainably improve cooperation among Alpine-Carpathian regions.

The purpose of the project is to strengthen and improve governance models in mountain areas of Central Europe (the Alps, Carpathians and Sudetes), with particular emphasis on cross-border and transnational cooperation structures. All activities are aimed at solving common challenges for the sustainable development. The project seeks to achieve long-term, sustainable cooperation across borders in mountain areas. Developing and improving cross-border and transnational cooperation structures is a key element to strengthen regional development and cohesion across borders. These structures will operate without dependence on the project cycles and EU funding.

First, the project will develop perspectives for better cooperation governance, then it will will carry out joint actions across borders for better cooperation (including pilot actions). The final step includes joint solutions and territorial uptake with strengthening the capacities of the stakeholders and mobilize policy makers.

The Carpathian Convention Secretariat supports various activities of the project, particularly the development of the:

1. Alpine-Carpathian joint strategy for community-led sustainable development of mountain areas in Central Europe: a Joint Strategy Report was developed in March 2024 by Eurac Research (Italy) as a product of collaborative efforts among all the project partners and the stakeholders’ networks. The Report is an analytical framework for assisting community-based initiatives in strengthening cross-border participatory governance processes.
2. Action Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development in the Carpathians: This strategic framework is a concrete step towards reducing tourism’s environmental footprint, preserving cultural heritage, and enhancing local welfare through collaboration and participatory governance. It not only addresses the specific needs and challenges of the Carpathian region, but also contributes to broader goals of sustainable mountain development in Central Europe.