On 13th October 2021, Euromontana hold online its yearly General Assembly, chaired by its President Juanan Gutierrez. The meeting was the opportunity for the entire network to virtually meet with all the 5 new members who joined Euromontana in 2021: Neu Land Leben (Austria), UNCEM (Italy), Podkarpackie and Malopolska regions (Poland) and the Maramures County Council (Romania).
The 2021 General Assembly was also a time for exchange on the topic of governance in mountain areas. Stefano Sala, from GeSDiMont (Italy), presented a study on governance in mountain areas in Europe. The study shows how some countries adopted specific laws targeting mountain areas, such as in France and Romania, or related policies, such as the Italian Strategy for Inner Areas. On the contrary, it also detailed how other areas do not have tailored made approaches despite the important coverage of mountain areas in their territory (e.g. Spain). Group discussions allowed members to react to the study and provide more governance examples from their area, like in the Occitanie region in France where the “mountain parliament” gives a voice to mountain communities or in Navarra region in Spain where a strategy for the Pyrenean territory is being adopted. The full study on governance in mountain areas will soon be published, a snapshot is already available in Stefano Sala’s presentation.
Euromontana closed its General Assembly by looking forward to the European Mountain Convention next year, which will be organised on 25-26-27th October 2022 in the Sila natural park and biosphere reserve (Italy).
Members can access the meeting documents in the General Assembly’s section.
