Biodiversity decline in agricultural landscapes has been problematic for decades in Slovenia, and extensive grasslands are one of the most threatened habitats in the country. The LIFE project “Conservation and Management of Dry Grasslands in Eastern Slovenia” (also known as ‘LIFE to grasslands’) addresses biodiversity conservation in agricultural environments.

A escala finca los indicadores sociales de sostenibilidad agrícola más comunes son las horas-labor y la estacionalidad de la mano de obra.  La magnitud del esfuerzo físico que los trabajadores invierten en las actividades agrícolas normalmente no se utiliza como un indicador de eficiencia y sostenibilidad; por esta razón, en...

The 2020 celebration of the International Day of Forests with the theme “Forests and Biodiversity: Too precious to lose” at FAO headquarters was a virtual event with video messages from QU Dongyu, Director-General, FAO and Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Acting Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity....

Why does mountain agriculture deserve special attention in a Zero Hunger context? Firstly, because hunger remains common in many mountainous areas. While on a global scale, food insecurity has tended to go down, mountain dwellers have fared worse than people living in plains. Secondly, because mountains cover a large part...

The Pilot Project on Smart Eco-Social Villages, initiated by the European Parliament, has been carried out by a consortium consisting of Ecorys, Origin for Sustainability and R.E.D. under the responsibility of the European Commission (Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development). The potential effect of this Pilot Project is to shape...

This Special Issue, a product of the SIMRA project and its Thematic Session organised at the 125th Anniversary IUFRO Congress in 2017, is a contribution to advancing and exchanging scientific knowledge of social innovation in the context of forestry. A purpose of the Issue is to promote social learning, contribute...

The demand of society on forests has continuously changed. Initially, forests were mainly seen as resources for timber. Overtime, the role of forests has expanded as our society expects various economic, social and environmental products and services from the forests. Forests now are seen as a component of broader landscapes....

Until now, there has been little information available to the international community regarding the state of forests in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Today, however, the UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section has released the first regional overview of the forest sector in these countries since they became independent in the 1990s.

The Rapid Livestock Market Assessment guide seeks to facilitate livestock market assessments in order to support those operating in the livestock sector, such as multilateral financial institutions, international development organizations, governments, research organizations, NGOs, community-based organizations, service providers and input suppliers. The guide provides project design teams with basic skills and...

On June 25, 2019, Euromontana attended a conference in Brussels on “Social Agriculture and Care Farm: Work opportunity, Social Partnership and Inclusion” organised by the Care-T-Farms project. Care-T-Farms is an Erasmus + programme, willing to encourage the use of farms as places promoting positive mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Euromontana participated in a public hearing on 10th September 2019 to share comments on the own initiative report on “the macroregional strategy for the Carpathian region”, prepared by Mr Wladyslaw Ortyl, member of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and Marshall of the Polish Podckarpackie region. This draft opinion calls for the establishment of a...

Pastoralism is coping with many challenges, including its low economic viability, excessive bureaucracy, and low generational renewal, leading to its progressive disappearance across Europe. To economically compensate for the environmental services of pastoralism, including preventing forest fires through grazing, two complementary pathways were extensively discussed: on one hand, the need for...

How to combat depopulation and make rural areas vibrant again? This was the question addressed during the ENRD Workshop on May 21, 2019. The event explored the role of Rural Development Programmes and other EU policies in maintaining a high quality of life in these regions, where demographic trends are...

By supporting local traditions to build better livelihoods and empower communities, FAO and its partners are working toward a world free of poverty and hunger.  

A new webpage dedicated to mountain areas, islands and sparsely populated areas has been launched by the European Commission, find there all news and studies related to our territories

According to the OECD, territorial relationships have deeply changed in recent decades. Improvements in communication technology, increasing movements of peoples and goods, and changes in land use have reshaped the relationships between urban and rural areas. This is also true for mountain areas, where large metropoles like Milano have recently...

In order to revive a remote mountainous area with harsh conditions and stimulate economic activity, a LEADER funded project facilitated the creation of a new touristic offer. This new offer was based on artwork inspired by the surrounding landscape, accompanied with an integrated package of activities, such as the organisation...

Millions of small-scale farmers and foresters will be able to better protect their lands from the impacts of climate change, and improve their livelihoods thanks to renewed global efforts announced last two weeks ago on the side-lines of World Forest Week (COFO24). The Forest and Farm Facility initiative - a partnership...

  The XI European Mountain Convention will be organized on 25-27 September 2018 in Vatra Dornei, Romania, by Euromontana in collaboration with the Agency for Mountain Areas (AZM, Romania). It will focus on the tangible and intangible cultural heritage in mountain areas and on how this strategic resource, inherited from the past,...

On Monday 26 February the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies presented the identifying logo of the ‘mountain product’ optional quality term at the Chamber of Commerce of Sondrio. This initiative gives value to the work carried out by ERSAF together with Euromontana, which in recent years has...