Mountain regions across Central Europe face common challenges, including climate change, depopulation, biodiversity loss and the need to balance tourism development with the protection of natural and cultural heritage. As these challenges often extend beyond administrative borders, they require coordinated governance, cross-border cooperation and the active involvement of public authorities, research institutions and local stakeholders.
To address these challenges, the CENTRAL MOUNTAINS project officially started with a Kick-off Meeting held on 23–24 May 2023 in Poland and organised by the Lead Partner – Rzeszów County. The meeting brought together project partners from seven countries, representatives of the Joint Secretariat and the Carpathian Convention, marking the beginning of a three-year cooperation dedicated to improving governance in the Alps, Carpathians and Sudetes.
During the meeting, partners established the project’s management and communication framework, shared their experience and expectations, and discussed existing cooperation models in mountain regions. The programme also included a study visit to the Polish Carpathians, where participants explored examples of sustainable regional development and cross-border cooperation, including the Cross-Border Functional Area “Kremenaros” and initiatives such as the Carpathian Sustainable Tourism Platform, which later became one of the project’s key areas of work.
Over the following three years, the partnership worked closely with regional authorities, experts, local communities and stakeholders to analyse governance systems, test innovative solutions through pilot actions and develop practical tools supporting sustainable mountain development.
The project successfully delivered a comprehensive set of results, including:
- a Joint Strategy for mountain governance;
- four Action Plans supporting territorial cooperation;
- three Toolboxes providing practical governance solutions;
- six Pilot Actions testing innovative approaches in mountain regions across Central Europe;
- policy recommendations for regional and national decision-makers.
These outputs remain publicly available through the project website and other webistes continue to support policymakers, regional authorities and stakeholders working towards sustainable and resilient mountain regions beyond the project’s lifetime.