Who is Euromontana?

This specialist site on mountain agro-food products was developed in 2004 by Euromontana, the European association for cooperation among mountain areas, in cooperation with a large network of European experts and with the support of DG Research of the European Commission (under the 5th Research and Technological Development Framework programme).

As part of its mission, Euromontana addresses many different aspects of the development of European mountain areas. Its work on agro-food products is one of its thematic activities.

As illustrated by this diagram, Euromontana is a multisectorial association whose members include different kinds of national and regional organisations (economic development agencies, farming organisations, regional and local authorities, environmental agencies, technical and scientific institutes, mountain area associations) in more than 15 different European countries.

The aims of Euromontana’s activities are multiple:
- To promote the exchange of information, develop a Europe-wide network of contacts and stand policy watch, in particular over European policies addressing rural and regional development in mountain areas.
- To develop expertise via surveys and research projects, in a range of fields that impact strategically on the development of mountain areas.
- To promote cooperation among mountain areas and stakeholders in Europe via operational exchange schemes, seminars and European conferences.
- To contribute to the promotion of mountain areas in Europe, notably via action taking the form of information about, communication on and awareness of the key issues of these areas.

Recently, Euromontana worked on projects in the form of statistical surveys about mountain areas and mapping issues in advance of the next programming period (2007-2013) of Europe’s Regional Policy.

Euromontana is especially active in rural development issues, both monitoring public policy trends and preparing analyses on multifunctional mountain farming and its positive externalities. Euromontana regularly cooperates with FAO (the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation) on these issues and is a member of the Rural Development Advisory Group set up by DG Agriculture of the European Commission.

Euromontana will participate in the coordination of an Interreg IIIC European project on services of general interest and spatial planning in mountain areas and is one of the partners of an evaluation scheme for mountain cooperation projects within the framework of the InterAct programme. A Euromontana working group on “Natura 2000 and the mountains” was also very active in 2004 on natural resource issues.

Every two years, Euromontana organises a “European Mountain Conference”, which provides an information and discussion forum on economic and political change affecting mountain areas in Europe. Many mountain stakeholders are mostly aware of Euromontana as the organiser of this international event.

For further information about Euromontana’s activities, please contact:

EUROMONTANA
46, rue Philippe le Bon
1000 Brussels
BELGIUM
Tel: +32.2.280.42.83.
Fax: +32.2.280.42.85.
Email: info@euromontana.org
Website: www.euromontana.org