Funded Projects 2014-2020

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Project SHAPE

Project Acronym SHAPE
Project Title Sustainable Heritage Areas: Partnerships for Ecotourism
Project subsite

Summary

SHAPE will focus on a transnational set of sustainable heritage areas (SHAs) with diverse experiences of sustainability and regional cooperation involving stakeholders in heritage management, tourism, and governance. In these SHAs, the partners will work with local stakeholders, their organizations, and the institutions which support them, and incorporate their activities into regional strategies for sustainable development.

Project activities will start in each involved SHA, addressing local challenges for sustainable development by mapping assets, building on existing activities, and helping those who are developing ecotourism initiatives. Project partners and stakeholders will then share the outcomes transnationally through meetings, learning journeys and thematic networks. The resulting knowledge and tools will be incorporated into a dynamic e-service, designed to evolve and be used across the NPA region and beyond after the project ends.

Objectives

1. Innovative approaches for asset maintenance and ecotourism

To use transnational transfer of expertise in cultural and natural heritage management and governance of Sustainable Heritage Areas to develop sustainable methods for maintaining assets and developing ecotourism initiatives in SHAs and protected areas.

2. Stakeholder partnerships

To establish enduring stakeholder partnerships that maintain and develop cultural/natural heritage in SHAs through ecotourism initiatives that contribute to the sustainable growth of local communities, and transnationally share the experience gained.

3. E-service delivery

To create a transnational web-based service to support organisations, communities and businesses in the ‘Cool North’ in developing, implementing and managing ecotourism initiatives based on effective management of the assets of SHAs and protected areas.

Impacts

Tangible

Business development:

The partners have faciliated networking among the stakeholders that are involved in heritage management, tourism and community development to come up with new eco-tourism initiatives. This has led to a creation of new business networks, for example Wool Route in Norway and Koitajoki Nature Triathlon in Finland. Throughout its Social Media report and cooperating with other NPA projects Slow Adventure and Digi2Market, the project showed the eco-tourism businesses how to use various channels for promoting their products and services.

 

Intangible

Building institutional capacity:

SHAPE united stakeholders from various sectors e.g. from natural/cultural heritage, agricultures, fisheries, tourism, to identify common goals for developing eco-tourism initiatives and working together to realise them. As a results, the regional workshops have initiated new partnerships, eco-tourism initiatives, a regional development plan, and local guide training programmes. The SHAPE eService has gathered ideas of ecotourism products/services also from other Sustainable Heritage Sites.

 

Lead Partner

Partners

Project Info

Theme
Tourism, recreation, cultural heritage, languages
Priority
4 Natural and Cultural Heritage
Objective
4 Increased capacity for sustainable environmental management
Project duration
30-04-17 to 29-04-20
Total budget
1 523 479 EUR
NPA co-financing
947 752 EUR
Target groups
local public authority
regional public authority
national public authority
interest groups including NGOs
business support organisation
infrastructure and (public) service provider
enterprise, including SME
education/training centre and school
Joint Secretariat Desk Officer
Christopher Parker