#DOLOMITES2040, the initial report
To coincide with the Dolomites UNESCO LabFest #BEYONDBORDERS, on Saturday 29 August the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation made a public presentation of the initial report on #DOLOMITES2040, the participatory process that took place during May and June 2015, involving the entire territory of the Dolomites UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Over the course of the 11 meetings, the Foundation involved hundreds of people, representatives of all the various stakeholders in the Dolomites, among them administrative authorities, environmental and mountaineering associations, natural parkland managers, professional associations and tourism consortia, the aim being to work together to devise a sustainable management strategy for the Dolomites World Heritage Site.
The participatory process #DOLOMITES2040 was engaged in with a view to the presentation to UNESCO in 2016 of the Overall Management Strategy for the property. At each meeting the participants were divided into four work groups that rotated every half hour, enabling them to express their opinions on how the Dolomites would look in 2040. The themes discussed included tourism, socio-economic development, active conservation and relationship building and the proposals put forward will make a valuable contribution to the Overall Management Strategy for the property and the Tourism Strategy.
The real challenge for the Dolomites of tomorrow, as emerged from #DOLOMITES2040, is undoubtedly sustainability, ranging across a number of levels and relevant to the various components of this mountain society. Among other things, it was felt that the principle of sustainability may well prove a useful tool over time for identifying the right balance between habitability and safeguarding the property.
The Dolomites of the future must continue to represent this unique heritage, guaranteeing equal input and opportunities for the various communities within the Dolomites property, on the one hand safeguarding their multiple identities while, on the other, favouring the integration of the values underpinning the various communities.
To achieve these and other objectives it is essential to overcome the fragmentation of the territory in both institutional and planning terms, encouraging new viewpoints that go beyond mere local administrative borders.
Among the key words adopted by the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation to further promote its role as a platform for the exchange of ideas between the local stakeholders and the policy-makers are: collaboration, coordination and communications.
The first document containing the results of #DOLOMITES2040 can be downloaded here (in Italian).
Watch the video telling the story of the #Dolomites2040 participatory process on the Foundation’s YouTube channel.