D3.3 Activity programme for the Community of Practice

Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor CINEA can be held responsible for them. Swiss partners have received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). D3.3 Activity programme for the Community of Practice Ref. Ares(2025)3495015 - 30/04/2025 D3.3 ACTIVITY PROGRAMME FOR THE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE 1 Deliverable Information Sheet Version 1 Grant Agreement Number 01112876 Project Acronym MountResilience Project Title Accelerating transformative climate adaptation for higher resilience in European mountain regions Project Call HORIZON-MISS-2022-CLIMA-01-06 Project Duration 54 months Deliverable Number D3.3 Deliverable Title Activity programme for the Community of Practice Deliverable Type Public Deliverable Dissemination Level WP3 Work Package INOVA Lead Partner EUROMONTANA Authors Alicia MORENO, Guillaume CORRADINO Contributing Partners Reviewers Armando Alves (INOVA), Stefano Sala (UMIL) Official Due Date 30/04/2024 Delivery Date 30/04/2024 2 List of Acronyms CCA Climate change adaptation CoP Community of Practice EU European Union ICP Inter-Cross Pollination NBS Nature-based solutions List of Tables Table 1. Alignment of CoP topic categories with ICP/RepLab and Mountain Adapt-emy sessions ........................... 10 Table 2. Overview of the 2025 activity calendar, including topics, session types, objectives, main target audiences, and indicative timings ................................................................................................................................................. 16 Table 3. Overview of the CoP event titled “Rethinking winter tourism” ...................................................................... 17 List of Figures Figure 1. Diagram illustrating the two-way knowledge exchange converging within the Community of Practice. ....... 8 Figure 2. Number of votes received for each category (data collected through the Expression of Interest forms) .. 13 Figure 3. Screenshot of the CoP's dedicated webpage ............................................................................................. 14 Keywords list • Community of Practice • Climate change adaptation • Mountain regions 3 Disclaimer This document reflects the views of the author(s) and does not necessarily reflect the views or policy of the European Commission. Whilst efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of this document, the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains nor for any errors or omissions, however caused. This document is produced under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 4 Table of Contents Deliverable Information Sheet ............................................................................................................................... 1 List of Acronyms ..................................................................................................................................................... 2 List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................................... 2 List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Keywords list ........................................................................................................................................................... 2 Disclaimer ................................................................................................................................................................ 3 Executive summary .................................................................................................................................................... 5 1. Introducing the MountResilience Community of Practice ................................................................................. 6 2. Methodology and implementation phases ........................................................................................................... 9 3. Activity programme for 2025 ............................................................................................................................... 16 4. Activity programme 2026 and 2027 .................................................................................................................... 19 5. Annex: Expression of Interest form .................................................................................................................... 20 5 Executive summary Deliverable D3.3 describes the MountResilience Community of Practice (CoP) on Climate Change Adaptation, a mutual-learning platform designed to bring together stakeholders from mountain regions. The CoP’s primary goal is to foster knowledge exchange, enhance capacity building, provide a platform for policy consultation, and facilitate networking to advance climate change adaptation in such regions. By creating a space for regular interaction among key actors, the CoP seeks to build a collaborative community dedicated to addressing the specific climate challenges faced by mountain areas. The CoP's implementation will unfold in three phases. Phase 1 (September 2024 - January 2025) will focus on reviewing existing initiatives, such as the Mountain Adapt-emy and Inter-Cross Pollination (ICP) programmes, and mapping potential stakeholders. Phase 2 (January 2025 - May 2025) will involve recruiting CoP members and designing a tailored activity programme based on their interests and needs. Phase 3 (June 2025 - February 2028) will focus on executing the activity programme, with a series of sessions and events throughout this period. D3.3 also provides detailed information on the initial CoP sessions that will be organised in 2025, which have been aligned with the interests of the CoP members and with the ongoing activities of the Inter-Cross Pollination (ICP) and Mountain Adaptation programmes. To ensure that the CoP remains relevant to its members and project partners, the programme of activities will be updated annually (2026 and 2027) through surveys and consultations, giving them the opportunity to suggest new topics or on-demand sessions. 6 1. Introducing the MountResilience Community of Practice Climate change poses significant challenges to mountain regions, affecting sectors as diverse as tourism, agriculture and water management, among others. Given the accelerating pace of these changes, effective adaptation requires not only technical solutions, but also strong collaboration and the exchange of knowledge and good practices across different regions and mountain actors such as researchers, regional and local public authorities, practitioners, private sector and civil society organisations. Communities of practice promote cross-organisational collaboration and knowledge sharing. They are defined as "groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly" 1 . The MountResilience Community of Practice on Climate Change Adaptation (hereafter referred as CoP) aims to bring together experts and stakeholders who share a common goal: improve adaptation to climate change in the mountain regions of Europe. The CoP is managed by Euromontana, a European multi-stakeholder network dedicated to promoting sustainable development and quality of life in mountain areas. Euromontana represents the perfect ground for creating and running such a CoP as it already has an active network of 65 organisations in 16 countries and extensive experience in facilitating cooperation and exchange of good practice at EU level. The CoP will serve as the final link in the knowledge-sharing chain, bringing together all the project’s insights and extending them to external stakeholders. It aligns closely with ongoing initiatives such as the Inter-Cross Pollination (ICP) sessions and RepLabs (coordinated by INOVA), as well as the Mountain Adapt-emy capacity-building programme (led by SERN). By harnessing and extending these different knowledge-sharing activities, the CoP ensures that MountResilience's learning extends beyond the project, breaking down silos and bringing in external knowledge to support and strengthen the work of MountResilience's partners. Objectives Each CoP session will be structured around a one or more objectives: 1) Dissemination and knowledge exchange; 2) Capacity building; 3) Policy consultation; 4) Networking. Depending on the focus of a given session, Euromontana, as the CoP leader, will tailor its approach to ensure relevance for CoP members and find synergies with ongoing project tasks. Below we outline the four objectives and how CoP sessions leverage other project activities. 1. Dissemination and knowledge exchange One of the main objectives of the CoP is to foster the dissemination of knowledge, good practices and experiences on climate change adaptation (CCA) in mountain areas beyond the project consortium. 1 https://op.europa.eu/webpub/jrc/communities-of-practice-playbook/en/methodology.html 7 To achieve this, knowledge sharing activities will be both demand-driven ant offer-driven. Some will indeed be planned in close cooperation with tasks 3.1 and 3.2 of the project, leveraging some of the internal ICP and RepLab sessions to present and discuss experiments, findings, challenges and results with external audiences (i.e., the CoP members). Others will be organised to meet the needs of the CoP members themselves, who are collected through surveys. These sessions will be structured to accommodate external stakeholders, ensuring clarity by avoiding project-specific terminology. In addition, special attention will be paid to ensure long Q&A sessions and other interactive activities (such as round tables) to truly encourage the sharing of knowledge between project partners and members of the CoP. The sessions opened to external stakeholders will be carefully chosen by matching the information collected in the expression of interest developed by Euromontana to recruit CoP members (see Annex) and the programme established by Task 3.1 - Inter-regional cross-pollination platform for regional demonstrators and Task 3.2 - Replication Lab for transferring knowledge and solutions to replicator regions (led by INOVA). Close collaboration will be established between the different task leaders of WP3 to ensure the coherence and the quality of the sessions. As a secondary objective, the CoP is also an opportunity to incorporate insights from external stakeholders into the project itself, in a two-way exchange (more details further below). 2. Capacity building Another objective of the CoP is to promote capacity building to equip regions that are not involved in the project with tools, processes and models to support climate-resilient transformations. This will be done in collaboration with the Mountain Adapt-emy programme developed in WP2 - Task 2.2 - Capacity-building for regions for increased climate resilience. It is foreseen that some sessions of the CoP will provide CoP members with access to internal trainings organised by SERN as part as Mountain Adapt-emy programme. This will allow external stakeholders who have a particular interest in the topic to benefit from the expertise of the project and the insights of experts on CCA topics. Similarly to the previous point, Euromontana and SERN will work closely to identify which sessions should be open to CoP members, according to their interests, which are collected in the expression of interest form. 3. Consultation for policy recommendations Euromontana is in charge of both the coordination of the Community of Practice and the formulation of policy recommendations to support climate adaptation processes in the mountains (Task 5.3 - Promoting policy uptake). The space and group of stakeholders gathered in the CoP will therefore be adequately utilised as a consultation and discussion platform for the political recommendations that will be drafted. 4. Networking The CoP will provide a forum for mountain stakeholders to interact and establish connections, fostering long-term cooperation. This will contribute to the project’s impact beyond its immediate scope and promote increased climate change adaptation in regions outside the demonstrator areas. Additionally, the CoP will host webinars on topics beyond those directly covered by the demonstrator regions. These sessions will expand the project’s reach, introduce new perspectives, and encourage broader discussions on climate change adaptation in mountain areas. 8 Two-way knowledge exchange A core pillar of the CoP is its ability to bring people together and foster the exchange of knowledge and good practices among different types of stakeholders: the aim is not merely to present project results but to create an active community where professionals working on climate change adaptation in European mountain regions can interact and learn from one another. To achieve this, the CoP is based on a two-way knowledge exchange approach (see Figure 1 below): • Inside-out: Sharing knowledge and results from the project with external actors. • Outside-in: Incorporating insights and experiences from external actors into the project. Figure 1. Diagram illustrating the two-way knowledge exchange converging within the Community of Practice. 15 with ICP, RepLabs and Mountain Adapt-emy and will focus on topics already covered by these programmes; and 2) Outside-in sessions, which will emerge from the interests and needs of CoP members and cover additional topics relevant to climate change adaptation in mountain areas that may not be covered by our existing partners. 2. Production of publications The CoP will also produce a series of publications throughout the project. These publications will include good practices, guidelines and factsheets, all of which will be accessible through the MountResilience website. The main aim is to disseminate the knowledge gained through the activities of the CoP and to archive it so that new members or interested stakeholders can access it at any time. By the end of the project, we aim to have at least 15 publications. 3. Consultation and collection of insights Furthermore, the CoP will play an important role in contributing to policy workshops (T5.3). These workshops will gather insights and feedback from CoP members to inform of the development of a policy paper with recommendations for policies supporting adaptation to climate change in the mountains. Finally, in Phase 3, recruitment efforts will continue by reaching out to relevant projects, organisations and networks, while ensuring that the content delivered is relevant to the members already engaged. Euromontana will prepare an annual survey to analyse the expectations of the CoP members to ensure that the programme of activities is adapted accordingly. Through this survey, CoP members will be able to select what topics are of their interest and suggest new topics. 16 3. Activity programme for 2025 Table 2. Overview of the 2025 activity calendar, including topics, session types, objectives, main target audiences, and indicative timings Topic Objective Main target audience Indicative timing Rethinking winter tourism Learn and network with projects and stakeholders working on mountain tourism and CCA Regional and local authorities 5th of June 2025 Knowledge platforms and tools to support climate change adaptation Showcase the Solutions Portal developed by Adaptation at Altitude and the Solutions Database created by MountResilience Regional authorities and project managers September 2025 Developing regional and local climate adaptation plans Learn to develop a climate change adaptation plan in your region Local policymakers Networks like ANEM, UNCEM, Esmontañas Mountain municipalities November 2025 1. Rethinking winter tourism: The CoP event "Rethinking Winter Tourism", taking place online on 5th of June 2025, will mark the official launch of the MountResilience Community of Practice. This session will explore how mountain regions are adapting their tourism strategies in response to climate change, featuring insights from EU projects working on sustainable transitions in winter tourism. Further details on the event can be found below (Table 3). 17 Table 3. Overview of the CoP event titled “Rethinking winter tourism” Title: Rethinking winter tourism Date: 5th of June 2025, 10:00-12:30 CET Format: Online Narrative of the event Mountain winter tourism, which has long relied on stable snow conditions, faces growing uncertainty due to climate change: mountains warm faster and more intensely than lowlands areas. Over the last 50 years, the average temperature in the Pyrenees has risen by 30% (1.2°C) more than the global average (0.85°C). In addition, without snowmaking, 53% of Europe’s 2,234 ski resorts would face serious risks to their operations if temperatures increase by 2°C. This figure would rise to 98% if the temperatures were to increase by 4ºC. This uncertainty has sparked discussions on how to adapt and rethink tourism strategies to ensure the long-term sustainability of mountain destinations. At the same time, the growing demand for year-round nature and outdoor experiences presents an opportunity for mountain areas to position themselves as attractive destinations beyond the winter season. However, for this shift to be successful, it requires careful planning, investment and collaboration among a wide range of stakeholders. The first session of the MountResilience Community of Practice on Climate Change Adaptation will explore how different regions are beginning to work on the transition to alternative tourism models. The session will look at real-life examples and provide insights from EU projects supporting this transition, the challenges they face, and the lessons learned. It aims to be an opportunity to exchange knowledge and discuss good practices for more sustainable tourism in mountain areas. Tentative agenda 10:00 – 10:10 | Welcome to the first session of the MountResilience Community of Practice on Climate Change Adaptation, overview of the agenda and introduction of the speakers. 10:10 – 10:20 | Presentation by Euromontana on the challenges that climate change poses to winter tourism. 10:20 – 11:50 | Mutual learning: Sharing experiences from the Alps, the Pyrenees and Lapland. This session will feature insights from EU projects addressing the future of winter tourism in mountain regions, such as TranStat (Transitions to Sustainable Ski Tourism in the Alps of Tomorrow), BeyondSnow (Enhancing the Resilience of Alpine Space Snow Tourism Destinations) and PITON (Pyrenees Innovation Holistic Mountain Transition) Following a short break, we will continue with the presentations of two demo regions addressing tourism in MountResilience: Tirol and Lapland. This part will conclude with a moderated Q&A led by UMIL, providing participants with the opportunity to engage with speakers and discuss key challenges and solutions for the future of mountain tourism. 18 11:50 – 12:20 | Interactive workshop: Rethinking winter tourism in your region. This part of the event will encourage participants to reflect on the challenges specific to their regions, the potential maladaptation risks, identify key stakeholders to drive the transition to new models of mountain tourism, and explore potential funding opportunities. 12:20 – 12:30 | Closing remarks and announcement of the next CoP session The event aligns with the interests of CoP members and complements the work of the ICP and Mountain Adapt-emy (as illustrated in Table 1). While the ICP will address this topic through the lens of the Tirol demonstration site, the CoP session will take a broader approach by featuring experiences from multiple projects across different mountain regions. Meanwhile, the Mountain Adapt-emy will focus its session on product development and mountain tourism, exploring year-round alternative strategies to diversify tourism offerings beyond winter sports. 2. Knowledge platforms and tools to support climate change adaptation The CoP event on knowledge platforms and tools to support climate change adaptation will take place in early to mid-September 2025 and will be co-organised by MountResilience and the Adaptation at Altitude programme. This session will showcase the Adaptation at Altitude Solutions Portal and the MountResilience Solutions Database. The session will be an opportunity to explore how these platforms help regional authorities and project managers to access and learn more about adaptation solutions that have already been tested in other regions. The session will include a presentation by the coordinator of the Adaptation at Altitude portal to introduce the tool to the audience, as well as representatives of the featured projects. In addition, MountResilience will also present its recently developed "Solutions Database". Finally, a demonstration region of MountResilience will also share insights on how the Solutions Database is being used to support climate adaptation efforts. A detailed concept note will be developed, following the approach used for the CoP event "Rethinking winter tourism" (Table 3), outlining the narrative behind the session, the timing and the focus of each presentation, as well as the identified potential speakers. 3. Developing regional and local climate adaptation plans The CoP event on regional and local adaptation plans, scheduled for November 2025, will be a joint session in collaboration with Mountain Adapt-emy. This session will primarily focus on disseminating the Guide for Regional Climate Adaptation Action Plan Deployment (D4.2), a step-by-step tool designed to support the development of effective regional and local climate adaptation plans. The aim of the session will be to provide CoP members with practical guidance on how to develop their own adaptation plans based on the MountResilience approach. Additionally, the session will focus on validating the guide’s effectiveness in different regions and updating it as necessary to ensure its replicability. A detailed concept note, following the same structure as the "Rethinking winter tourism" event (Table 3), will be developed, outlining the session’s narrative, objectives, timing, and speakers. 19 4. Activity programme 2026 and 2027 At the beginning of each year, the CoP will update the activity programme by selecting the main topics to be addressed during that year. This process will be guided by surveys and consultations with CoP members, allowing the programme to align with their interests, as well as with the ICP and Mountain Adapt-emy sessions. In addition, CoP members will have the opportunity to suggest on-demand sessions, providing flexibility to address emerging topics or specific regional concerns. Looking ahead to 2026 and 2027, the CoP will take advantage of events at EU level, while continuing to build synergies with key initiatives. In 2026, the Euromontana European Mountain Convention will focus on pastoralism, in line with the International Year of Pastoralism. This event will provide an excellent opportunity to engage CoP members and external stakeholders in a face-to-face session to discuss the role of pastoralism in building resilience in mountain regions. Similarly, in 2027, the International Year of Sustainable and Resilient Tourism will offer a key opportunity for the CoP to highlight the intersection of tourism, sustainability, and climate adaptation in mountain areas. Additionally, the CoP will also leverage annual EU events such as EU Green Week and EU Regions Week, ensuring that the CoP remains visible and active. Moreover, it is foreseen that the CoP will also leverage the connections established through MountResilience. This includes jointly organising public CoP sessions in collaboration with networks such as the Mission Adaptation and NBS4EU. The CoP will also open to external stakeholders events jointly organised with the NetworkNature NBS Task Force. Ultimately, MountResilience’s ambition is to build a thriving community of individuals and organisations dedicated to advancing climate change adaptation in mountain areas. By fostering regular interaction and knowledge exchange through a relevant and impactful activity programme and associated publications, the CoP will facilitate meaningful collaboration that will last beyond the project's duration. 20 5. Annex: Expression of Interest form Expression of Interest to join the MountResilience Community of Practice on Climate Change Adaptation The MountResilience Community of Practice on Climate Change Adaptation (MountResilience CoP) is your opportunity to learn, share, network, and influence the policies and practices that will guide our transition towards resilient mountain communities. 💡 What is in for you? • Learning hub. Engage in capacity-building sessions with experts, designed to tackle the complexities of climate transitions in mountain regions. • Networking opportunities. Connect with a diverse range of organisations and practitioners working on climate adaptation in mountain areas. • Insights & best practices. Gain exclusive access to the latest findings and experiments conducted by MountResilience partners, and explore their innovative solutions in your context. • Influence policy. Contribute your organisation’s insights to discussions on the future of mountain areas in climate policy. 🤝 Who can join? The MountResilience CoP is only open to organizations and projects — no individual memberships are allowed. Eligible applicants include civil society organisations, public authorities, private sector actors, research institutions, and other stakeholders working on climate change adaptation. ✍️ How to join? Fill in this form to express your interest in joining the MountResilience CoP. Your application will be reviewed by the steering committee, and you will receive a response within one month. 📧 For more information, please contact [email protected] Tell us about you and your organisation 21 Please provide the details of the organisation you represent and your personal contact information • Full name (person of contact) • Role / position of the person of contact • Email address • Organisation name • Organisation website • Type of organisation o NGOs and civil society organisations o Public authority o Market actor (e.g., industry associations, SMEs, business) o Research and education institution o Development agency o Agricultural organization o Chamber of commerce and industry o Advisory body / consultancy o Entity managing natural areas (e.g., natural parks) o Other… (possibility to add other types of organisations) • Areas of work (e.g., climate adaptation, environmental policy...) • Short description of your organisation (max 600 characters) • Explain why you would like to join the MountResilience CoP and what you hope to contribute (max 600 characters) Choose the topics that matter the most to you Please let us know which topics you find most relevant or interesting. Your input will directly influence the focus of the upcoming sessions and help us better serve the community. • Topics o Mountain tourism o Regional and local adaptation planning o Land use planning o Agriculture and pastoralism o Forestry o Water management o Knowledge platforms and decision-support tools o Financing for climate change adaptation o Innovative business models for climate change adaptation o Stakeholder engagement and governance o Other… (possibility to add other topics) Commitment of participation 22 By submitting this form, you commit to the following obligations as part of the MountResilience CoP. Please read carefully and confirm your agreement. • I accept to receive communications from the MountResilience CoP • I confirm my interest in actively participating in the activities of the MountResilience CoP • I confirm that I am authorised to represent and speak on behalf of my organisation in the framework of the MountResilience CoP activities • I give permission for my organisation’s name to be listed on the official MountResilience website as a member of the MountResilience Community of Practice Thank you! Thank you for expressing your interest in joining the MountResilience Community of Practice on Climate Change Adaptation! The MountResilience steering committee will review your application and be in touch within one month. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact [email protected]