Official poster of the project LIVHES ‘Living heritage for sustainable development’ © UNESCO

Through the support of the Interreg Sudoe Programme, the project LIVHES ‘Living heritage for sustainable development’ is now unfolding in 8 South-Western European (SUDOE) regions from three States Parties that ratified the 2003 Convention: France, Portugal and Spain.

This project answers to an increasing demand from the communities located in those sparsely populated and rural areas of southern Europe. Their aim is to valorize and safeguard their living heritage, as a key component of sustainable development and territorial cohesion in the region. To meet this challenge, the 9 partner entities of the project are organizing workshops, roundtables and pilot projects. Furthermore, the project allows the creation of a transregional network to facilitate the exchange and circulation of the newly acquired knowledge around the 2003 Convention, with the constant collaboration of the civil society, schools, universities and public bodies.

So far, the events have successfully brought together various stakeholders who were able to discuss the importance of the valorization of living heritage and the best practices for its safeguarding. Nevertheless, regional specificities were considered in the development of this common toolkit.

The latest updates from this project are available on a dedicated Facebook page.

UNESCO is looking forward to seeing the concrete outputs of this project, which will continue until April 2023.