In 2023, the project to network major hiking trails around the Mediterranean was quietly taking shape. Funded by the French Development Agency, the project has brought together five organizations from four different countries, laying the foundations for large-scale cooperation between institutional, associative and technical players. From September 26 to October 1, 2023, all the players involved in the project met in Lebanon for the network’s first seminar, which also provided an opportunity to officially launch the network.
3-day forum
This first annual seminar opened with a three-day forum to set up working groups to structure the network’s action plan and promote cooperation. Each day had its own theme:
- Environment, climate change and hiking tourism;
- Responsible tourism, community tourism and hiking;
- Cultural heritage and hiking.
These groups brought together experts from all the project’s partner countries, with the mornings devoted to classroom discussions and the afternoons to field visits illustrating the theme. This organization provided a framework conducive to the sharing of expertise and the emergence of common ideas.
