<< Background >>EU is the largest producer of olive oil at global level, accounting for 69% of world’s production. In the last 3 years, the average production in Spain reached 1.3 mln tonnes per year.Almost the totality of the production is obtained in 4 Member States: Spain (63%), Italy (17%), Greece (14%) & Portugal (5%); together cover around 99% of the production in the EU.Other important olive oil producing countries are Croatia & Cyprus (EC/News/04.Feb.2020/Agriculture & rural development). OlivaEco partnership includes members from all thesecountries except Greece.Among the key findings of the ‘Study on the implementation of conformity checks in the olive oil sector throughout the EU’, published by the European Commission on 04/02/2020, isthe lack of resources either in terms of staff or in terms of funding.On the other side, on a global scale, the organic food market has been thriving with sales of organic foods in the EU above €40 billion. Realizing it has strong potential, many olivefarmers have been switching to organic olive farming. However, organic olives & olive oil (OO&OO) are both high quality products with high value compared to other types & shouldcertified by competent quality bodies in each Member State. The production of OO&OO ensures a better quality for the final consumer & a better price for the producer. It alsocontributes to the sustainability of the agriculture production & environment protection since it does not use chemicals or other artificial fertilizers.In all cases, all organic production rules must be met in order the final product (the olive oil) to be allowed to be marketed as such. The initial period or the three year transition period isquite difficult for the producers. During that time they require more support - both technically & economically. Besides, they need good training in order to be well prepared for thisperiod as well as for the actual process of OO&OO production.For EU OO&OO producer, the knowledge & competences they must master are quite multi-folded:- maintain & renew the old olive groves- develop new plantations with more productive varieties- master organic production techniques/treatments to fight most dangerous diseases (olive moth & olive fly & Xylella fastidiosa)- strengthen the processing & innovate with new organic products (dry olives; olives with herbs, olive paste, stuffed olives, olive oil with garlic/herbs/additional flavours, etc.)- better promote traditional products (vacuum or canned olives, olive oil, etc.)- valorize the important natural & cultural heritage associated with the olive groves (landscapes, dry stone walls, ancient hydraulic systems, biodiversity, etc.) through touristic activities- transform to organic production to enhance their competitiveness & respond better to the growing market demand.<< Objectives >>EcoOlive shall envisage the development of a thorough & interactive course in organic olives & olive oil production & marketing, Manual for trainers, Platform with interactive repository section, Guide on certification of organic olives & olive oil & utilization of olive groves’ potential”.The aim of the project is to enhance the competitiveness of the EU olive farmers & olive oil producers through development of their potential for production & promotion of organic olives & olive oil.The main objectives shall be to:- enhance the development opportunities & boost the growth potential of EU olive farmers & olive oil producers by entering a market of organic olives & olive oil;- develop specific knowledge & competences in the EU olive farmers & olive oil producers to produce & promote OO&OOs by providing a transversal, multidisciplinary & tailor-madetraining on organic olives & olive oil production, pest control & promotion;- remind & develop awareness that the olives & olive groves are part of the cultural, historical & landscape heritage of the country;- encourage the application of organic farming & production approaches among new & existing olive farmers & olive oil producers.- promote wider use of organic olives & olive oil among EU customers.EcoOlives consortium includes partners from the 3 of the top 4 olive oil producing countries in EU & 5 of the top 10. Thus, the final outputs will be made applicable & will be disseminated among the majority of the olive & olive oil producers in EU.<< Implementation >>The main objectives of the proposal are to: enhance the growth potential of EU olive & olive oil producers; to develop their knowledge and competences in the production andpromotion of organic olive & olive oil through a transversal, multidisciplinary and tailor-made training to their specific needs; to increase the support they receive & to encourage theapplication of organic farming and production approaches among the target groups as well as to remind & develop awareness about the potential of the olive groves as part of thenational heritage.To achieve the defined objective the partnership will develop the following outputs:* development of an integrated, holistic and comprehensive training course in production & marketing of organic olives & olive il with strong focus on the organic farming methods; howto prevent, control & fight pest and diseases in the groves (with specific focus on P. oleae, B. oleae & Xylella fastidiosa); branding and marketing of a specific items like organic olives(&olive products) & olive oils and awareness about the place of the olive groves in the heritage & culture of the region.* creation of a e-learning platform that will enable to trainees to undergo the training materials in their own pace and time combined with a rich interactive repository consisting ofvarious materials (text, videos, interactive resources) that will support the trainees in their learning process and will enhance their skills and competences in the both topics.<< Results >>The EcoOlive partners will commence with the development of a Learning model that will lay down the basis, structure & methodology of the training course. Based on it, the partners will elaborate the content for the Training course & for the Manual for trainers. Each partner will create certain sections & units of the course based on their experience, knowledge and know-how on the topic. To further facilitate the trainees, the partners will develop also an Interactive repository & section with tests and exercises to support them in the process of learning & acquiring new skills & enhancing their own competences and knowledg on the topic of organic production & marketing of olives and olive oil.

<< Background >>Climate Change is unarguably the most complex issue that humanity has ever faced: its origin is linked to the very early stages of human impact on the natural environment, and the social, cultural and economic disparities it has sprung over the last few centuries. Even though it is a global issue, the responsibility and negative impacts are not globally distributed: the most ecologically fragile landscapes will suffer the most and earliest, furthering the vulnerability already existing and enhanced by the last few centuries of history. Mediterranean-type ecosystems are particularly fragile regarding agricultural activity and food production: long and dry summers followed by autumns of intense rainfall create maximum erosivity rates on soils that, due to recent tectonics and pedogenesis, are already poor in organic matter. In southern Europe, especially Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey, there are clear environmental disparities when compared to their norther counterparts. On top of that, many of these countries shared economic and environmental policies in the last century (especially Portugal, Spain and Italy) that in the name of autarky promoted agricultural intensification in poor lands, leading to increased degradation and furthering their innate fragility.Adding to the equation the industrialization of the food sector, and there is the perfect equation for chaos in the livelihood of smallholder farmers across Mediterranean Europe. In the face of climate change, smallholder farmers are to expect enhanced desertification and loss of agricultural productivity (decreased yield and higher maintenance costs), and these problems will only get worse according to the latest IPCC scenarios. However, there is hope: climate-smart agriculture allows smallholder and new farmers to implement management practices that have the simultaneous effect of increasing yield, enhance soil properties (such as water retention capacity and organic matter), and effectively capture atmospheric carbon dioxide and store it underground. The soil and climate types of Mediterranean Europe combine both the opportunity and the need to apply such changes, and due to their important but fragile activity, smallholder and new farmers are the perfect place to start.This project allows to respond to the targets of The Paris Agreement to enhance soil carbon at a rate of 0,4% per year (as proposed by France in the COP21, 2015, https://www.4p1000.org/ ), The IPCC Guidelines and Scenarios (AR5 from 2014 and SRCCL from 2019, and with the newest AR6 to be released in late 2021) to limit global warming to 1,5/2 degrees, the sustainability, smallholder and technological challenges of the new Common Agricultural Policy (2021-27) and the European Green Deal (2020), as well as various nationwide rural development plans in southern European countries.We are applying for this project because we want to empower smallholder and new farmers across Mediterranean Europe to rethink or change their land management practices to effectively combat climate change and desertification, increase their economic sustainability and be a valuable step towards a sustainable and fair future, where no one is left behind. We believe in the actual impact we may have, and the partnership was established with that in mind: there is the scientific background, the institutional validation, the technical know-how and the willingness to act local in order to tackle our common global issue.<< Objectives >>The main objective of the Project is to provide the CarboNostrum HUB with educational/training resources to empower potential end-users, Target-Group1 (TG1) smallholder, young and new agricultural producers, and stakeholders and policy makers, Target-Group2 (TG2): Agricultural Cooperatives, Local Development Associations, Rural Areas Municipalities, with the best possible tools and knowledge to apply climate change mitigation and adaptation solutions in poor and degraded lands of Mediterranean ecosystems, by attending courses and access research and educational material. This way, our target audience will have the capacity to design their proper land management practices to ensure a sustainable use of natural resources in total balance with local knowledge and the sustainable challenges of the near future.<< Implementation >>The activities were designed to increase and maximize the development and transferring of know-how and skills between partners and users. The feasibility of the project, it relies on an interdisciplinary approach to science by environmental disasters in the Mediterranean region and the ways of facing, data collect on specific practices of use/occupation/management of land in partner countries. The main activities correspond to the preparation of the results of the project: PR1 – Consist of the creation of a theoretical framework on sustainable agriculture (fieldwork, desk research, networking). PR2 – Collection of a battery of case studies that meet the challenges posed by climate change through climate-smart agriculture (fieldwork, desk research, networking). PR3 – Creation of an innovative blended course and learning package following practical methodology that allows a rapid transfer of knowledge and skills that empower learners with knowledge and skills that have stifled their role in offering a more sustainable agriculture that preserves the transfer of fields (brainstorm, desk research, critical thinking, networking, course design, dissemination actions). PR4 – Creation of a Web-GIS platform that integrates the different dimensions of the project in an interactive and user-friendly environment, designed to promote the contents that are more personalized, motivating, collaborative and engaging for self-learning and present all the results of the project. The CarboNostrum project will implement the following activities: - Overall project management and project workflow; - Organization and hosting transnational project meetings between the partners; - Organisation and reporting Learning, Teaching, Training Events: definition of the agenda, logistics, drafting of minutes/reports and other follow-up activities; - Organizing and hosting Project Pilot Course; - Preparation of presentations for meetings, multiplier events and other opportunities for dissemination; - Organizing and hosting Multiplier Events (workshops, webinars, final conference); - Monitoring and quality control of processes and project deliverables; - Issuance of regular progress and financial reports; - Creation and the CarboNostrum marketing campaign and communication strategy; - Translation of communication and learning materials into national languages; - Design and continuous updating of CarboNostrum website and social networks; - Supervision of partnership dissemination activities; - Design and deliver newsletters at crucial moments of the project; - Implementation and supervision of CarboNostrum's Exploration, Sustainability, and Impact strategy; - Exploitation actions to transfer and assure sustainability of project results to target groups, policy makers and stakeholders; - Networking activities to be carried out by all partners; The activities of the project follow the principles of responsibility, interdependence and accountability, the group's creativity technique and critical thinking, interdisciplinarity and complementarity. These activities will ensure the development of the project in a balanced manner, according to the respect of timings and responsibilities.<< Results >>The CarboNostrum project results will integrate:1)CarboNostrum Handbook (ebook) that will systematize a theoretical framework regarding sustainably agriculture which reinforces resilience to climate change and reduces and/or removes greenhouse gas emissions It will also integrate a Best Practice Guide with a wide variety of land use and management practices to enhance soil properties, provide carbon capture and adaptation measures to climate change and enhanced desertification. The CarboNostrum Handbook will be designed from desk research, focus-group, and interviews with experts (video recording), made by the partners and will be delivered in an e-book format to be more sustainable. 2)CarboNostrum Battery of Case Studies (ebook) is a collection of 2 prospective case studies per partner country (desk research, interviews and field trips – video recording) that meet the challenges posed climate changes through a climate-smart agriculture, which is “an approach that helps to guide actions needed to transform and reorient agricultural systems to effectively support development and ensure food security in a changing climate. The Battery aims to collect the strategies and practices implemented in the context of a climate-smart agriculture, the practical impacts, the advantages/disadvantages, and the alteration in processes approaches applied on the agriculture business models.3)CarboNostrum Course is an innovative blended course (e-learning, synchronized sessions, and face-to-face meetings) following a theory-practice methodology that allows a rapid transference of knowledge and competencies (theoretical framework; exemplification, peer learning, application to real problems, and discussion of real cases) that will empower learners with knowledge and competencies which assists their role in providing more sustainable agriculture that actively preserves the fields. The course will be designed around the following themes: i.Climate change and desertification in the Mediterranean region (expected effects in susceptible areas and vulnerable communities).ii.the carbon cycle of land-climate and plant-soil feedbacks: soil carbon sequestration in a smallholder environment.iii.mitigation and adaptation tools in poor and degraded lands (land use/occupation, management, and valuation) under climate change.iv.Back to basics: the role of traditional knowledge in climate-smart agriculture in a changing world.v.Assessment of soil parameters and designing a baseline scenario with readily available tools.vi.creating value from ecosystem services, carbon cycling and land restoration. The course will also integrate a learning package with a diverse set of learning resources that will be used during the course implementation but can also very proficient for distance learning, including multimedia videos, to enhance the learning path.4)The CarboNostrum HUB, a Web-GIS platform that will integrate the different dimensions of this project under an interactive and user-friendly environment; CarboNostrum HUB will be designed to promote the content in a more personalized, motivating, collaborative, and engaging for self-learning and present the tools, resources, and all project results. There will be two areas of the HUB one for professionals and one for learners. This platform design will complement visual, audio, and text-based features and the learning products developed in previous phases.The CarboNostrum Handbook and the CarboNostrum Battery of Case Studies will provide a mapping guide to the partnership to have a clearer understanding of the climate-smart agriculture approach and its processes, and the challenges that the CarboNostrum Course has to answer during the designed process. The CarboNostrum Hub is the web platform where all things CarboNostrum will be hosted.

The transition towards sustainable energy systems is at the heart of climate change and sustainable development issues, and is key for the European Commission to reach its climate energy package’s goals for 2020: a 20% reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990, a 20% share of renewable energy in its energy consumption and a 20% improvement in energy efficiency. The project “Citizens 4 Energy Transition” (C4ET) aimed in this context to enhance citizens’ involvement in the energy transition by improving and extending the methods and tools used to raise their awareness and train them on this issue. Although a large number of initiatives in this field already exist, there was a real opportunity to overcome certain barriers by launching a pan-European initiative which would build on the sharing of visions, expertise, and practices of partners concerning the education of citizens on the energy transition. C4ET involved 6 European partners, led by the French non-profit organization ENERGIES 2050, representing 6 European countries (Belgium with Homegrade Brussels, Croatia with DOOR, France with ENERGIES 2050, Germany with GNF, Hungary with TREBAG and Italy with Molise verso il 2000). These organizations are CSOs, a public body as well as a private company, all active in the field of educating citizens on energy and environmental issues. The main target groups for C4ET were representatives of organisations working on the education of citizens, especially on these issues (CSOs, NGOs, municipalities, associations etc.), and to a larger extent all European citizens.The main desired impacts of the project for each stakeholders involved were as follows:Participants from partner organizations - improved skills for educating citizens on the energy transition; sharing knowledge and best practice; improved offer of pedagogical activities thanks to the tools developed.CSOs: access to new pedagogical materials and tools to broaden and enrich their training/awareness raising activities with citizens on the energy transition and raised interest for conducting such activities among stakeholders not yet active in the fieldCitizens: raised interest and enhanced participation in the energy transition.In order to reach these objectives, project partners developed a set of innovative pedagogical materials and tools, structured according to a defined pedagogical programme around six “focus subjects” (one led by each partner), each associated with the development of five tools and related materials. To summarise, C4ET was based on a comprehensive approach made of several complementary activities: State of the art of existing methods and tools and needs analysis (O1) for raising awareness and training citizens on the energy transition;Development of a pedagogical programme taking into account the state of the art (O2) and which builds on the exchange of best practices, expertise and experience among project partners;Development of 30 innovative and interactive educational tools with their accompanying materials (O3);Testing of tools developed by target groups to gather feedbacks and refine their development (O4);Production of dissemination materials (O5), including a comprehensive web platform, videos as well as multiplier events. The general and specific objectives are summarised below:General objectives:- Raise awareness of European citizens on the energy transition- Contribute to a development that is sober in energy and with low impact on the climate- Reinforce adult skills and competencies in the field of energy transition- Help citizens to identify energy transition as an opportunity for them to find new job opportunitiesSpecific objectives:- Identify existing practices and methods being implemented in Europe for raising awareness and for training citizens on the energy transition- Improve and develop educational methods and material for raising awareness and for training citizens on the energy transition- Increase the number of CSOs and other stakeholders providing training and educational activities on the energy transition towards citizens- Encourage the creation of a network of relevant stakeholders involved in educating citizens on the energy transition- Reinforce skills of CSOs and other stakeholders involved or interested by the field of the education of citizens on the energy transition- Reinforce skills of European citizens in the field of the energy transitionIn fine the C4ET project responded to several of the Erasmus+ programme priorities, including “improving and extending the offer of high quality learning opportunities” and “Strengthening education and training paths of educators”.

Accessible Tourism has been recently brought to the forefront of the agenda for sustainable tourism development, as numerous research reports took notice of the spike in demand for accessibility. This tendency is supported by the statistics related to the growing number of people with disabilities and growing aging population in Europe and among inbound travellers to European destinations. Existing research proves that people with disabilities and other access needs, including elderly people, pregnant women and families with children, tend to travel just as much as people without specific access requirements (ONCE Foundation, 2016). These people show a high demand for nature-based leisure activities, however, even at well-equipped accessible tourist destinations, recreation opportunities and attractions are often inaccessible (Report on economic impact and travel patterns of AT in Europe, 2014). Managers of tourism SMEs tend to lack awareness of the access needs of their customers and have insufficient skills in developing and implementing innovative, sustainable solutions, which could help them increase their market share by seizing the opportunities offered by the growing market of accessible tourism. This is particularly true for natural and rural areas (NRAs), where professional development and training opportunities are limited (Mapping and performance check of the supply side of tourism education and training, EC, 2016).The Access-IT project seeks to address this competence gap by offering a comprehensive training in the cross-field of accessible tourism, innovation and sustainable development of natural and rural areas. The overall objective of the project is to build capacity of EU tourism SMEs operating in NRAs to bridge accessibility gaps through stakeholder co-design of innovative solutions for tourism products for customers with specific access requirements. Specific objectives are:1. Identify the determinants of tourism accessibility in NRAs2. Develop case studies of accessible tourism in NRAs, utilising video and other methods for capturing and recording access improvements and first-hand user experiences3. Provide hands-on business support and guidance, advancing the innovation capability of tourism SMEs for the development of accessible tourism products in cooperation with key stakeholders4. Create a solid foundation for usability and transferability of the project outputs to a wider audience of stakeholders5. Increase awareness of business opportunities in the accessible tourism market among EU tourism SMEs operating in NRAsThe project utilises life-cycle methodology, which defines a sequence of activities for planning, executing and disseminating project results. During the project lifetime, the following intellectual outputs will be developed:O1 Mapping report on determinants of tourism accessibility in NRAs, based on a genuine research into accessibility barriers and accessibility improvement challenges experienced by tourism SMEs;O2 Video case studies of accessible tourism, based on interviews with tourism SMEs that implemented innovative solutions for improving accessibility of their products/services, and managed to commercialize their new or improved offers;O3 Interactive business support toolkit, including “How to” guidelines for undertaking strategic approach to innovation in the development of accessible tourism products, web-based accessibility performance appraisal tool, and scenarios for co-design sessions;O4 Recommendations booklet summarizing good practices and success stories of stakeholder co-design of accessible tourism offers.The project is targeted at: tourism SMEs operating in NRAs (owners, managers, staff), destination management bodies in NRAs, VET providers offering programmes and courses in the field of tourism, individual learners and aspiring entrepreneurs. Stakeholder co-design sessions, planned to be held within the project, will also involve people with specific access requirements.More than 700 representatives of the project target groups and stakeholders will be directly involved in the project activities and events, such as surveys, stakeholder roundtables, training workshops and conferences. In addition, the project consortium intends to reach at least 5000 rural enterprises through targeted dissemination of the project results.We hope new VET training delivered by the project will help managers of tourism SMEs in NRAs to develop new and better tourist offerings, thus entering an untapped market of accessible tourism and stimulating growth of their businesses. This will eventually benefit tourists with access needs, who will be able to participate in а much larger number of leisure activities. This improved social inclusion will naturally lead to endemic growth of the local and regional economies in turn bringing heightened wellbeing of disabled people.

Global demand for cosmetics and wellness products is increasing, leading to strong growth in the production of aromatic plants on a global scale. Over the past decade, lavender production has doubled, to about 65 tons a year. Between 2011 and 2019, the imports of essential oils increased by almost 68% in terms and 22% in terms of volume of value in EU. In global competition, the maintenance and competitiveness of the European aromatic plant production and processing sector requires strengthening of quality approaches, and in particular towards organic and natural labels which meet the growing demands of consumers, contribute to the preservation of the environment, and are more profitable for producers. It is therefore essential to support the training of European professionals in the cultivation and transformation of aromatic plants towards quality organic production.Vocational training for AP producers must adapt to the constraints of a poorly available and dispersed public, which calls for an online training offer. This requirement for a quality online training offer is reinforced in the context of COVID which limits the possibilities of group and face-to-face training. The characteristics of agricultural training, which relies heavily on the acquisition of practical training in the field and transmission by peers, requires structuring an adapted and quality digital offer.Based on all these needs, EcoOils emerged to offer a european innovative vocational training process to support the creation of distance training system in the field of agricultural vocational training, which takes into account recent contributions from educational sciences and technological developments. The training itself will be focused on building the competences of the target group through an online, blended and distance learning that is tailored-made & designed specifically to meet their needs. It will also aim to build and expand the pedagogical skills of the trainers in the agricultural sector, enabling them to deliver high quality inclusive digital education.The thematic focus field of EcoOils will be the organic aromatic plants cultivation and organic essential oils production in Europe, the integration into a common digital curriculum covering all aspects of development of organic farming and distillation of OAP: farming techniques, production methods, marketing, communication, ethics & corporate social responsibility. It is a question of considering OAP cultivation and OEO production not only from a technical point of view, but also in all aspects of the producer's relationship with its customers & territory. And it is also a question of changing the mind-set of the professionals on the immense opportunities that digital & online education provides for them.However, no training course exists either in France, or in any of the partners’ countries that tackles all these problems and needs of the aromatic plants cultivators, essential oils producers and new comers with regard to transition to/start of organic production process and marketing of the ready products.EcoOils is based on the complementary skills and experience of 6 European partners in 5 countries (Bg, Fr, Gr, It, Sp): 3 VET organizations, one of which is also an incubator specialized in hosting new agricultural enterprises, 1 local development agency, 1 specialist in training engineering, 1 environmental association. This complementarity makes it possible to cover the needs of professional targets, the thematic content and the educational skills necessary for the development of quality digital media.The specific aims of EcoOils are:- Meet the needs of farmers and distilleries for building their competences to enroll in online, blended and distance learning, tailored-made & designed to meet their needs.- Build and expand the pedagogical competences of the trainers & consultants in the agricultural sector enabling them to deliver high quality inclusive digital education.- Develop high quality digital content incl. innovative online resources dedicated to farming and production of organic essential oils for professionals and future professionals, complementary of the training contents from agricultural and agronomic education.- Support all agents in the essential oils sector (incl. farmers, distillers, educators & trainers) to engage in distant & online training process that could substitute the currently used presence-based courses.- Support farmers and distilleries to enter the market of OEO & encourage the application of organic farming and production approaches.- Facilitate cooperation and technical transfers among European countries and European stakeholders.The target groups are:- Cultivators of AP (especially lavender & lavendin, rose, sage ...) interested in conversion to organic production- Distilleries & essential oils producers- Trainers & coaches of agricultural producers in AP&EO sector- New entrepreneurs entering AP/OE production