The Pyrenean Climate Change Observatory —OPCC-CTP— took part in Canfranc in a session dedicated to tourism and climate change, organised by Fundesa-Cámara Huesca and L’Agence des Pyrénées. The event focused on how mountain territories can adapt their tourism models to climate impacts and move towards more sustainable, diversified proposals that are more closely connected to the reality of the territory.
The session is part of the European project LIFE PYRENEES4CLIMA, led by the OPCC-CTP, which works to accelerate the adaptation of the Pyrenees to climate change from a cross-border and multidisciplinary perspective. In this case, the discussion focused on one of the project’s lines of work: building a more resilient mountain economy, with particular attention to the future of Pyrenean tourism.
The Pyrenees are a bioregion that is particularly vulnerable to climate change. Its impacts affect essential elements of mountain tourism, such as snow, water, landscapes, biodiversity, infrastructure, mobility and the quality of the tourism experience itself. For this reason, adapting tourism does not only mean responding to a threat, but also rethinking the tourism offer based on the territory’s resources, capacities and identity.
Within the framework of LIFE PYRENEES4CLIMA, the development of new cross-border tourism products between the French and Spanish Pyrenees is being promoted. The aim is not only to create new experiences for visitors, but also to help make Pyrenean tourism more sustainable, more diversified and better adapted to the new climate conditions.
This line of work builds on the resources already present in the territory: local products, gastronomy, natural and cultural heritage, mobility, landscape, the Way of St James, birdwatching tourism and railway heritage. The key lies in better connecting these resources with the actors who make them possible —producers, accommodation providers, restaurants, tourist offices, operators, guides, mobility services and local entities— in order to build shared proposals on both sides of the border.
One of the most advanced lines of work is cross-border agri-food and agri-tourism. In the province of Huesca, in collaboration with the Huesca Alimentaria network, an initial group of 19 agri-food companies open to visitors has been identified, which could become part of a future cross-border network. This line of work seeks to highlight local products, strengthen short value chains and generate opportunities for the local economy.
Sustainable mobility is another of the key areas of focus. In this regard, the Canfranc Express tourist train helps showcase the relationship between railway heritage, mobility and cross-border cooperation.
As Eva García-Balaguer, coordinator of the OPCC, pointed out, “adapting tourism to climate change does not mean giving up the identity of the Pyrenees, but seeking resilience by building on it: on its products, its landscapes, its culture, its heritage, its ecosystems, its mobility and its capacity for cross-border cooperation.”
With this line of work, LIFE PYRENEES4CLIMA seeks to move from diagnosis to action through concrete proposals that contribute to diversifying the mountain economy, reducing dependence on activities that are more vulnerable to climate change, better distributing tourism flows, promoting low-carbon mobility and strengthening cooperation between French and Spanish actors.
