ECOSAL ATLANTIS - Ecotourism in the Atlantic salt-marshes

The main objective of the ECOSAL ATLANTIS project, “Ecotourism in saltworks of the Atlantic: a strategy for integral and sustainable development” is the development of joint, integral and sustainable tourism based on the cultural and natural heritage of traditional Atlantic saltworking sites.

The project focuses on three key activities designed to develop tourism in Atlantic saltworking sites:

These activities respond to the 4 specific objectives of the project:

To establish guidelines for the management of the natural and cultural heritage of saltworking sites on the basis of a common heritage database.
To evaluate, enhance the value of and promote the traditional Atlantic saltworking sites by means of a network of players implementing joint actions.
To maintain or restore the habitats typical of saltworking sites in the framework of eco-tourism.
To promote the conservation and understanding of Atlantic saltworking sites by circulating information and creating trans-national synergies.

Project details

Both the main objective and the specific objectives coincide with the global objective of European territorial cooperation and, more specifically, trans-national cooperation.
All the objectives focus on sustainable urban and rural development (priority 4) and more specifically on objective 3, namely, the conservation and promotion of the Atlantic LEGACY of trans-national interest.

Thus, the basis is a heritage (Atlantic saltworking sites) which has played an important role in the maritime history of Atlantic Europe. The aim is to promote a sustainable and joint development of economies, firstly on a regional level, then national and finally trans-national, by creating a Route easily recognised by the general public in the Atlantic Area.

The project is divided in 6 activities which are broken down into different actions covering the duration of the project (1st January 2010 – 31st December 2012).

The activities designed (as well as the preparation and coordination/management of the project) cover the following fields of action:

Project management

With regard to the management of the project, a double system of coordination has been established:

those responsible for actions and coordinators of activities. Thus, each activity will have a coordinator with proven experience in the specific area addressed, while other partners will assume responsibility for the actions within the activity.
The general coordinator of the project will be the project leader (Provincial Council of Alava). The leader will ensure the good development of the project and subsequently the appropriate implementation of all the activities and their interconnection.

Partnership

Regarding the partnership, 13 partners from Spain, France, Portugal and United Kingdom are taking part in the project. Historically, in these countries there has been a culture linked to salt production. The Provincial Council of Alava leads this project marked by a wide variety of complementary partners: museums and ecomuseums, local authorities (both Municipal and Provincial), Universities, Scientific Research Centres, Non profit organizations, and Foundations:

The partners are all experienced in the field addressed by the project. Most of the partners, given their potential, assume the leadership of specific actions or of an entire activity.

The diversity and complementary nature of the partners enrich the project and help reach the project objectives

Expected results

During the project:

Joint plan of heritage management starting from a heritage database based on the inventory geographical data and cultural heritage.
Starting up a Route that integrates and enhances the value of Atlantic saltworking sites.
Exchange of experiences and knowledge leading to the identification of good practices in the fields of heritage management, production focused on tourism, saltworks interpretation, etc.
Indicators to analyse and enhance the value of the territory.
Integrated guidelines to maintain the biodiversity of saltworking sites.
Help the general public, political players, citizens, and other interested groups to have abetter understanding of the value of the Atlantic salt works heritage, and thereby enhance the way in which these sites are used, conserved and protected.

In the long term:

The continuity of the Route, extending it to include new members, and having it approved by the Routes Committee of the Council of Europe which would imply recognition of the usefulness of this new, joint management tool.
Route self-sufficiency.
Use of the tools created in the framework of the project (database, indicators, heritage management, ecotourism guidelines and the Route itself) in other geographical contexts.

Transnational nature

The transnational nature of the project is justified by the fact that the objective of achieving a joint development strategy, based on the trans-national legacy shared by the Atlantic partners can only be addressed from a transnational perspective.

The proposed Atlantic Salt Route, designed to enhance the value of this common legacy, is very relevant to the European Atlantic Area, which needs an integrated model that stretches beyond national borders and strengthens the defence of common assets.

Regarding the added value resulting from cooperation, the individual local management of saltworking sites does not allow per se for the common defence/maintenance of a heritage that is not a unique and isolated entity, but part of a larger common whole.

Therefore, cooperation is the only possible way to defend and ensure the survival of this common heritage. Moreover, cooperation helps to enrich the “individual approach” as, all too often, an individual management model can be very short sighted as it has not been evaluated against other models.

Communication plan

The communication plan is a key element and every effort will be made to give maximum coverage to the project in the media in order to attain our ultimate objective: an Atlantic Salt Route. Its success and survival will very much depend on a proper understanding and appreciation of the value of the areas that comprise the Route.

Two strategies can be highlighted:

on-line communication
“face to face” communication.

The former includes the Web development (and intranet), the Newsletter and the Press Releases. The second strategy, targeting the general public and experts, includes participation in tourism fairs, the Route brochure, the actions designed to obtain recognition of the Route by the Council of Europe, the International Conference, the book on Atlantic salt works, the interpretational toolkit on the Atlantic salt works and actions to make the Route known in Morocco where most of the existing salt works are along the Atlantic, and constitute a largely Spanish and Portuguese legacy.