News
A new cross-border park between France, Spain and Andorra
October 2018On 24 August 2018, representatives of France, Andorra and Spain approved the creation of a new cross-border park: the “Three Nations Pyrenees Park”. This new park results from the merger of four already existing parks: the Alt Pirineu Nature Park in Catalonia, the Ariège Pyrenees Regional Nature Park and the Sorteny Valley and Comapedrosa Valley Nature Parks in Andorra.
The combined parks cover an area of 400,000 hectares, including 15 municipalities in Catalonia, 2 in Andorra and 141 in France.
The agreement gives a legal and political framework to the actions of the four parks, with the aim of enhancing their actions with respect to the local economy and tourism, through joint planning and implementation: promotion of agri-food products, improvement of biodiversity, cross-border events, etc.
“We are going to forge a common image to enable us to boost tourism and economic exchanges. A working group is going to be set up that will study the creation, use and promotion of a common logo and a map of the Three Nations Pyrenees Park," explains Mathieu Cruège, Director of the Ariège Pyrenees Park.
The project is "a long story", he points out: "From the creation of the Ariège Pyrenees Regional Nature Park in 2009, we set out this cross-border ambition in our charter." The MOT was then commissioned to draw up this cross-border charter. Now it is bearing fruit!
The partners are also going to study making a joint application to UNESCO to obtain the label "cross-border biosphere reserve".
