Effectiveness of Policy Instruments for Cross-Border Advancement in Heritage
EPICAH aims to promote the improvement of the policy instruments for crossborder natural and cultural heritage protection and development, through the exchange of experiences and good practices between partners with large experience in developing strategies, projects and actions in this field based on crossborder cooperation processes.  It aims for a more efficient management of crossborder natural and cultural heritage "using" the border as a tourist attraction factor in borders territories. It shall improve the effectiveness of tourism activity in managing the organization and valorisation of these assets. The common challenge faced by EPICAH is to pool resources and policy-making in order to support preservation, protection, promotion and development of natural and cultural heritage. It will be addressed by focusing on crossborder cooperation as a sustainable tool to make them homogeneous and consistent on both sides of the border and by encouraging coordinated actions of the policy makers and technicians responsible for its implementation. Mutual learning and work of partners and stakeholders (here included Managing Authorities of Interreg VA and other relevant crossborder actors) will serve to overcome this challenge through the suggestion of new types of projects in the current crossborder programmes (in future calls) or even by proposing a new logical framework of the Interreg A programmes for the next programming period. Thus, border territories will improve their cultural and natural heritage management and put them in value through a common approach for the development of the tourism activities. EPICAH expected outputs are: regional action plans (defining local strategies to achieve the project goal), the lessons learnt in the interregional learning process and the improvement of crossborder cooperation policies and instruments regarding the increase of their efficiency for the protection and development of crossborder natural and cultural heritage.