The EESD programme is one of the four thematic programmes of the Fifth (EC) RTD Framework Programme (1998-2002) which focuses directly on a number of pressing environmental and energy concerns. In a sustainable development perspective, we must notably address the quality and sustainability of our use of resources, and quality of life in our cities. One of the key actions of the EESD programme is "The city of tomorrow and cultural heritage". Making use of the knowledge and technologies developed by this programme will make it possible to meet a wide range of social and economic needs so reconciling economic development with environmental sustainability. The results will support policies formulated at Community level or deriving from international commitments.

The site provides information about current and forthcoming legislation and policies, funding opportunities, press releases and events, publications, ... concerning Environmental Impact Assessment for projects (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment for policies, plans and programmes (SEA).

The objective of the Internet Guide for the tourism sector is to make available to actors in the tourism sector and to other interested people, a comprehensive and structured overview of various EU programmes, schemes, funds, initiatives and actions of potential interest. It provides Internet links to the homepages of the relevant programmes.

The publication looks at the opportunities and challenges of developing tourism based on natural and cultural heritage in non-traditional tourist destinations in Europe. As such, it concerns primarily leisure rather than business tourism and focuses on rural areas rather than on urban or already popular coastal or mountain resorts. The publication is divided into three parts. Chapters 1 to 5 look at the issues that need to be considered when developing tourism based on natural and cultural heritage. Chapters 6-10 provide basic guidelines on how to go about creating such a product in a sustainable manner. The annex contains five case study examples illustrating how this has been achieved in different destinations across Europe.

This site has been created by the European Commission (DG Regional Policy) to provide both general and specific information on EU structural assistance. This assistance has been implemented in the different Member States by means of economic and social development programmes co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the framework of regionalised priority objectives and the Community initiatives.The site gathers useful references and some interesting documents about cultural, social, economic and sustainable development concerns of the European towns and cities.

Report on cultural heritage policies in Europe comprising an introduction and a summary, as well as the corresponding reports of 27 European countries. The report gives a fairly comprehensive overview of the policies pursued by Council of Europe member states, in the light of the principles enshrined in the Granada Convention. The following themes were considered: protection systems in force ; inventories already drawn up or in progress ; protection proper ; public/private funding ; procedures for carrying out restoration work ; the skills and crafts involved ; public information and communication policies ; miscellaneous comments on the implementation of "integrated conservation" policy, concerning both its practical application and future prospects.

The World Bank has accumulated a considerable and interesting experience in apply an EA to the projects it is funding. Actually, the Bank considers the conservation of important cultural heritage as an integral part of the sustainable development process : “As the legacy from past to future generations, it is part of the concept of intergenerational equity� (World Bank, 1994). The Bank thus assists countries in their efforts to conserve, maintain, and where feasible, enhance and restore their cultural heritage. The Environmental Assessment is thereby considered as one of the main instruments to ensure that development projects do not result in unacceptable damage to cultural heritage.

This research project addresses the theme of the relevance of culture for the economic development of cities. Culture is a magnet for urban tourism, an imprescindible element of the quality of life of cities, and a source of creative ideas and innovation that strengthen a city’s economic environment. Culture also defines the image and identity of a city, its social cohesion and its opennness - and adaptability - to the new and unexpected. If the world economy is putting higher and higher prizes to creativity, self-expression, sophistication and the capacity to bridge global trends and local skills, then cities must understand exactly what is their cultware, how they can enhance it, and how they can integrate it with other urban functions. The study will be a comparative analysis of the contexts, performance, and organisation models of cultural activities and creative industries in a number of European cities, among which: Amsterdam, Bolzano, The Hague, Edinburgo, Klaipeda, Manchester, Rotterdam, Tampere, Vienna.

The project EUROCULT21 aims to:
  Identify new research and funding needs on urban cultural policy in the years to come.
  Formulate innovative cultural strategies in collaboration with other European cities and University centres.
  Prepare a clear set of recommendations on cultural policy to the European institutions and Members States

This website is meant for the exchange of information about UNESCO World Heritage issues.

This Study looks at how tourism has been taken into account in local Agendas 21, as drawn up and implemented by local authorities. As local authorities face the impacts of tourism development, the Agenda 21 planning framework is useful to define strategic goals for all stakeholders, and to effectively use tourism to achieve a community’s main goals. It is based on a study of the hands-on experience gained by 5 European local communities involved to varying degrees in tourist activity, and having adopted a local Agenda 21 approach.

Created in 1993 the French Agency of Tourism Engineering (AFIT) aims at adapting the French tourism offer to the evolutions of the society in the view of a better match with demand and to face international competition and improve the competitiveness of this offer.

The cities and lands of art and history is a network of 130 cities and lads of art dedicated to the valorisation and the animation of heritage and architecture: presentation of discory tours, cultural tourism ...

Within the programme of studies of the Universidad de Deusto, Estudios de Ocio (Studies on Leisure) has been created in 1988 with the objective of preparing professionals to deal with issues related with a new vision of leisure (culture, tourism, sports and entertainment) as a factor of human, personal, community and social development.

IBERTUR-Red de Patrimonio, Turismo y Desarrollo Sostenible (Net of Heritage, Tourism and Sustainable Development) is an association of partners interested in Heritage management, in the context of tourist activities. Its’ main areas of action are the Iberoamerican and Mediterranean ones. Its objectives are to exchange knowledge, experiences and technical co-operation, and to improve professional skills and technological development in the Heritage management, in particular the one related to new tourist trends (cultural tourism, rural tourism, ecotourism, gastronomic tourism, etc…)

The Red de Juderías de España (Net of Jewish towns of Spain) is a non-lucrative public association which objective is to defend the urbanistic, architectonic, historic, artistic and cultural Heritage that attests the history of the presence of Jewish community in Spain. It is formed by Barcelona, Cáceres, Córdoba, Girona, Hervás, León, Oviedo, Ribadavia, Segovia, Toledo, Tortosa and Tudela. It has also associated cities, which are Besalú, Calahorra, Estella, Monforte de Lemos, Plasencia and Tarazona.

The Net of Co-operation of Cities in the Silver Route is a Voluntary association formed by cities placed in the so called Ruta Via de la Plata (a tradicional axis of communication of the West of spain that constitutes a rich and varied itinerary of 800 km) and in its influence aresa for a joint action in the defense and promotion of its turistic, historic, cultural and economic resources. The towns and cities that are part of the Net are: Gijón, Ribera de Arriba, Mieres, Aller, Lena, León, Benavente, Zamora, Salamanca, Béjar, Plasencia, Cáceres, Casar de Cáceres, Zafra, Sevilla, Santiponce, Carmona.

FITUR, Feria Internacional de Turismo, is a unique and consolidated forum for the Promotion and Marketing of destinations, products, services, trademarks, knowledge, technology, formation and information. It is the annual appointment in Spain for the World Tourism Industry.

The Instituto de Estudios Turísticos (Tourism Studies Institute) was set up in 1962; its objective is the study of all the factors impinging on tourism, together with the drawing up, assessment and compiling of statistics, information and data on tourism. It is part of the Secretaría General de Turismo (General Tourism Secretariat) of the Secretaría de Estado de Turismo y Comercio (State Secretariat of Tourism and Trade) under the Ministerio de Industria,Turismo y Comercio (Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade).

The SUT-GOVERNANCE project presents an effort to work with multi-stakeholder partnerships and urban governments in Europe to develop, validate, and deploy a general framework for sustainable urban tourism (SUT) partnerships that is applicable to a variety of urban municipal and development contexts. The website displays main project resources, including a benchmarking tool and European urban tourism governance best practice cases.

This database includes a list of European tourism best practices in the fields of tourism planning, cultural networking, vocational training and qualification programmes.

Full guide (EC, DG for Education and Culture, 1999. “Leonardo Da Vinci Series: Good Practices. Number 5: Tourism�) available from: [http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/leonardo/new/leonardo2/broc_bp/bon_prat3_en.pdf -> http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/leonardo/new/leonardo2/broc_bp/bon_prat3_en.pdf] This brochure, result of a joint effort between DG Education and Culture and DG Enterprise, presents ten projects that help to promote and upgrade the tourist industry.

This searchable database contains over 2150 proven solutions from more than 140 countries to the common social, economic and environmental problems of an urbanizing world, including tourism development. It demonstrates the practical ways in which public, private and civil society sectors are working together to improve governance, eradicate poverty, provide access to shelter, land and basic services, protect the environment and support economic development.

Aimed at raising awareness of tourism professionals, travelers and residents, this website displays useful resources on sustainable tourism around the world.

Calabash Project, Improving Civil Society Participation in Environmental Assessment. Although the SAIEA Calabash Website focuses on providing the Southern African community with EIA and public participation resources and information, much of the available resources and information were generated internationally. However, most are universally applicable or at least contain good guidelines or principles to go by. Therefore, this part of the site contains numerous web links to guidelines, manuals, useful resources, case studies, training courses and contact organizations worldwide.

CoastLearn is a distance Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) vocational training package that makes extensive use of the electronic media. The package is tailored to the training and technical needs of countries in transition, and aims to target coastal managers and planners working at local, sub-national, and national levels. The secondary target group are universities and NGOs. It is an on-line, free of charge, flexible training tool.

Europejskie Centrum Proekologiczne, Wroclaw, Selection from Public Participation in regional development in Central Europe: This brochure was prepared under the joint project "Aarhus Convention and Regional Development" effected by three NGO partners from Central Europe: National Society of Conservationists, Hungary, Centre for Community Organising, Czech Republic and Environmental Law Centre, Poland. The project was funded under the NGO Co-operative Programme of Regional Environmental Centre, Szentendre in 2001-2002.

The Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessments (EAs) Index of Useful Resources is a compilation of resources in both French and English related to environmental assessment public participation practices, tools, and techniques undertaken in developing and Central and Eastern Europe countries. Although the public participation resources deal mainly with environmental assessment in developing countries, some useful general references have also been included. The types of resources include publications, internet websites, CD-ROM’s and videos. The aim of this Index is to serve as a guide to information that may prove helpful in dealing with public participation in EAs

Diverse Documents

The Aarhus Convention Newcastle Workshop, Good Practice Workshop Department of the environment, transport and the Regions, 2000

The Public Participation Programme’s mission is to support and facilitate access to information, public participation in environmental decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters through capacity building, networking, legal and policy analysis and assistance to various stakeholders.

Citizens as Partners, OECD HANDBOOK ON INFORMATION, CONSULTATION AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN POLICY-MAKING, OECD 2001:

World Bank Participation Guide: (It is not that we should simply seek new and better ways for managing society, the economy, and the world. The point is that we should fundamentally change how we behave. -Vaclav Havel) ...We have written the Sourcebook for World Bank Task Managers and those who work with them--to help them support participatory processes in economic and social development.

Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. Legal and Policy Basis of EIA Commonwealth EIA is administered under the Environment Protection (impact of proposals) Act 1974 (EPIP Act) and associated Administrative Procedures.Guidelines and Criteria for determining the need for and level of environmental impact assessment in Australia (discussed later) are used in conjunction with the EPIP Act.

The EIA Centre, co-directed by Christopher Wood and Carys Jones, is an independent university based research organisation, specializing in environmental impact assessment (EIA), research, training and information. EIA includes project EIA and the EIA of programmes, plans and policies (strategic environmental assessment SEA). EIA is an important environmental management tool essential for the achievement of sustainable development

Environmental Assessment (EIA & SEA) legislation and practice are rapidly changing in the transitional countries (CITs) of Central and Eastern Europe, and the NIS. This site is a forum for exchanging ideas and information on how to improve EA practice in CITs. It was initiated by participants of the CEU Summer Universities in 1996-1998, and has since expanded to involve wider audiences and cover broader EA issues.

IAIA is the International Association for Impact Assessment, organized in 1980 to bring together researchers, practitioners, and users of various types of impact assessment from all parts of the world. IAIA involves people from many disciplines and professions. Our members include corporate planners and managers, public interest advocates, government planners and administrators, private consultants and policy analysts, university and college teachers and their students.

AIEST owes its origin to the initiative of the Heads of the two Swiss Tourism Research Institutes founded at the Universities of St.Gallen and Berne in 1941, Walter Hunziker and Kurt Krapf. After the end of the Second World War both felt the need to make known the fruits of their scientific work to a wider circle of colleagues, and to resume the broken threads of international scientific relations in tourism, in order to develop them as well as the scientific work related to tourism itself.

The Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS) was established in 1991 to develop transnational educational initiatives in tourism and leisure. ATLAS provides a forum to promote staff and student exchange, transnational research and to facilitate curriculum and professional development. ATLAS currently has members in more than 70 countries.

The Convention on Biological Diversity International guidelines for activities related to sustainable tourism development in vulnerable terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems and habitats of major importance for biological diversity and protected areas, including fragile riparian and mountain ecosystems

Destinet, Sustainable Tourism Information Portal, The EU has a range of mandates to work with tourism development. Within the Commission, the Tourism Unit of Directorate General Enterprise coordinates tourism in the context of tourism’s importance for growth, prosperity and employment. The European Environment Agency provides information to policy making agents and the public on Europe’s environment - and therefore also focuses on tourism.

ICOMOS is an international non-governmental organization of professionals, dedicated to the conservation of the world’s historic monuments and sites. ICOMOS provides a forum for professional dialogue and a vehicle for the collection, evaluation, and dissemination of information on conservation principles, techniques, and policies.

Tour Operators’ Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development. Most tour operators recognize that a clean and safe environment is critical to their success. Fewer have the management tools or experience to design and conduct tours that minimize their negative environmental, social and economic impacts while optimizing their benefits. To develop and implement these tools in their own operations, and encourage other tour operators to do the same, a group of tour operators from different parts of the world have joined forces to create the Tour Operators’ Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development.

The World Tourism Organization (WTO/OMT), a specialized agency of the United Nations, is the leading international organization in the field of tourism. It serves as a global forum for tourism policy issues and practical source of tourism know-how.

Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) International is a global network of individuals and non-governmental organizations, committed to sustainable development. LEAD is an independent, not-for-profit organization, established in 1991 by The Rockefeller Foundation. The LEAD network is coordinated through an international secretariat based in the campus of Imperial College London.

International Institute for Sustainable Development (iisd) For development to be sustainable it must integrate environmental stewardship, economic development and the well-being of all people-not just for today but for countless generations to come. This is the challenge facing governments, non-governmental organizations, private enterprises, communities and individuals.

Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area in which human impacts on the environment.

The aim of ORME 2006 project is the tourist enhancement of Torino and its metropolitan area, through the integrated use of various communication tools among which is an interactive web site.

www.blogtorino.com enables anybody with an interest in Torino to find, comment and publish opinions and reviews on events, descriptions of places, stories of real experiences and emotions, whose "genuineness and trustworthiness" is guaranteed by the fact that they have been written by an "ordinary person", just as those who are reading.

A virtual network of people will mutually exchange information about Torino and contribute to transmit its image and spirit, in a less-conventional way than what institutional sites do.

The web site also represents an instrument for the collection of information, through polls and questionnaires, which can be filled in directly on line.

The information that we will collect will be communicated to the decision-makers and to the sector operators who will be able to use them in order to improve the tourist offer of Torino.