Thematic Line 5

TL 5: Strengthen territorial cohesion to reduce disparities

TL5 aims to contribute to supporting policies that strengthen territorial cohesion towards a more balanced and sustainable development while enabling people to make the most of the inherent features of the areas in which they live.

Areas of relevance covered within TL5 include the empowerment of local and regional authorities to drive a balanced territorial development, the improvement of governance mechanisms for sustainable agriculture and the support of environmentally aware and sustainable tourism in vulnerable and protected areas.

Some of the key programs of relevance for TL5 are the National Program for Territorial Cohesion and the EU Cohesion Policy 2020-2027, which promote sustainable practices in tourism activities in protected areas, which ultimately contribute to mitigating rural depopulation and ageing and promote territorial cohesion.

TL5 Activities contribute to influencing policies and training policymakers in different forms of innovation, strengthening territorial resources, promoting cooperation and improving positive linkages between local and regional levels.

Activities from TL5 enable the development of tailored policy instruments targeting economically and environmentally vulnerable regions by empowering local and regional authorities to be more involved in the management and establishing context-specific priorities for the use of EU funds.

TL5 empowers local, regional and national stakeholders to develop adequate governance mechanisms promoting more sustainable agriculture and the socio-economic development and the improvement of overall sustainability within the food value chains in Portugal and Europe.

The contribution to local and regional tourism programs in peripheric territories will be done by using environmental (and citizen) science to promote geographic diversity and the integration of landscape, natural and cultural patrimony dimensions.