Abstract:

CHERISH is a currently ongoing project funded in Spetember 2019 by Erasums+, the European Programme aimed at promoting the development of innovative tools, products, services and policies in the field of education, training and lifelong learning. The project operates in the field of transnational cooperation for innovation, exchange of good practices and strategic partnerships dedicated to Vocational Education and Training (VET). In particular, CHERISH is dedicated to the sustainable valorization of Cultural and Natural Heritage that can be considered, as a whole, as Non-Reproducible Goods (NRGs). The aim of the project is to develop an original integrated, interactive and multidisciplinary educational path, based on the best practices and policies as well as on the state of the art of technical-scientific knowledge acquired by several actors of the European scene related to the NRGs. The project activities are performed, indeed, by a partnership of six institutions, including research bodies, universities, NGOs and SMEs, coming from the four European Members States hosting the largest number of UNESCO Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites (Italy, France, Spain and Greece) and from another EU Country that is currently very proactive in the field of sustainable tourism (Bulgaria). Especially in this unfortunate period of war, attention to scientific collaboration and sustainbale valorization of Cultural and Environmental World Heritage it is an even more strategic asset for preserving the values of humanity.

At present, all the educational products foreseen in the project have been developed and they will be discussed in the presentation, by highlighting their potential value as transnational implementation tools to promote the sustainable management of NRGs in the field of applied learning and teaching in the VET system.

Particular attention will be paid to present and critically discuss the two education programs developed in the form of 'Open Education Resources' (OER) and aimed, respectively, at presenting the basic principles of sustainable valorization of NRGs (namely IO2 Program) and the state of the art tools designed to operationally preserve NRGs (IO3 Program).

The IO2 program introduces the main features of NRGs (such as the UNESCO macro-areas of intervention) and presents them in the light of their interaction with the three dimensions of sustainable development (environmental, social and economic), by highlighting how virtuous interactions between BNRs and each of them may give rise to a different type of sustainable tourism (ecotourism, responsible tourism and developmental tourism, respectively).

The IO3 program is dedicated, instead, to present the main technologies, policies and approaches aimed at preserving and sustainably managing NRGs. It is organized in three didactic modules, each dedicated to one of the three UNESCO macro-areas of intervention in the NRG sector, namely: Cultural Heritage, Natural Heritage and Mixed Cultural and Natural Heritage. Actions are presented in the form of ‘intervention tools’ and are distinguished and organized as a function of three types operational parameters that allow to present in an inclusive way all the different types of actions that concur to the sustainable valorization of NRGs.

Finally the main contents of the IO4 professionalizing program dedicated to the use of Geographic Information Systems for the integrated territorial management of NRGs will be presented as well.

Keywords:

Sustainable Development, Cultural and Natural Heritage preservation, Sustainable Tourism, Vocational Education and Training, Erasmus+ education project.