FOSTERING

Case Study Description

The project aimed to leverage the potential of sustainable development through tourism, supported by research-based education for the Global South.

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This is especially relevant for areas recognized by UNESCO as biosphere reserves or “living laboratories,” which nevertheless suffer from social, economic, and environmental imbalances due to inadequate policies, low professionalization, and a lack of innovation, while also being exposed to extractive industries.

The project addresses this issue by promoting, at the University of Cuenca, a Research-Based Education, Innovation, and Transfer Platform to support sustainable development through tourism (PREIT-TOUR) in the Macizo del Cajas Biosphere Reserve area.

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This platform will promote, generate, and strengthen skills and knowledge driven by the participation and collaboration of stakeholders (staff and students, community members, public and private actors) within the CMBA.

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In the long term, students, researchers, and local actors will be involved (trained) through strategies that link local innovations with policies, programs, networks, investors, markets, and other mechanisms that contribute to local development objectives.