Legambiente’s decalogue for the ecological transition of the Apennines

The future of the Apennines and its villages also passes through green communities, local communities capable of networking by focusing on environmental sustainability to relaunch the territories, contrast depopulation and give a new impetus to the local economy and on which the Pnrr has allocated 140 million euros.

To take stock of the great challenge of green communities in the Apennines, on the eve of International mountain dayis Legambiente, which today on the occasion of V edition of the “Forum of the Apennines“, organized by the association in Pescasseroli (AQ) at the headquarters of the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, presents its report “An Agenda for the ecological and climate transition of the Apennines“.

In the document, the environmental association recounts three pilot areas, six stories of good territorial practices, and indicates what it considers the way forward for a “contemporary Apennines” which today more than ever is faced with problems and new environmental challenges also to the impacts of the climate crisis. In particular, for Legambiente it is necessary rethinking a unitary strategy for the Apennines by focusing on ten pillars:

• Strengthen territorial governance and encourage citizen participation.
• Improve the protection and knowledge of Apennine biodiversity.
• Insert the Apennines among the European networks of territorial cooperation.
• Increase the protection of the Apennine territories by 2030.
• Promote the circular economy and local supply chains.
• Reduce the territorial gap and increase mountain services.
• Promote renewable energy communities and green communities strategy.
• Recognize the local communities’ commitment to the ecosystem services they guarantee.
• Create the network of cycle routes in the Apennines and encourage active and sustainable tourism.
• Promote the Apennines as an ecosystem of well-being.

In addition to implementing strategies for these ten areas, it is necessary for Legambiente speed up the creation of green communities, also involve the examples that come from the communities of protected areas in this process and at the same time enhance the many virtuous territorial experiences. In terms of funding, the environmental association recalls that the Ministry of Regions and Autonomies has also opened a tender with a budget of 135 million euros through which 35 proposals for green communities to be financed have been selected.

The V edition of the Forum degli Appennini, organized in collaboration with the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, UNCEM, Green Communities and Symbola, sees experts in the sector, realities of protected areas and institutional representatives discussing the issue and the challenges to be faced. The decision to do so in the PNALM, in Pescasseroli, in the heart of the Park which recently celebrated its one hundred years of history, is no coincidence.

“The National Strategy for Green Communities – he declares Stephen Ciafaninational president of Legambiente – represents an opportunity for the Apennine communities and, in our opinion, an important tool to accompany the climate transition and implement actions to make these territories Net Zero”. “The Apennines – he explains Antonio Nicolettiresponsible for protected areas of Legambiente – are rich in biodiversity and for this reason they are increasingly fragile with respect to the looming emergencies, however they are a decisive territorial space for overcoming the challenge of the climate crisis and curbing the loss of biodiversity”.

In its report, Legambiente tells stories of good practices capable of combining innovation and environmental sustainability. From the community web radio “Radio antica Rue”, wanted and conceived by those who live in Gagliano Aterno (AQ), to the experience started in Lunigiana by the AlterEco Cooperative, from the tourist hub in Pollino which focuses on cultural, educational and food and wine itineraries all community apiary in Molise in Castel Del Giudice (IS), the environmental association underlines the liveliness of the Apennine green communities.