COUNTRY: ITALY

ORGANIZATION: MOBIUS CIRCLE APS

DATE OF THE DEBATE: 30/10/2021

LOCATION OF THE DEBATE: Campi Salentina (Lecce)

LINK TO THE MONITORED PROJECT ON THE NATIONAL OPEN DATA PLATFORM: OPENCOESIONE

EVENT DESCRIPTION:

On the first debate event, open to all the citizens, the italian organization Mobius Circle Aps has launched the civic monitoring activity focused on the Naturalistic Oasis of the riparian wood of the Lacrima canal, financed through the European structural funds (ERDF).

We explained to the participants the reasons for this civic monitoring initiative and why we decided to focus on projects financed by European funds related to the environment and climate adaptation.

We introduced the project of a naturalistic oasis  located in the countryside surrounding the Municipality of Campi Salentina (which is also the beneficiary of financing)  and explained also why we decided to monitor this project among others. We have emphasized its particular relevance for the purposes of reforestation and support for wildlife and vegetation biodiversity endangered by the stress caused by intense human activity in that area.

In addition to citizens and representatives of environmental organizations, other important actors, directly involved in the project design and planning participated in the debate. Their contribution was very important to better understand the characteristics and the potential impact of the naturalistic oasis. 

The botanist expert Piero Medagli also joined the debate: he was the one who detected the presence of trees and vegetation which are very rare in the nowadays Salento landscape (like the virgilean Oak and some kind of Elm trees). His contribution gave to the project an added value in order to intercept the european financing.

From this first meeting and the first surveys carried out, a low level of awareness of the citizens about the existence of the oasis project emerged and most people didn’t know the source of the funds. It also emerged that the civic monitoring process might be also really helpful to activate a network of citizens and environmental organizations willing to take care of the oasis, as the Municipality has limited resources to dedicate for maintenance and irrigation.

At the end, the moderators of the debate explained how the monitoring process will unfold and what the next step will be, namely the analysis of all the documentation and institutional open data available for the project.