Matera Charter

Matera Charter

The Matera Charter is the document prepared by the National Council of Agronomists and Forestry Doctors, as the final act of the 17th national congress of the category held in Matera from 7 to 9 November 2019.
The Matera Charter is the Action Plan for Sustainability, prepared through the contribution of 300 members of the Congress, gathered in 4 congress theses, after 3 days of work, and thanks to the contribution of about 50 speakers in a program, integrated with the comments of the members present in the discussion.
The Matera Charter represents the synthesis of the objectives that Italy, as a country, must pursue between now and 2030, not only to give a new imprint to its agriculture but to integrate systems and actions that necessarily involve food security, in a system of livable cities, in a circular economy model that is the basis for environmental safety and a new concept of well-being and a recovery and reintegration of ecosystems in this new paradigm.
The Matera Charter is a complex document that will not only redirect the professional role of Agronomists and Forestry Doctors, but which will also represent a useful tool for civil society, for the entire primary sector and the links between this and the whole model socioeconomic.
In summary, the Matera Charter is the clarification, extrapolated from Agenda 2030, on four theses.

Thesis 1: food safety
Improving food production is possible, always with sustainability in mind: we have seen that integrated, conservative and organic production offers interesting opportunities. The effort to be made will be to stimulate the growth of skills, the use of new technologies and the improvement of processes for a more rational use of resources and the containment of impacts.

Thesis 2: livable cities
The current trend foresees that urbanization will continue to grow in the coming years, making cities one of the priority places for sustainability interventions. The agricultural sector can make a decisive contribution to the livability and health of cities with the growth of agronomy and urban forestry, strengthening city-countryside relations and also making cities places of food production. In any case, land use phenomena must be countered and waste reuse policies must be stimulated. The design of green areas, the planning of a large area, the definition of performance standards for the assessment of ecosystem services can complete the intervention in this sector.

Thesis 3: environmental safety
The goal is to stimulate sustainable production models and circular economic models. The best use of resources, the reduction of waste in production processes, the recovery and redevelopment of degraded and reclaimed areas define the way forward. A conscious use of agrochemicals and an ethical code of use will be the added value for achieving the final goal.

Thesis 4: sustainable forest management
The Italian wooded area is increasing, but most of these areas are not managed. The enhancement of this resource offers the opportunity to stimulate virtuous policies for the development of internal areas and for the protection of the territory. Learning to plan and manage the forest, increase the surface with sustainable certification, stimulate the use of innovative technologies will frame this objective, in which the agronomist or the forestry worker can contribute both as an actor and as coordinator of multidisciplinary teams.

The Matera Charter, through what has been elaborated and emerged, now represents the starting point for a systemic reworking of a country model which, playing force, must project itself towards more complex scenarios, based on sustainability criteria and which have as objective well-being shared between Man and the environment.
A commitment in which the Agronomists and Forestry Doctors will no longer have to play only a role of simple consultancy and planning but of revising the planning models of the way to plan the future.

Guido Bissanti